Because why go for native performance when you can go for minimum effort on all platforms.
When all you have is ~~a hammer~~ JavaScript, everything looks like a ~~nail~~ web page.
Kids these days don't bother learning languages that actually compile to native apps.
All of my degree was in C, C++, C#, Java, etc. and the one class I had that did web applications did Java backends and middleware with PHP frontends. It wasn’t until I got into the industry that I had to learn Angular, Electron, React, Django, etc.
I don’t think it’s the devs making these decisions.
It's the minimum effort that translates to minimum time that translates to minimum cost for the business. Why hire another developer for a mobile app (or another platform) when you could just have the same web dev write it. Or without hiring another dev, why have the same dev need to build up tooling in another language when you can just reuse from the existing platform
It is the devs. Management says they need it fast then the devs say "fuck you here's your browser tab app".
I deam of a dev job that would let me actually write a good app..
To add insult to injury, the demands are often really unclear. Changing something in an electron app is often pretty straight forward. Not so much in a C# or especially C++ app
Let's get you to bed grandma
Because you want a cross platform solution?
I get that electron can be slow, bloated, etc, but the amount of ire it draws is overboard.
Yes but sometimes, for example core parts of windows 11 like the start menu, don't need to be cross platform and should be native, not a pwa
Having built applications with Microsoft's mfc, Java's swing, the omnipresent Qt, and whatever nastiness Mac was using in the early 00's, electron is worth the silliness. Trust me. Trust me.
the omnipresent Qt
So weird. I spent more than two years of my career working on a Qt app (not by choice) but I've never met another human being who has ever even heard of Qt. Nothing else has ever made me so certain that I'm clinically insane.
My favorite thing about Qt was the use of C++ for the back end and Javascript for the UI layer. It lets companies take advantage of the, uh, four people in the world who are good with both languages.
Hah! Yeah, qt has some really neat interfacing. And it is in so many places you wouldn't expect it to be...
Reminder to talk to your doctor about a colonoscopy
Ugh. Cancel reminder, ready to take my chances with rectal cancer...
Understandable
Electron is broken in implementation
We need something like React native for desktop
Yeah, something better is welcome for sure.
Because different OSes follow different Human Interaction Guidelines and I expect that applications follow the native look and feel.
Ok, seems like a separate issue. The question was why do this and I gave an answer. Doesn't mean it's wrong because you can find a reason not to do it.
following every linux de/wm's interaction guidelines seems pretty hard
Why have a consistent Wayland experience when each application can run it's own Electron version with varying degrees of enforced Wayland flags, and/or such an outdated Chromium version Wayland is just jank.
Edit:
Was trying to say that most of these CEF/Electron applications all need their own separate Wayland specific (Chromium) flags to have better Wayland support/integration. And the older Electron applications typically use an older Chromium as base, having even worse Wayland support... Was not trying to make this a "Wayland bad!" kind of post.
TL;DR: Electron applications have wildly varying level of Wayland support/integration, don't have any Wayland issues other than specific CEF/Electron apps!
Wayland isn't the problem. Chrome just doesn't behave well with it. I haven't had any Wayland-related issues with Firefox.
Always that reflex against Wayland - as someone who has switched to Linux not so long ago i have a hard time with the mindset long time Linux users have against Wayland. I understand that it might be annoying if someone is used to his X-Server and that some tools that people are used to for a decade will get left behind. But as a new user I do not have anything negative to say about Wayland. It behaves nicely with my multi-monitor setup and VRR, has no issues with my Nvidia graphics card, and Xwayland covers tools that can't or won't migrate. Using Pipewire allows Steam Remote Play. In the year or so since i switched to Linux, the stability has changed from "it's ok, but annoys me sometimes" to "rock-solid".
Y'all have to recognize that there is a new generation of Linux Users around, which does not have nostalgic feelings towards X, and for those Wayland is simply the normal way things run. Whining will not change that.
The Wayland debate is the same as the systemd debate of 2015 minus the death threats.
Electron should just be a wrapper for the local web browser.
This edit is really well done.
I know it's easy to dunk on Electron... but have any of yall written any desktop apps with native frameworks? I wrote a small GTK4+Vala app once and I discovered desktop frameworks are very different than developing webapps. Customizing the look, feel, interaction of elements, and general mechanics, seems like a toooon of effort. (It kinda seems like you're not supposed to customize it.) Web development is waaaaaaaay more friendly towards customization. Which as a company, you want your app to look like your company, not some generic OS bundled app.
And then you have to repeat all that effort for crappleOS and Wangblows?... And then you gotta hope that it's even possible to do the thing you want in different OSes. Sheesh.
I mean, I'd be happy if everything was native apps, but I also understand why people don't tend to choose that route.
Which as a company, you want your app to look like your company, not some generic OS bundled app
Consistency of UI used to be treasured.
Once upon a time, we differentiated our apps based on their capabilities and gave them a consistent interface so people who knew how to use Windows|Linux|MacOS apps would already be familiar with how they operated. Now we differentiate on looks/user experience, and many of them aren't capable at all.
People took the wrong lessons from beautiful GUI design. Anyone who felt it was just aesthetics missed the point. It wasn’t just flashy UI on what boils down to a database.
Honesty Electron is fine as a concept
The problem lies with the implementation. I see no reason why many of these apps couldn't just be links to a website.
I get that it sucks. Are there any alternatives, where I have one codebase for all platforms?
Flutter
It depends on what you are trying to do
Qt isn't bad and runs cross platform
Oh my, I just had to puke a little bit.
It depends on what you are doing
I was joking. Qt has its place and can be useful. But I believe the days of non-web based, rich clients is over. Because Qt is not really “platform independent” anymore. When Qt was invented, only GNU/Linux, OSX and Windows existed. Now we have mobile phones, tablets, ultrabooks/chromebooks, much more powerful browsers, smart watches. That’s why Qt is not something I would prefer, as I need my apps to run literally everywhere
Have you heard of Java? Or any other language that abstracts away the GUI gluecode. Or don't just even go electron and provide a web app instead.
Java apps are even worse than electron. Not to mention you need to install Java to run them.
Everyone should have to make one native app before being allowed to make fun of electron/webviews.
Counterpoint: Every developer should have to test their app on a machine with 1 GB of RAM and a dialup modem before inflicting their bloat on the rest of the world.
I just tried doing some work on a convention center WiFi connection in a small town. And it was clear the software I was using had no concept of slow internet. No progress bars on downloads, no resuming when connections dropped.
Everything just assumes max performance and fast network.
works on my machine
What are you talking about? I love having five apps all download the same 20mb node libraries each running their own Chrome sandbox processes all because they can't share them amongst themselves.
e
Meanwhile, I have to install my third freedesktop 1GB dependency for 4 flatpak apps. What I wouldn't give for a slim 100mb electron package... All my electron apps as appimages are less than 1gb total.
But hey, at least native apps are so much faster. I have to get out an atomic clock to really see those microseconds that Zed is saving me compared to VSCode. You can even use the extra battery you gain to do one extra Rust compilation from scratch!
Hint: :q!
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