Writing desktop apps: use native tools, not web-tools
Posted by jpluimers on 2021/11/24
Despite the Electron framework, you might really want to consider writing desktop applications using native tools as it is extremely hard to write performant desktop applications otherwise.
It isn’t by coincidence that last year, Firefox by default makes the backspace key not go back to the previous web-page: it is still a problem in a truckload of interactive web applications, often even in web-based desktop applications:
- [Wayback] Firefox to block Backspace key from working as “Back” button | ZDNet
- [Wayback] Mozilla Firefox 86 Will Have Backspace Navigation Shortcut Disabled by Default: How to Re-Enable | Technology News
I am not alone on this opinion:
- [Archive.is] Tom Stuart on Twitter: “The more I use and write web applications, the more I think the Java applet people were right. HTTP/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/etc is just a horrendous mismatch for interactive applications.” / Twitter
- [Archive.is] Denis (just Denis) on Twitter: “Agreed — I’ve written desktop apps with several languages/frameworks, and the web app development experience is the worst of all.” / Twitter
In practice, “native” applications based on web-tools are notoriously hard to navigate by keyboard, which essential for swift operation.
I have filed a few bugs, and others many more on this, for example:
- [Wayback] Windows: Press+Release Alt or F10 key does not go to the application menu; Shift-F10 does go to the system menu · Issue #11865 · atom/atom
- [Wayback] Alt+{letter} menu shortcuts and arrow key navigation don’t work on Windows and Linux · Issue #4057 · atom/atom
- [Wayback] [Windows] Menus don’t follow native keyboard conventions · Issue #2504 · electron/electron
Also web-developers tend to love to introduce their own custom UX, like for a 6-digit numeric field, use 6 separate digit fields making it extremely hard to copy/paste numbers.
–jeroen
https://twitter.com/ddfreyne/status/1349320174084751361
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