Build desktop applications using Go and Web Technologies

(github.com)

42 points by selvan4 hours ago

4 comments

8-prime1 hour ago
I really enjoyed building small apps with wails. Even though people would prefer that we all used native UI frameworks, the DX is simply incomparable to that of web technologies.And for most apps using browser based rendering won't be an issue. People often underestimate how optimized mondern browsers really are. And because Chromium is not shipped the bundle size is managable.Not wanting to use JS on the backend I tried both Tauri and Wails and found the simplicity of Go to just work perfectly for my use-cases
Exoristos2 hours ago
The lengths we will go to avoid writing a proper desktop application.
- foresto2 minutes ago
 You might find this appealing:<a href="https://github.com/mappu/miqt" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/mappu/miqt</a>
- conceptme1 hour ago
 because there is no proper UI library that does cross platform as well as the web
 - robert_dipaolo1 hour ago
 What about QT? I've used that in the past and it's really good for native apps.
 - adastra221 hour ago
 There are quite a few. Qt, React Native, Xamarin, and Flutter come to mind.
 - miki12321127 minutes ago
 Those are not native (on desktop) in any sense of the word. They don't use native controls. For that, you want WX or SWT, but those come with their own sets of problems.On Windows, it's not even obvious what native is any more, even Microsoft just uses Web views. Mac is a bit better, but there are still 4 UI libraries to choose from (AppKit, UIKit through Catalyst, native SwiftUI and Catalyst SwiftUI).I'm personally a fan of AppKit and Win32, but those are "dated" apparently.
 - gen2brain9 minutes ago
 I am working on the UI library and bindings for Go. Still not finished, but currently, the same app can be compiled for Win32, Cocoa, GTK2, GTK3, GTK4, Qt5, Qt6 and Motif. There is a web browser control, a GL canvas, and a regular canvas. I still work on native table control though.
 - adastra228 minutes ago
 Qt Quick Controls, React Native, and Xamarin.Forms all generate honest-to-god native controls. E.g. Cocoa, Win32 or Windows Presentation Forms, etc.
 - mono44252 minutes ago
 I wouldn't exactly call Flutter native. It uses its own rendering engine and doesn't necessarily behave like operating system native controls. It is not really different from using electron.
 - adastra226 minutes ago
 "Native" seems to mean different things to different people. I'm mostly with you on this, but the tides are turning. In any case, the other 3 do use real native widgets.
 - lloydatkinson27 minutes ago
 What are the Linux native controls?GTK and KDE controls are native to GTK and KDE.
 - raffraffraff1 hour ago
 Not just UI. I just wrote a KDE Plasma 6 widget for systemd-networkd / networkd and it was a nightmare.
 - kosolam1 hour ago
 Why? Give more details please
 - lloydatkinson42 minutes ago
 My cross platform application written in C#/.NET and Avalonia strongly disagrees with this crazy assertion.I can also think of QT and GTK for other languages too.
- mock-possum1 hour ago
 But I already know how to write a web app, I don’t know how to write a desktop app. It’s faster to just write and wrap a web app, and as far as most people can tell, it works just fine.Ya gotta be practical.
 - adastra221 hour ago
 It's a strange world that I live in now.
hnlmorg1 hour ago
What’s not clear to me for either the readme nor their website, is how does this actually work?With Electron, for example, a stripped down Chromium is shipped. So what does the web view rendering with this package?
- adamors1 hour ago
 The OS's native rendering engine, there's no embedded browser. Here's a more detailed writeup <a href="https://wails.io/docs/howdoesitwork" rel="nofollow">https://wails.io/docs/howdoesitwork</a>
lifty1 hour ago
Anyone knows how wails v3 is progressing and if they are actually adding mobile support?
- pylotlight37 minutes ago
  beta soon tm. mobile eventually with some PoCs around but nothing concrete yet sadly.