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Comment by collyw | Hacker News Reader

There isn't really a standard native look to Linux, as we have so many desktop options and related toolkits.

The problem with asking for a GNU/Linux standard application is there are several toolkits for developing them that stand out when not in the same base as the desktop environment. There is a single concise appearance to certain distros (e.g. Elementary), then difference of appearance in desktop environments (e.g. GNOME, KDE) and then there are the toolkits that are written completely different and use separate libraries (e.g. Qt, GTK).

By asking for a "Linux native application", you would need to create forks for GTK/Qt theming at the minimum and change the appearance altogether. It's just an absurd request really. One thing Electron does not do well is per-system graphical elements. It renders the same on every system so you either have a unique application design or you're conforming more to Window, Mac, or GNU/Linux. Or doom yourself to an old stale design, which is bland enough to fit in every category, but isn't the aim of the project.

You realize that GTK and Qt are both compatible with the other?

Most GTK apps work nicely under Qt (although this is very suboptimal), but especially Qt apps look native everywhere. From windows to mac to KDE-environments to Gtk-environments.

What do you mean by gtk under Qt? What about Tk apps, or Athena apps, or Motif, or GNUStep, etc.? There really is no such thing as a native Linux look and feel, you just happen to use a consistent selection of apps on your own system.

What I mean is that a Qt app will look native everywhere, and Gtk apps will look native in most places.

Most other toolkits, as you mentioned, don’t look native in many places, but Qt natively supports the CDE style, the Motif style, all different Windows and Mac styles, etc.

A Qt app looks native on Mac OSX, on Solaris, under Gnome, under KDE, under Windows XP, under Windows 10.

That’s why I avoid apps that aren’t either native or Qt anywhere, no matter if I am running Gnome or Windows, KDE or Mac.

Can you point me at an example of an app that does it really well? We couldn't find any compelling ones when we were investigating platforms for N1. :/

There basically is. Linux per se is just not a desktop OS, like Windows or OS X. Ubuntu has a standard UI, Debian's default install has a standard UI, Kubuntu has a standard UI, and so on.

That's even worse though. You can't ask for a universal GNU/Linux native appearance since there are Debian/Kubuntu/Ubuntu standards for UI. The list goes on and on too.

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