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Comment by dahart | Hacker News Reader

It would help a lot to have the question elaborate on what you really need. What do you mean by "best", and do you actually need the best? Do you need easy to learn, or code that is easy to deliver, or most powerful features, or most number of platforms covered? Do you include mobile in cross platform, and do you have a performance or language requirement?

A web app is one of the most cross platform ways to go, is the easiest to deliver, and can be easy-ish to learn, but isn't the easiest. But, you are stuck with JavaScript. If a web app won't work for you, why not? Knowing that will allow people to help you more.

Qt is great, especially if you're using C++ or some other language. It's pleasant and very powerful, but a lot to learn, and deployment to users is harder than a web app.

What are your constraints & requirements?

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I agree across the board with your assessment.

It is a shame that OP does not want to go HTML/CSS engine, because over the years, I have found that to be the easiest to update, the most reliable across platforms, and (most importantly) the easiest to support for multiple users.

I have tried (and used in production) most of the UI tookits mentioned here.

WxWindows (later WxWidgets), Tk, and FLTK are getting long in the tooth and show it.

Java (SWT, etc), looks wonky across platforms and really do not stand up to the "write once, run anywhere" promise. Also, if you have to do anything even a little out of the lines, count on keeping multiple codebases for different platforms.

Although I had a brief love affair with other VM-type platforms (Adobe Air, Silverlight), mobile mostly pushed support for them out (Air just pivoted to mobile altogether, I believe). They offered single codebase, easy updates, and easy-ish support at a cost of have the user install additional software, but worth the tradeoff in my opinion.

All of the python UI libs are a pain in the ass to distribute, update, and support.

Ultimate++ and Borland Delphi are pretty polished, but you either have to buy into their ecosystems or accept their limitations.

At the end of the day, even though Javascript is a bullshit language for desktop development, HTML/CSS engines (phonegap, Electron, sciter, etc) are just pleasant for maintaining codebase, pushing out updates, doing anything you want with the UI, and support has been a breeze.

Why is Tk getting long in the tooth? This comment believes Tk is as good as wkWindows and QT https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12380456

Tk and WxWidgets are not in the same league as QT.

Tk is limited, specifically, to being a gui toolkit, and even though the most recent versions look like native widgets, they are limited and the online support (from groups, etc) is limited. All the connecting libraries feel like you are back in the 90's programming again.

WxWidgets is to QT, as Linux is to Mac OS X -- one is cobbled together from amateurs with varying quality of components, and the other is built by professionals and held to professional rigor. The API (and output, in my opinion) is amateurish and dated in comparison. It lacks the polish and ecosystem that the professionally-supported QT has.

If you are making a full-fledged application (as opposed to a user tool or back-end interface) and are hell-bent on using a windowing toolkit (over say an HTML/CSS engine), then QT is currently the only correct answer. There are others around, but they all fall short of QT.

On a side note, Tcl (by the same original author as Tk) is a wildly under-appreciated scripting language.

Thanks for sharing this knowledge.

What can Tk not do, specifically? This thread believes Tk is as good as QT https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12380456

This might help illustrate:

http://forum.sqlitestudio.pl/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=334

That post is by the lead developer of a SQLite project competing with the one I'm involved in. The original version was developed in Tcl/Tk, and outgrew it.

Note - I'm not personally familiar with Tck/Tk, I just remembered reading this when you mentioned it. :)

I would also add Codename One which has many similarities to QT but is based on Java and more Write Once Run Anywhere oriented

http://www.codenameone.com/blog/comparing-qt-and-codename-on...

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