Javascript is "libraries" the language, for better or worse. You're comparing a language which is the de-facto language of front-end design and increasingly popular on the back-end to UI toolkits that have been around forever and still have virtually no mindshare by comparison.
HTML and javascript are the time and energy wise choice for any sort of front end design. It's just that we have shit like electron that is beyond suboptimal at tackling the issue of "native" applications (although I'd argue still a sensible choice!). Ideally we have something like react-native for the desktop, or built in html/js runtimes with platform specific bindings.