How does this compare to the below?
google-chrome --app=https://example.com
firefox --ssb=https://example.com
google-chrome --app=https://example.com
firefox --ssb=https://example.com
Certainly, if the built-in "install-as-app" of major browsers work well for you, then it's great.
WebCatalog tries to make the concept simpler and more accessible to average users. Most people are familiar with the concepts of apps and app stores so our vision is to build an app store for web apps that gives users easy access to desktop apps (many not available elsewhere). A user doesn't need to know what is difference between a website or an app, they just need to open WebCatalog and install the apps they want like they usually do on their phone. For a power user, this might sound unnecessary, but this is proven wrong as there are plenty of apps like "X for Gmail" or "Y for Netflix" on Mac App Store and Microsoft Store. It is also the reason why companies like Notion and Slack build web-wrapper desktop apps.
One more point, we're not only letting users install chromeless window apps. If you give it a try, for example, with the Gmail app on WebCatalog [1], you can switch between multiple accounts using workspaces, set the app as the default email client, attach it to the menu bar or taskbar, etc. They're real apps with executables, not just bash scripts. And we're trying to integrate the web apps with your system and make it feel native-like as much as possible. And we're going to add many more features soon. In other words, we're trying to bring the experience that web-wrapper apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Notions offer to every web app.
I've been bootstrapping WebCatalog since 2017. I and many people around the world use it every day. It's a well-tested idea. It's only now that we decide to launch the product widely.
Can you point to a viable alternative? Multiplatform by default, with the option to build rich reactive UI? Plus text editing with a sane document model (via ProseMirror etc)? Fast math rendering (via katex)?
If so I will happily jump ship! Even Microsoft's attempt at a react native for desktop excludes Linux so it's a non-starter. The Rust community seems to be interested in solving this problem, and I eagerly await their solution.
For each app, if you need to, you can divide the app into workspaces (similar to how Slack workspaces) which you can switch between using Cmd+1, Cmd+2, etc.