A new architecture for publishing web content to desktop

Tauri[0] (rust - mentioned), Wails[1] (go - missing) leverage Webview2 on Windows but other (web)views on Linux and Apple allowing cross platform without waiting for MS-WebView2 to cross the platform chasms. I realise this is a marketing blog, but it seems unreasonable to glaze over/ignore how far ahead the competition is.

It also seems unfair to characterize WebView2 as "only" 2020, when the original MS-WebView[2] (aka Trident/MSHTML) was available in 1997, and the second MS-WebView[3] (aka EdgeHTML) was available in 2015 (you wouldn't want to use either of these now, but the concept far predates Electron and you can still build against these targets if you want).

[0]: https://tauri.app/ [1]: https://wails.io/ [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_(software) [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EdgeHTML

> Despite how well this new approach has worked out, there's still one big limitation that remains: it's currently Windows only. However the official WebView2 roadmap lists macOS and Linux support on the way, so it looks like it should be possible to port this approach to both other desktop platforms in future.

I'd be wary of betting on roadmap features, even if well-intentioned you have no control over the dates/priorities.

If your primary customer is Windows, yay! But as a replacement for existing options it's not mature yet.

The arguments against rust in this case seem weak and it becomes even stranger when they decided to follow the exact same approach as tauri, just implementing it themselves (and therefor not profiting from all the work the tauri team has already done). Maybe they should have done a bit research and would have arrived at tauri as their logical conclusion or maybe I‘m missing something in their argumentation.

I remember back when I used to write shitty Windows programs, I could drag an OLE container for IE into a window and my app could then show web pages. And it didn't take up gigs of memory or peg the CPU. They don't make tech like they used to.

Side note - Chrome and Safari can now turn any site into a desktop app which opens in its own window.

Great if you want to turn say HN into a separate app.

These “apps” looks pretty indistinguishable from native macOS apps.

In Chrome:

Open Chrome browser, and go to the website you want to create the shortcut for.

At the top right, click More and then More Tools and then Create Shortcut.

Enter a name for the shortcut. (Optional) If you want the web page to open as a separate window, check the Open as window box.

Click Create.

This article inaccurately states that all of node.js's APIs for native addon development require recompilation for every node version. The modern way to write Node add-ons (Node-API) provides a stable ABI.

WebView2 is what Microsoft Teams has moved to, replacing Electron. It's coming on Mac also...