Ask HN: Cross-platform GUI apps in 2024

14 points by ackatz 2 years ago | 12 comments

What would you use to build a small, cross-platform app with a GUI in 2024? Ideally, I want it to be usable on Mac, Windows, and Linux. I usually use Python but my experience has been that it’s really hard to distribute Python GUI apps. I have heard that Electron is good for this situation. Are there any new frameworks or platforms that you would recommend?

ethanwillis 2 years ago |

I haven't personally used it. However, I did watch a guy build from scratch his desktop client for his VPN using wails (https://wails.io/) + Golang. It actually went pretty smoothly and quickly. And he did it for mac, windows, and linux. Here's a link to his project since it's open source: https://github.com/tunnels-is/nicelandvpn-desktop

When I did build a production app with Electron (a few years ago granted) I ran into distribution difficulties as well. It's doable, but it was a pain. Specifically what was a pain was auto-update.

Oras 2 years ago | |

It looks interesting and similar concept to Tauri in using the system webview. It has to instead of rust for the backend.

I’m surprised why Electron hasn’t used the webview approach, wouldn’t that remove the dependency on chromium and reduce the app size?

ackatz 2 years ago | |

Thank you. This looks really promising and I’ve been wanting to check out Golang again

fyzix 2 years ago |

Flutter if you don't need multi-window support. Examples:

Ubuntu AppCenter: https://github.com/ubuntu/app-center

Android Nearby Share (Windows): https://www.android.com/better-together/nearby-share-app/

Google OneVPN: https://one.google.com/about/vpn

Rows.com (spreadsheets): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEdQXBUPYOE

Superlist (project management): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihpcubpQHA0

Supernova (collab. design): https://flutter.dev/showcase/supernova

Rive studio (animation): https://flutter.dev/showcase/rive

APIDash (Postman alt): https://github.com/foss42/apidash

ackatz 2 years ago |

I just learned of Flet (https://flet.dev) which seems interesting for Python. I may try this as well.

colund 2 years ago |

WxPython & WxWidgets are worth a look. I personally like that it uses the platform's native API rather than emulating the GUI and the license seems ok.

arromatic 2 years ago | |

Does Wxpython require python interpreter to be bundled with the installer ?

iamflimflam1 2 years ago |

Take a look at fyne - https://fyne.io/ cross platform using go.

bpmedley 2 years ago |

C# and Avalonia are getting better as time goes on.

umen 2 years ago |

what about Qt and wxWidgets all the c++ fast frameworks ? dead ? Only js rule the world ?

tomcam 2 years ago |

Livecode