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Electron vs MacGap: What are the differences?
Build Environment: Electron allows developers to build cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It provides a Node.js runtime environment along with the Chromium web browser, enabling developers to create applications for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. On the other hand, MacGap is specifically designed for building macOS applications by wrapping a web view in a native macOS shell. MacGap applications are limited to the macOS platform only.
Native Capabilities: Electron provides access to various native capabilities of the underlying operating system through its APIs. Developers can leverage these APIs to interact with system functionalities like the file system, network, notifications, and more. In contrast, MacGap offers a limited set of native macOS capabilities, allowing developers to utilize features like native bindings, menus, and preferences specific to the macOS platform.
Application Size: Electron applications usually have larger file sizes compared to MacGap applications. This is because Electron includes a full Chromium browser along with its own runtime, resulting in a larger package size. On the other hand, MacGap applications are generally smaller in size as they rely on the built-in Safari web view component of macOS.
Distribution and Installation: Electron applications can be distributed and installed on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, through various channels like app stores, package managers, or direct downloads. MacGap applications, being targeted specifically for macOS, can be distributed through the Mac App Store, third-party app stores, or manual distribution methods like direct downloads.
Development Support: Electron has a larger and active community of developers, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and resources available online. It also benefits from the vast ecosystem of web development tools and frameworks. MacGap, being a more specialized framework, has a relatively smaller community and fewer available resources compared to Electron.
Platform Compatibility: Electron provides robust support for building cross-platform applications, allowing developers to write code once and deploy it on multiple operating systems. MacGap, on the other hand, is focused solely on macOS and may require additional effort for porting applications to other platforms.
In Summary, Electron is a versatile framework for building cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies, while MacGap is specifically designed for creating macOS applications with limited native capabilities. Electron has a larger community, wider platform compatibility, and higher application size, whereas MacGap offers a smaller footprint, specific macOS features, and limited platform compatibility.
Hi Everyone, I need to choose a graphics framework for app development on Linux. Since I know Qt from previous projects it would be a straightforward choice for me but the cost is a huge issue in this project. Any advice for a free and nice framework to use for app development? The requested UI contains some dynamic elements, like graphs, etc. Thanks in advance!
wxWidget is not even an option, because you end up using wxQt: https://github.com/wxWidgets/wxWidgets/issues/23012#issuecomment-1336467022
Among the Qt versions, because Qt 4.x has many bugs, and Qt 6+ removed support for C++11, I use Qt 5.6, which is the last version which allows both LGPL v2.1 and LGPL v3.
Finally there is also Flutter, whcih recently added support for Desktop and Laptop platforms. It's main code language is Dart, but native-code is possible as well.
Pros of Electron
- Easy to make rich cross platform desktop applications69
- Open source53
- Great looking apps such as Slack and Visual Studio Code14
- Because it's cross platform8
- Use Node.js in the Main Process4
Pros of MacGap
- Remember that Mac app you always wanted to create... ?3
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Cons of Electron
- Uses a lot of memory19
- User experience never as good as a native app8
- No proper documentation4
- Does not native4
- Each app needs to install a new chromium + nodejs1
- Wrong reference for dom inspection1
Cons of MacGap
- Only for Mac2