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Electron vs Material UI: What are the differences?
Introduction
In this article, we will discuss the key differences between Electron and Material UI. Both Electron and Material UI are popular technologies used in web development, but they serve different purposes and have distinct features. Let's explore the differences in more detail.
Electron: Electron is a framework that allows developers to build cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It combines the Chromium rendering engine and the Node.js runtime to create applications that can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. Electron provides a native-like experience for desktop applications, including access to native APIs, system tray integration, and hardware peripherals.
Material UI: Material UI is a user interface (UI) library that implements the Material Design guidelines developed by Google. It provides a set of reusable React components that follow Material Design principles, allowing developers to create visually appealing and consistent UIs. Material UI offers a wide range of customizable components, including buttons, inputs, dialogs, and navigation elements, that can be easily styled and integrated into React-based projects.
Difference 1: Purpose: Electron is primarily used for building desktop applications, while Material UI is specifically focused on providing UI components for web development projects. Electron allows developers to create standalone desktop applications that can run independently of a web browser, whereas Material UI helps in designing responsive and visually appealing user interfaces for web applications.
Difference 2: Technology Stack: Electron utilizes web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create desktop applications, leveraging the Chromium rendering engine and Node.js runtime. On the other hand, Material UI is built on top of React, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, and allows developers to create UI components using React's virtual DOM and component-based architecture.
Difference 3: Target Platforms: Electron applications can be built for multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing a consistent experience across different platforms. In contrast, Material UI is primarily focused on web development and is not limited to specific operating systems, as web applications can run on any browser that supports the necessary technologies.
Difference 4: Level of Abstraction: Electron provides a lower-level framework that gives developers more control over the desktop environment, allowing direct access to native APIs and system resources. On the other hand, Material UI abstracts many UI-related details by providing pre-built components and styling options, making it easier for developers to create consistent and visually appealing UIs without worrying about low-level implementation details.
Difference 5: Development Environment: Electron applications are typically developed using web development tools and workflows, with the ability to use frameworks and libraries commonly used in web development. Material UI, being a UI library for React, is integrated into React projects and can be used alongside other React-specific tools and libraries.
Difference 6: Learning Curve: Electron requires familiarity with web technologies, as well as understanding desktop application development concepts, such as packaging and distributing applications. Material UI, on the other hand, assumes prior knowledge of React and its related concepts, making it easier for developers already familiar with React to adopt and use Material UI in their projects.
In summary, Electron is a framework for building cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies, while Material UI is a UI library that helps in designing visually appealing and consistent user interfaces for web applications using React. Electron focuses on desktop application development with direct access to native APIs, while Material UI abstracts UI-related details and provides pre-built components for easier web UI development.
As our team will be building a web application, HTML5 and CSS3 are one of the standardized combinations to implement the structure and the styling of a webpage. Material-UI comes with all sorts of predesigned web components such as buttons and dropdowns that will save us tons of development time. Since it is a component library designed for React, it suits our needs. However, we do acknowledge that predesigned components may sometimes cause pains especially when it comes to custom styling. To make our life even easier, we also adopted Tailwind CSS. It is a CSS framework providing low-level utility classes that will act as building blocks when we create custom designs.
Fonts and typography are fun. Material Design is a framework (developed by Google) that basically geeks out on how to assemble your typographical elements together into a design language. If you're into fonts and typography, it's fantastic. It provides a theming engine, reusable components, and can pull different user interfaces together under a common design paradigm. I'd highly recommend looking into Borries Schwesinger's book "The Form Book" if you're going to be working with Material UI or are otherwise new to component design.
https://www.amazon.com/Form-Book-Creating-Printed-Online/dp/0500515085
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