From: Timmy Douglas <mail@timmydouglas.com>
To: Arsen =?utf-8?Q?Arsenovi=C4=87?= <arsen@aarsen.me>
Cc: ~sircmpwn/public-inbox@lists.sr.ht
Subject: Re: electron alternatives: wayland-like widget toolkits/GUI frameworks
In-Reply-To: <20210223083845.iarzrth4yx746k7y@bstg>
References: <871rd7icvp.fsf@timmydouglas.com>
 <20210223083845.iarzrth4yx746k7y@bstg>
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 13:46:35 -0800
Message-ID: <87y2feh2ys.fsf@timmydouglas.com>
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Arsen Arsenovi=C4=87 <arsen@aarsen.me> writes:

>> 1. Has anyone created a realistic alternative to HTML/CSS--maybe a
>> binary DOM that has a reasonable API for manipulation? I supposed it'd
>> also need some sort of rendering engine
> No, and there's no real need for one. Existing GUI frameworks (none of wh=
ich are
> small enough, but they work well enough) already are very mutable from AP=
Is;
> such a DOM would be no improvement, in fact, the only reason DOM manipula=
tion
> is so needed in the Electron world is because HTML is *not* a UI language=
, and
> it shows; it's a markup language unfit for program UIs.
> In that regard, Qt is not terrible, it produces good GUIs, even though it=
 acts
> like a bit of a virus in any codebase, and sadly exposes a C++ API instea=
d of a
> C one.

That's one of the problems having a DOM and protocol for manipulating it
would aim to solve--allowing a polyglot friendly widget toolkit. Seems
like it could also be beneficial for licensing as well.


>> 2. Has anyone created a Wayland-like protocol for #1 so that you may
>> create an app that communicates through a socket to manipulate the DOM
>> and receive events? Basically you could use any programming language you
>> like, and you would speak the binary protocol to create windows,
>> manipulate the DOM, handle events, etc. A "binary web view" could be a
>> separate executable that just connects back to a socket specified as an
>> argument to the program. This binary web view just renders the DOM and
>> handles events and would be reusable across applications. Then your
>> widget toolkit SDK speaks the binary format over the wire and is written
>> in your programming language of choice.
> This sounds massively over engineered, just link a library, let it render=
 your
> bitmaps and blit them on the screen for you, and that's it, which is how =
it
> worked for the last three or so decades.

ok