Multi platform developing
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I read on this forum about a way to develop multi platform apps using JavaScript, html and css, which works by including a full browser in the application. Today I tried to look of such of concept and found the following github page:
https://github.com/Elanis/web-to-desktop-framework-comparison
That supposedly compare different options using this concept.
My objective is to be able to develop for android, and the list mentions that one of the option called tauri can do that. It is license MIT. Now, I am assuming that the entire workflow will use free software licenses.
Does anybody has experience developing using this method? Do you guys thing trying tauri be a good idea?
I remember a talk in libre planet of something in those lines but I don't remember what framework they were talking about:
OK, I found the talker in that libre planet talk, his name is Marc Prud'hommeaux, who seem to be part of the f-droid project, and the developer of the Skip, which seems like allows it user to develop both ios and android apps using the same code. I wonder if is free software.
Well here it says is "open source", I'll see and report my findings.
Tauri uses Rust. I don't have a problem with Rust. Hope I don't start a flame war with that statement.
Please beware of the implications of developing apps that import browsers, since they may enable the website owner or the JavaScript owner to abuse the user: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/wwworst-app-store.html
Also, the software freedom of the browser-like stuff, specially for Chromium-based is unknown: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Chromium
Since people started adding huge patched-packages to FSDG compliant distros just to add their favorite Firefox/Chromium-based browser to these distros such as Guix, then it cannot be said that such generic package name could be considered free in all platforms or installations, Guix develepors have yet to resolve this longstanding conflict with the general workgroup responsible for reviewing distros as well as entries for FSD.
For packages with only distro-specific changes to fit their technical choices, and whose packages have names that refer to free/libre software, like GNU IceCat and Trisquel's Abrowser, since they often don't retain the name of the original non-free software, the above paragraph doesn't apply to them.
I am not a multi platform developer, but I guess it would be a good idea to have a framework that translates the instructions to the user choice of GUI in GNU+Linux, as well as to the corresponding GUIs on Android-based such as Replicant, and etc.
Generally speaking, when developing something using any web-related language, keep in mind that the end-user may have special needs regarding how stuff should be displayed, so it would be best to present elements as natively as possible to the operating system, including with scroll bars, buttons with automatic sizes, and let the user's choice of desktop/interface control how text should be displayed and what is the space between lines, as well as what color to use for everything, and how all the stuff should be displayed and indexed.
The part about text and visual elements on the previous paragraph is of special interest to people with disabilities such as poor or subnormal sight (my case) or even to blind people who need screen readers or often navigate using Tab, Space, arrow keys and shortcuts instead of a mouse. I would like to go to change the desktop's font settings and have the browser and all other applications follow that too. In the specific context of things that are based on web browsers just to present another that is like a website, I find it hard to use any real website or website-like that changes any of the sizes, colors, spacing, fonts, display-type of the stuff. By the way, if anything has automatic size based on text content and no scroll bars, then it shouldn't disappear on the first click/tap.
Thank you a lot ADFENO I hope you know how much your response means to me. Thank you. You are giving me a lot to think about.
> Also, the software freedom of the browser-like stuff, specially for Chromium-based is unknown [...]
If I'm not mistaken, Electron.js is the one that uses the full chromium executable, while tauri, says that it uses the system default web rendered or something in those lines. In any case, even if that is the case, I don't know all the mambo jambo that tauri uses to construct it's executables, especially for proprietary OS like Windows MacOS or iOS. Best case scenario, Android and Gnu/Linux are full free software hopefully.
> Please beware of the implications of developing apps that import browsers, since they may enable the
> website owner or the JavaScript owner to abuse the user:
The program I'm hoping to develop won't need to be online if not wanted or needed. Everything will be included in the program, so no need for the program to download anything else to function, and an api will be used to connect to a server if wanted. Being free software it will be possible to study the javascript, at least from my part, tauri itself might be another story.
The only reason developing this way is appealing to me is that I feel quiet comfortable using html, css and javascript, and seeing it working on any system is quite awesome.
> Generally speaking, when developing something using any web-related language, keep in mind that the end-user may have special needs [...]
Actually, the people that will be using my program are quite old, so I was thinking on having a way to increase text size at will, along with any sort of customization like the ones offer by tailwind's dasy, UI. I'm also hoping to use the correct tags on my html code, and hope that tauri also offers options to get advantage of them which I'm guessing most web browsers offer in this regard.
Any way I'll keep posting once in a while about my findings. Thanks a gain for your interest.
ADFENO there is something I wanted to ask you, I might be mistaken, but I kind of remember that chromium was not included in Trisquel because some sort of problem with with some developers copyright or something. But when I opened the wiki you sent, I didn't seem to find that exact information. Unless I mistaken, I thought you were talking about brand, in the same way that icecat is used instead of firefox.
Sorry if I don't make much sense, I really don't know what I'm talking bout. It will be nice if chromium becomes free software viable, but I kind of remember there were reasons for not having it on Trisquel for sure.
The latest info seems to be from 2019. See "Known issues" in:
https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Review:Chromium-REV-ID-1
and the linked message from jxself:
https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/gnu-linux-libre/2019-02/msg00063.html
> https://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/gnu-linux-libre/2019-02/msg00063.html
That was easier to understand for me thank you.