I almost skipped building desktop apps... until I realized this
Most of the hype lately is around AI, web tools, and mobile-first everything. But I keep noticing a growing number of small, focused desktop apps especially for productivity, dev tools and utilities.
Maybe it's just the niche I'm in, but people seem more open to native tools again. Performance, offline access, cleaner UX, better keyboard support stuff that's still hard to replicate in a browser.
I’ve been building one myself recently, and honestly, it’s been refreshing. No browser quirks, no CSS gymnastics, no worrying about five different viewport breakpoints. Just focusing on the actual experience.
Is it just me? Or are you seeing this shift too?
Curious if anyone else here is building or using more desktop-native tools lately 🙂
Replies
I'd be curious to know what the developer experience is like these days. I have no experience with desktop, but web-based frameworks like React always seemed to have a lower barrier to entry to me, especially since you don't have to worry about accommodating Mac vs Windows vs Linux. I guess you could use something cross-platform like Electron, but my understanding is that there are drawbacks to that vs native apps (e.g., performance, lack of integrations, etc). Plus, if you use something like Electron, you still have to worry about browser quirks, CSS gymnastics, etc lol
Not likely, depends very much on the application. Obviously apps like Raycast or Rectange or or terminals benefit hugely from being native. Other than that I think you would be hard pressed to find web developers engage in desktop development outside of electron or other web based technology for "native" development