Ask HN: Why aren't devs making desktop apps any more?
Craft [0] are a Notion [1] (note-taking app) competitor that decided to go desktop app first rather than web-first. Their desktop app is beautiful but now they are implementing the webapp and it is obvious that there is a lot of feature disparity with the desktop version. To me, it&#x27;s pretty telling of why the smart decision is often to go web first.<p>I guess it might make sense for Craft because they are in a very crowded space with a large potential market and being native-first is a differentiator over their competitors. I think in most cases though, it doesn&#x27;t make sense to go native-first.<p>Being web-first means that you can ship a consistent UI on every platform using tools that most devs are familiar with.<p>- You code once, it works everywhere.<p>- There is nothing to install, no updates to download.<p>- Lots of web devs means more devs to choose from when hiring.<p>The accessibility of the web platform make it a lowest common denominator. Desktop does add a ton of benefits though. Some of it is intangible like &quot;feels more solid&quot;. But there are a ton of tangible benefits too.<p>- Easily accessible on the dock or start menu. Once installed then less likely to be forgotten.<p>- Native notifications.<p>- More refined UI. Not just one of many tabs.<p>- Access to native APIs that aren&#x27;t available inside the web sandbox.<p>- Alt-tab or Command-tab.<p>- Quick access, i.e. can live in the menubar&#x2F;tray or can be assigned to a global keyboard shortcut which pops up the app quickly.<p>But... Electron can provide all of that! So, it&#x27;s mighty tempting to start with a web app and then pepper in some desktop functionality later by wrapping your web app using Electron.<p>* Disclaimer: I&#x27;m working on this problem with ToDesktop [2] so factor my bias into your comments. :)<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;notion.so&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;notion.so&#x2F;</a>
[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.craft.do&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.craft.do&#x2F;</a>
[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.todesktop.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.todesktop.com&#x2F;</a>