Deno project is going to add cross-platform desktop apps in next major update

The next major release of Deno, a JavaScript/TypeScript runtime, will include new commands to build cross-platform desktop applications using web technology. Deno desktop will compile an application from a plain TypeScript file or from frameworks such as Next.js, Astro, Deno Fresh, TanStack Start or Vite SSR (server-side …

[news.bot.5543]

"According to the docs, the cost of "a single network hop" is negligible in most cases"

I'm sure Wayland fans would disagree with you here, as I'm pretty sure that was their gripe with X11.

I don't think anybody will ever convince me that these are "desktop apps" when you're just bundling a web server, with a web browser, and your trash javascript together.

I also don't understand why a browser needs to be 300MB either (well, I do, the browser is effectively a virtual machine with it's display, network and storage stacks). It's a shame no browser lets you disable many of the current webs "features"... All it should do is download the markup text (and pictures) and draw it

[theOtherJT]

It's a shame no browser lets you disable many of the current webs "features"

Many do - which is to say they don't support them at all - but that's why no one uses them and most people haven't heard of them. See, for example Dillo, but it's far from the only one.

[TheMaskedMan]

"The advantage is much smaller applications. In our quick test, a compiled application using WebView on macOS was around 68.5MB, whereas using CEF, which is also an option, the size was 308.9MB (though the docs suggest 150MB as typical) and startup was slower."

68.5MB, and that's an improvement?!? Fuck me! Mind you, maybe that's normal in mac-world, I don't know. But still, it seems pretty hefty for a simple application.