Ask HN: What framework for a cross-platform menu-bar app?

7 pointsdexcs7y ago6 comments

Guys I want to create a menu-bar app, what framework does one use nowadays? It's pretty simple so I want it to run under Linux, Mac, and Windows. Any recommendations? I'm not a good coder of c++, something high-level would fit better, so I think QT is out of my scope right now...

6 comments

snazz7y ago

If the app is pretty simple, you could get away with writing it natively for each platform instead of worrying about making one version cross-platform. This way it will look native on every platform and it shouldn’t be significantly more work, assuming your app is fairly simple.

jakobegger7y ago

I concur! Menu bar apps behave differently on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Trying to use a cross platform solution is just going to result in 3 crappy apps.

Building a simple menu bar app for the Mac in Swift can be accomplished in a weekend (if you have no prior experience). If you need help with that, email me and I can give you a few tips.

If your app does more complicated things, you might want to write some shared framework in C++ that does the heavy lifting, but even then the UI should be written using native libraries.

dexcsOP7y ago

Thank you guys, I think that's the way I'm going for that. A app per OS.

jrgoj7y ago

QT is more accessible than you might assume. The QT Designer comes with a number of templates to get you running quickly. Connecting UI elements to backend code is fairly straightforward as well, and you can do much of it using the designer UI itself. Documentation is also pretty great.

mherrmann7y ago

Try my https://build-system.fman.io. Based on PyQt, so you can use Python not C++, and makes cross-platform deployment super easy.

rboyd7y ago

https://github.com/status-im/react-native-desktop perhaps?

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