To have the same great native feeling UI you’d need to use AppKit - not HTML.
Don’t get me started at the usual shortcuts and general platform behavior most electron apps get wrong.
This shouldn't necessarily be interpreted as "Mac users are special flowers", but rather, "Mac users may have stronger opinions about this because they've experienced the benefits of native apps".
I've been around the block with operating systems, and was primarily a Linux user for many years. Later in my career, I started to appreciate the simplicity and consistency of the Apple ecosystem, and while I recognize that's not everyone's thing, it lets me focus on the job at hand and spend less time learning how to use new apps/tools. This is valuable.
If they're so attached to native apps, maybe they should build a website/community where people ready to pay more for native apps can say they want for example a native client for slack, discord, spotify, and then the companies can see if it's viable or not.
My problem is that these complaints are exactly like "the back button is broken", it doesn't bring anything new or interesting to talk about, people never propose to help a project or to pay money for new features, they just complain and never stop. This isn't good content for Hacker News in general.
Look at how *nix, Windows, Sun, BSD, Chrome OS (which is basically a linux anyways) all use Ctrl, Meta (alt), and Shift for their hotkeys, compared to how Mac uses Hyper (cmd).
Also look at how Mac has one instance of an app's tool bar/menu that all windows share.
I'll agree that the consistent UI is a boon, but there's a large lack of discoverability imo, and some things that are just entirely lacking, like the ability to move windows around with hotkeys.
I agree with you that it's almost impossible to get a native UI feel in electron, but that's not always the first priority.
If the end goal of the application is to present a custom interface for drawing on a monospace grid for ASCII art, I'm not sure I see the argument that a native UI is necessary over any cross-platform kit like QT or even an html based UI. I totally agree on shortcuts being a problem. Dealing with those cross-platform can be a headache when sufficient care is not being taken. Especially from an outsider to the platform.
As a long-time linux user, most of the interactions on OSX feel wrong to me, but I know it's me that's the problem. If I were to write shortcuts for the OSX platform, I'm sure I'd get most of them wrong. Conversely, if an OSX developer was writing shortcuts for a linux or windows platform, I'm sure they'd face the same issue. It really benefits to have a platform expert you can consult for testing.
I'm not trying to eschew the need and benefits of native apps here, I was trying to point out the fact that the large amount of hate for Electron (and similar web UI on desktop solutions) have their place.
Heck, this entire app could have been a web app. I'm sure a few out there exist to do very similar things.
There's dozens of ways to accomplish things in the wonderful field that is software development, and the whole "this tech is bad" cargo-cult is more a disservice than anything. There are pros and cons to every decision that goes into an application, and taking a stance against one method without considering the use cases and how it could benefit or hinder runs the risk of loosing out on promising tech or excluding people from using your project.
I've seen Monodraw a few times over the years, and I've lamented the fact that I haven't been able to use it, which is what drew me to make my original comment.
Another: native Mac apps by default reopen where you left off. Open windows, open documents, etc. Electron doesn't get this functionality automatically; you could spend time recreating it, but it still would integrate with native settings.
Another small example: native Mac UI controls reflect the system-wide accent color the user's selected. With Electron, you'd have to either spend time rebuilding the functionality or omit it.
Mac users like Macs because Macs work like Macs. Electron apps ignore the benefits and features Mac apps usually get automatically and just revert to the lowest common denominator.
Perfectly valid reason why someone would want to write their app as a native app though, and I appreciate that.
Some of those are definitely things Electron gets wrong and should correct. Handling system-wide accent colors is exactly the kind of thing my UI kit (Electron in this argument) should be handling and not forcing everyone to re-invent.
I've never used or even heard of the titlebar file handling functionality and had to search that right now. This is exactly the kind of thing I've said about discoverability. I used OSX for three years daily, and I've been using it on and off as needed since around 2010. Some things that people love and use all the time are just not obvious to everyone.
I guess they tried to make the app look like a native app?
The interesting part is that this is even worse IMHO. Because you get into an uncanny-valley pretty soon.
