[stephenr]

macOS Messages (aka iMessage) has been rendering text chat using HTML views for years, and it doesn't use gobs of memory.

The problem isn't that the text part is rendered using HTML. That actually makes sense - multiple desktop applications that compose/render user generated rich content rely on HTML (or something converted to HTML) and a web view of some description to render that content: mail, chat, etc.

The problem is rendering the entire application's chrome using Web technologies, and then running all of that inside a web view from a browser that is known to have the resource usage of a porcine creature with an eating disorder.

> The only ray of hope here is what FB has done with React and React Native

No. The ray of hope is that people realise web technologies are not the best choice, and the way they're used in Electron is fucking atrocious.

[arvinsim]

> macOS Messages (aka iMessage) has been rendering text chat using HTML views for years, and it doesn't use gobs of memory.

Keep in mind that the OS and the hardware it runs on comes from the same company that does iMessages. You shouldn't discount the amount of control that brings.

Contrast that to people who have to work with different OS platforms and hardware specifications.

[stephenr]

Adium did exactly the same thing - rendering chat contents using HTML. It also didn’t use gobs of memory.

The hard work of optimisation has been done by apple, any app can embed a web view for content and take advantage of the optimisations in the system html renderer.