[headmelted]

I've sort of mixed feelings about this.

Instinctively this does seem better than Electron as a solution. It's much leaner, isn't subject to the browser sandbox, and should be consistent across platforms - so it ticks the same boxes in a leaner package. I just don't think Electron is a solution we should try to emulate elsewhere.

Most Electron apps that I've seen don't really need access to the underlying platform, and as a user I really don't want to trust the author with native access to the platform where it's not obviously necessary. Even where it is necessary I have no real granularity as regards the permissions I'm handing over.

PWA's are dismissed more or less out-of-hand in the article but they're pretty much what it goes on to suggest, just with compromises.

Electron (or an Electron-but-leaner approach) gives us this:

- Common platform for offline applications that run in a browser engine.

PWA's give you that, and also this:

- Permissions system for out-of-the-ordinary platform requirements that (1) have API consistency across devices and (2) that the user has visibility and granular control over.

- Updates are managed inherently by the nature of the open web (reload page, service worker updates).

- No seperate framework to install for JS, but if a framework needs to be bundled (e.g. for .NET Core) it can be cached between applications similarly to if it were installed on the computer seperately.

Honestly I think PWA's over WebAssembly and the open web is a much better fit for this.

People complain about Electron not being available on mobile devices and things like Chromebooks, but the reason for that is because there's a better solution already in place:

Websites pinned to the home screen.

They're a webview without window chrome that can request access to perform most tasks you might want to do with Electron, but inside the sandbox.

The only thing I can think of that needs platform access and is commonly built on Electron is code editors, and even then only to run and debug command line applications that are running seperately on the platform. For almost every other type of application I've seen on Electron it would be better as a PWA.

[pjmlp]

PWAs are also what we decided to invest on for mobile Web.

And I get a feeling that WebAssembly + WebGL/WebGPU will have a shinny future, unless the browser authors change course.