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by brundolf 1137 days ago
And I don't think this is a knock against it. React Native is mainly an effort-multiplier, and Facebook has plenty of resources to do 2x the work (or 1.5x or whatever it is in practice)
1 comments

Do they still after all the layoffs though?

And it's not just an effort multiplier, it also provides a unified codebase on both platforms which helps to provide a more consistent UX and less bugs.

“Consistent” UX is often one of the downsides of cross platform frameworks. Android and iOS have distinct UX details that users expect in their apps.
Yes but React Native uses native elements. It doesn't fake them like Flutter. It just provides a unified way to address them.
This is a problem even with desktop apps. Look at the print dialog abomination that Firefox unleashed on us.
Chrome did it first, and (at least on Windows) the system print dialog sucks anyway.
Sure, and the single biggest weakness over at Mozilla is that they're more focused on building a better Chrome (a.k.a. following the leader) instead of innovating or fixing bugs. That's why we've lost useful tools like the 3D DOM rendering in favor of a fucking chat client in Thunderbird. Or why if your system is lagged enough you can hit Cmd+T, start typing a URL, hit return, and have Firefox load the new URL in the old tab… but at least we have that awful search instead of separate, proper, URL and search bars. It's why we get limited-time-only!!! paid themes while all extensions get disabled because someone forgot to deal with an expired certificate.

Mozilla, and by extension the Firefox crew, lost sight of their core competencies a long time ago. Every dumbass design decision the Chrome folks make, Mozilla will emulate a few years later.

Definitely agree on some of this stuff. The themes situation sounded pretty delusional the whole time. And there were many more decisions like that.

However, what is this about separate search and url boxes? I have that, still. You don't have to have just the single box. Still, the main url box still behaves as a search either way. Is that what you mean?

I also think Firefox had lost its way, but not because of these things.
IIRC Thunderbird is a separate project now, not part of Mozilla, no?
React was the last new curve of single code base.

Things like Flutter are the new ones that have been able to learn from and improve on it.

I generally prefer react native apps (note that this is not the same as react which is more of a web framework) over Flutter. Because Flutter fakes native UI elements instead of just calling them.
Typo, I meant react native and not react in my comment.

React native is pretty heavy. Works nice and happy for those who enjoy it.