Desktop Apps

2 posts

discord3 min readCurated summary

Discover More Ways to Play with Apps – Now Anywhere on Discord!

Discord is expanding access to apps so users can play, create, and socialize from virtually anywhere on the platform. The App Launcher now works across desktop and mobile, in voice calls, text chats, servers, and DMs, while supported apps can be added to an account for use across Discord. The goal is to make interactive experiences easier to discover and launch, whether users are alone or with friends. ## Apps for Entertainment and Utility - Discord apps provide games, media, music, creative tools, and utility features within chats. - Examples include: - **Gartic Phone** for party drawing games - **YouTube Watch Together** for shared video viewing - **Rythm** for music - **Stat Tracker** for game statistics - **Midjourney** for image generation - Apps can help fill downtime before friends join a call or add activities to an existing conversation. ## The App Launcher - The App Launcher is available on desktop and mobile. - It appears: - Next to the chat bar in text chats - At the bottom of voice calls - Users can access both Activities and bots from the same interface. - On mobile, a visual command interface lets users select app commands without typing them manually. - Apps can be launched directly from text chats, allowing activities such as chess or mini-golf outside voice calls. ## Image Editing in Chats - Users can select the App Launcher from a shared image to access image-related commands. - Apps can describe images, turn them into stickers, animate them, or add captions. - For example, the esmBot app can add a humorous caption to an uploaded image. - Results appear as new messages in the chat. ## Using Apps Across Discord - Supported apps can be added directly to a user’s account rather than being restricted to a single server. - Users can add an app from its profile in a chat or member list by selecting **“Add App.”** - Launching and authorizing an eligible app through the App Launcher can also add it automatically. - Account-level apps appear in the App Launcher’s **Recents** section for quick access in servers and DMs. ## A Growing App Ecosystem - Discord says its developer community is continually creating new apps. - Users can explore thousands of apps for games, social activities, creative work, and practical tools. - Developers can learn how to build Discord apps through Discord’s developer resources. Discord’s updates make apps more portable and easier to use, reducing the need to search for commands or remain in a particular server. Users can start by opening the App Launcher in a chat or call, adding useful apps to their account, and exploring the broader app directory.

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figma2 min readCurated summary

Introducing BrowserView for Electron | Figma Blog

Figma introduced BrowserView for Electron to address the performance, stability, and feature bugs it experienced with `<webview>`. BrowserView embeds web apps at the operating-system window level, similar to Chrome tabs, allowing them to perform more like native Chrome content. Although it requires manual positioning and layering, Figma found the trade-off worthwhile and shipped it in Figma Desktop 2.0. ## Why Figma Chose Electron - Figma uses the web to make its design tools broadly accessible. - Its desktop app is built with Electron, extending the web experience to desktop platforms. - Figma had already improved performance through technologies such as WebGL and WebAssembly. - The company also contributed fixes and improvements to Electron and Chromium. ## Problems with `<webview>` - Electron commonly uses `<webview>` to embed remote web applications. - Unlike an iframe, a webview renders content in a separate process, improving security, stability, and performance. - Over time, Figma encountered: - Drag-and-drop bugs - Performance below that of Chrome - Other fundamental reliability issues - Because webview is implemented inside Chromium, fixing its underlying problems would require major Chromium changes. - Figma and Electron maintainers therefore chose to develop an alternative rather than continue waiting for Chromium fixes. ## How BrowserView Works - `<webview>` exists within the page’s DOM hierarchy. - BrowserView lives in the operating system’s window hierarchy, much like Chrome’s browser tabs. - This design benefits from the more mature and actively maintained code paths used for Chrome tabs. - BrowserView eliminates many webview-specific bugs. - Applications embedded through BrowserView can perform similarly to applications running directly in Chrome. ## Trade-offs and Adoption - BrowserViews cannot be positioned or layered using ordinary HTML and CSS. - Developers must manually manage their size, location, and stacking order. - This can be difficult for applications with complex interfaces. - For Figma, converting to BrowserView was relatively straightforward. - At the time of publication, BrowserView was experimental and still planned for further refinement. Figma recommends BrowserView as a promising replacement for `<webview>` when improved performance and reliability outweigh the added layout complexity.

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