

NativeHost: Run your Cappuccino applications on the desktop - tlrobinson
http://cappuccino.org/discuss/2010/05/13/nativehost-run-your-cappuccino-applications-on-the-desktop/

======
alextgordon
I just wish they'd use native controls instead of their custom replacements.
It is not good design to make an application look and feel different merely
because it was built with a different programming language.

~~~
boucher
Our opinions on this specific issue:
[http://www.alertdebugging.com/2009/11/04/mockingbird-
cappucc...](http://www.alertdebugging.com/2009/11/04/mockingbird-cappuccino-
and-what-really-matters/)

~~~
alextgordon
I did read that and I think you're missing a key distinction.

Custom controls aren't wrong. There's a very limited number of native
controls, but a seemingly infinite number of ways to display and interact with
data. So all but the most simple of apps are going to require custom controls.

Some apps take this further and replace _every_ control in the application
with custom one. Notably Logic/Aperture, Final Cut, a great deal of iPhone
apps and all games. Done well, this can give a sense of context to the user
(especially important in games) and make it look cool.

What I object to is requiring a full replacement of native controls because
the application was written using Cappuccino. This is arbitrary: there's no
reason why a temperature converter app written in Cappuccino should look any
different to the _exact same_ app written in Cocoa. There's no benefit of
context to the user - the toolkit used is merely an implementation detail.

Meanwhile, what would be minor design irritations in a single app are
magnified to become major design flaws when they affect all Cappuccino apps.
I'm not going to pick on specific things since it's beta software, but if
you're going to replace everything, you've got to be absolutely sure it's
implemented immaculately. Otherwise overall usability is going to suffer. It
seems it would be easier to go with native controls and avoid the fuss.

------
jamesbritt
"Currently NativeHost supports Mac OS X, but we’re working on other
platforms."

Ah. Perhaps in time it will be a good alternative to Air.

------
kixxauth
This is really cool. However, in the future, I think a better alternative will
be running native code from the browser like Google NativeClient or CLI in the
browser. Users are always in the browser and really don't like opening other
application, aside from the iPhone / iPad apps.

That said, this tool is a great alternative to Air and Silverlight and it is
here now.

~~~
boucher
The problem with trying to run native code in the browser is that you're
likely to be stuck on Chrome for the forseeable future, whereas NativeHost
(and technology like it) needs only to be written once for each platform and
can then bootstrap any cappuccino app on top of it (and those apps will also
run unmodified on the web).

------
comex
Does it support right-click menus?

