5 Best Cross-Platform Desktop Application Development Frameworks
Before jumping right into the top 5 cross-platform desktop application development frameworks, let me entertain you with some positivity about desktop applications as such.
Is desktop application dying? Many people wonder about this! And the most definite answer is no, and it’s not going to die in the near future. In a world where mobile connectivity is growing at an intensive rate, desktop application development has seen a downward trend. But it’s never going to go extinct.
For the novice here, let me state the definition of a desktop application: applications that run natively on OSs like macOS, Windows, and Linux, and it does not require any internet connection to function. They need a high level of programming languages and specialized frameworks. Cross platform desktop application development is all about rendering a desktop app on many platforms. These apps can be turned into another desktop platform, mobile devices, and web applications in a versatile manner. They need lighter and shorter development cycles than the native desktop application and are evenly functional across platforms with a single codebase.
Keep in mind that desktop application development is the best and only choice in some instances. For example, business software with a broad variety of cutting-edge functionalities should be built as a desktop app. This is definitely so in the case of a very complex UI that depends on good graphics processing units (GPU) like games.
Being said this, choosing the best cross platform desktop application development frameworks is not a cakewalk. Here is a humble attempt to help you choose the right frameworks for effective desktop application development from a plethora of options.
5 Best Cross-Platform Desktop Application Development Frameworks
1. Electron
Developed by GitHub, this cross-platform desktop application development framework serves as a brilliant open-source framework that uses Node.js. Electron permits developers to build cross-platform desktop applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With it, developers can focus on the plain and key functionalities of the software. This framework handles the hardest parts of a software development process and is used by big companies such as Stack, Microsoft, and Facebook. With Electron, the same code can be executed on Linux and Mac as well as Windows. Moreover, it offers an additional advantage of accessing any library or framework that is available for JavaScript in a browser.
2. Swing
Swing is a Java-based cross-platform desktop application development framework. Swing is uniquely positioned to offer a superior set of graphical user interface (GUI) components. Thanks to its ability to imitate the look and flair of many platforms, it is considered one of the best cross-platform desktop frameworks. It comes studded with diverse UI components including buttons and checkboxes, panels, scroll panes, tables, lists, etc.
3. Kivy
Kivy is an open-source cross-platform Python GUI framework to enable cross-platform desktop application development. It works well as a multi-touch application for desktop and mobile platforms. This framework helps you use the same code to run on all the supported platforms, i.e. Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android, and iOS. It is coded in Python and therefore your machine needs to have Python 3 to make use of the library. Its GUI offers diverse layouts and widgets.
4. Enyo
Enyo is an open-source JavaScript framework like Electron. It makes it easy for developers to create native-quality apps for desktop, mobile, web, and TV. The framework has object-oriented features and flaunts a component model. Modular design, reusable and extensible components, layout and widget libraries, handy deployment choices, and support for HTML5 standards make it a distinct cross-platform desktop application development framework.
5. Qt
Qt (pronounced as “cute”) is written in C++. It is developed as a complete cross-platform framework and is used for building connected devices, UIs, and applications with native C++ performance. Developers can create native embedded, desktop, and mobile applications using GUI widgets and quick modules using QML language. Its language binding enables you to use it in Python, javaScript, etc.
Wrapping Up
If you are into building native quality cross-platform desktop application development, ensure to check the above-discussed desktop application development frameworks. Get in touch with an experienced desktop application development company to build versatile multi-platform desktop applications. Contact them to get their seasoned developers to choose the right technology as per your unique business needs.