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Apply HN: Native Web Browser

6 points by ShirsenduK ↗ HN
Native apps provide better UX and performance than the web, we all agree on that now. However, I don't see myself installing every other app, as most times, I would use them just once in 6 months. With limited space on mobiles, there are millions like me who have to compromise with the mobile web. Wouldn't it be nice to have a browser which renders native components resulting in an awesome user experience with great performance?

Well, the solution is already out there! Its called React Native, a framework by Facebook which helps you create native apps using JavaScript. But instead of making apps which one installs, our goal is to make them streamable and build a browser which interprets the React Native code and renders it using native components just like Chrome does HTML. React Native already does this but isn't optimised for it. Let's built it and make the web great again!

P.S. - The project is going to be open-source and there are no revenue models as of now. I'm @troysk704 on twitter and happy to answer questions.

9 comments

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BinaryIdiot
The web could certainly use an alternative to the HTML / CSS / JS stack. The paradigm is just so awkward nowadays for how it's used that we invent new web frameworks almost daily to make working on the web less awkward. So there is certainly a need for an alternative, in my opinion, that can offer better performance, device access and most importantly a less awkward development cycle. Plus local storage sucks.

Having said that, like others mentioned security is a huge, huge, huge hurdle to getting this right. However I don't think that automatically means it wouldn't work. On the contrary many new technologies start out as being very insecure.

I think the real hurdle is adoption. In order to use your technology stack a user would have to install a new type of browser (messaging around this may prove difficult) and a developer would have to dedicate to writing something in your stack. Granted if you're looking at React Native then you're likely thinking JavaScript here so that makes it easier but it's yet another platform for a developer to learn. Most companies need to be present on the web, android, ios and sometimes beyond that onto windows, mac os x and maybe even into IoT devices. Adding your platform to that list is going to be tough.

ShirsenduK
Agreed! Getting users is always a hurdle :).
afrancis
Isn't web assembly going to help address many of these problems?
random_ua
Is it any different from ExponentJS ?
ShirsenduK
ExponentJS is a development tool/environment for react native based apps.
random_ua
Exponent mobile app behaves a lot like browser. It allows you to load React Native app and use it over web (required images and fonts will be loaded on demand).

Anyway I think that app streaming is really great idea that's still waiting for its killer app. What's your progress with project ?