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I want to make a certain desktop application (why not a web service? efficiency & privacy). I'd like the frontend to be html. (why? simplicity & portability). Is it possible (and tractable) to render the window using (say) gecko or webkit? My backend would talk directly to the the layout engine frontend, without a browser between.

I've looked at bowline and chromiumembedded. I don't need a network, the "server" is just a local database.

my questions are:

1) What are good desktop html layout engines? Is the API good? Is it fast? Will it be supported for the next few years? Did you enjoy using it? etc

2) If you've done (or tried) this, what were your tools and how was it?

related: Desktop application development with Javascript and HTML

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Francis Haart
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We used brackets-shell at my work. It works well for desktop apps with HTML front-ends. It also bundles Node.js for you if you want to write your "server-side" code in javascript.

Brackets-shell code: https://github.com/adobe/brackets-shell/

My post on getting setup with brackets shell: http://clintberry.com/2013/html5-desktop-apps-with-brackets-shell/

Clint
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