As the title says: if I give you the choice of the same tool in either device native, for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOs, OR in the browser, which would you choose?
2 Likes
Natively for me, please. I prefer having a tool that can interact naturally with the filesystem and that doesn’t require me to run a secondary operating system, like a browser, to use it.
4 Likes
Tool for what?
4 Likes
I’m assuming writing/coding IF, but I’m not OP.
3 Likes
For tools I’ll be using extensively, I vastly prefer native ones so that they can interact with all my other tools without me importing and exporting constantly.
Unfortunately, a lot of tools don’t run natively on Linux (e.g. Trizbort), and browser-based is infinitely better than nothing.
4 Likes
Natively. We get a lot of internet outages, so I prefer stuff I can still get running when I’m offline.
6 Likes
Natively, I don’t trust in browser tools to not lose my work over sessions, or the odd power outage! This is why I downloaded Twine and use it way more than I do Bitsy, which I usually finish in a single sitting to avoid saving problems.
7 Likes
Browsers have a nasty habit of updating and changing things when you are in the middle of something. So I’m for native too. (But what is/are the tool/s?)
5 Likes
I have a strong preference for native programs although I would consider using one that ran on a local web server via a browser.
5 Likes
That, too, yeah. If I’m able to easily run a web server for a browser-based tool, then I have no problem with it.
3 Likes
Natively on my Linux. I see a bad trend im bloatware. Sometimes browser apps are cool, but normally not.
4 Likes
definitively natively.
3 Likes
Sorry, Andrew, I thought that it was obvious that I was talking of i-f tools. But, given that this is general chat, I guess it could be any tools. I’d still be interested dint he answer, either way.
1 Like
We have a winner! 
Also, I updated the title now. Thanks for pointing that out
2 Likes
Me too, but I don’t want to release something and have 80% of potential users say “I would have used that, had it been browser-based”.
2 Likes
Sounds good, But, maybe not everyone can set up Wamp/Lamp, or wants to?
I always have one running myself, but …
1 Like
If you’re able to release it for all of those formats, then yes, natively without a doubt! However, if your wide format release is curtailed somehow, the web format is deeply appreciated.
I do most of my work in Twine natively, but this past IFcomp I had deadline conflicts and had to use my iPad to finish my project on the road. I would have rather used an iOS release of Twine, sure, but since there wasn’t one, I was powerful glad there was a web version.
2 Likes
I’d stick with linux CLI. Apple is based on BSD Unix. Windows and ChromeOS has Linux terminal.
I don’t know any for Kindle, but there is supposedly a version in Google Play store for Android.
4 Likes
Of course, I can’t speak for any substantial percentage of potential users, but there are real upsides to native applications of various kinds, not least that they use less memory, have fewer abstraction layers on top of them, are scriptable, and can be integrated into various workflows and toolchains that the designers didn’t anticipate. A CLI program is generally substantially less effort to write, and having to work from the terminal is really not all that difficult a skill for reasonably technical people to acquire. They can also be distributed in ways that don’t require the author to set up, maintain, and pay for hosting, and they can be installed in ways that persist even if the author’s own distribution channels go down. GUI front-ends can always be written later if the tool turns out to be useful and needing to use a CLI turns out to be an undue burden for people who would otherwise use the software.
The upsides of a browser-based tool, from my point of view, is that it spares you the terrible burdens of installing and launching the program. There are places where these are real upsides: for instance, in educational and corporate settings where installation requires administrative approval. But, all in all, I for one would rather have the opportunity to manage the software I use in my own way, install how and where I see fit, back up my installation, and keep my working data files where it’s convenient for me to keep them.
Just my opinion, of course.
6 Likes
Android for sure.
1 Like