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Text editors don’t need all the widgets and controls. They basically need a context menu (and Electron’s menus are horrible as they provide none of the native OS accelerators and integrations), a open/save dialog (pretty please don’t use a custom UI here!), and maybe a menu/toolbar. The editor itself is custom code (whether html/css/js or native), and that’s where the performance benefits of native code shine best anyway.


> and that’s where the performance benefits of native code shine best anyway

That's right, now you just have to deal with open source OpenGL libraries or of course write it yourself.

Handle unicode, sub/superscripts, RTL text, typography nuances, LaTeX etc. by yourself.

(See more at https://gankra.github.io/blah/text-hates-you/)

Also do it in your free time because probably you won't make a living out of it.

So I totally understand why anyone would pick a browser engine where all of this is super easy to solve.


Of course, there's no middle ground between "using a whole browser engine" and "coding your UI in raw OpenGL".

Have you heard of, say, Qt?




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