[rudi-c]

Everyone else in this thread is talking about (React/Angular/Vue/JQuery/etc) v.s. (Plain JS/Direct DOM manipulation/etc). Running that code on top of Electron or not is entirely orthogonal. So I admit I'm confused why you're fixated on bringing Electron into the conversation. Op's question appears to me like it references the last part of the linked thread: "I’d like to know what JavaScript framework (e.g. Vue, React) Obsidian desktop application is using for creating the user interface?"

Since we seem to be talking past each other, what do you think the conversation is about?

[runjake]

I thought we were talking about this (pasted from your comment above):

> "I’d like to know what JavaScript framework (e.g. Vue, React) Obsidian desktop application is using for creating the user interface?

And the answer to that question is: Electron.

Is that not the question?

[rudi-c]

Electron does not belong in the same category as React & Vue. JavaScript frameworks are commonly understood to mean:

- Third-party libraries, almost always implemented in JS (technically it could be some language compiled to WASM but I'm not aware of any commonly used WASM framework)

- Dynamically loaded from a CDN or bundled with application code at build time

- Provide an high-level API for creating and updating UI

- Whose implementation edits the DOM (a browser's low-level UI representation)

In contrast, writing an app _without a UI framework_, therefore implies writing first-party JS code that interacts with DOM APIs directly, without that level of abstraction in-between. This is not a common choice these days, and could be considered an impressive accomplishment, hence this Ask HN.

To create that UI, you use the same low-level DOM APIs in Electron as you would in the browser because well, it is a Chromium browser engine.

Example of each combination:

- Framework-using apps running in the browser: Airbnb, Figma

- Frameworkless apps running in the browser: HN

- Framework-using apps running in Electron: Figma's desktop app

- Frameworkless apps running in Electron: Obsidian

I wouldn't consider Electron as an answer to the question. It would be best described as a framework for running web apps as a standalone desktop app, but not a framework for creating user interfaces. Just using Electron doesn't make any progress towards having a solution for managing the complexity of writing code that interacts with the DOM.