Draft.js VS React Native Desktop

React Native Desktop

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native

Landing page //
2022-03-29

Landing page //
2023-09-30

Draft.js features and specs

Rich Text Editing
Draft.js provides a powerful framework for building rich text editors with a high level of customization, allowing developers to implement various formatting and styling options with ease.
Immutable.js Integration
Draft.js uses Immutable.js to manage editor state, which can lead to improved performance and easier state management, as it helps avoid unnecessary re-renders and mutations.
Extensibility
The library offers the ability to create custom blocks, decorations, and plugins, enabling developers to extend and tailor the editor's behavior to their specific needs.
Facebook Support
Draft.js is developed and maintained by Facebook, which suggests a certain level of reliability and indicates a strong backing in terms of updates and community support.
Comprehensive Documentation
The library is well-documented, with comprehensive guides and examples that help developers get started quickly and understand the full potential of the framework.

Possible disadvantages of Draft.js

Complexity
Draft.js has a steep learning curve, especially for developers who are not familiar with React or Immutable.js, as it requires understanding its unique architecture and concepts.
Bundle Size
The inclusion of Immutable.js can lead to a larger bundle size for web applications, which might be a concern for developers aiming for minimalistic and fast-loading applications.
Limited Built-in Features
Draft.js provides a basic editor out of the box, which means developers often need to implement or find third-party plugins for advanced features like tables, embedded media, or collaborative editing.
Customizability Overhead
While high customizability is a strength, it also means that basic implementations may involve more boilerplate code and setup compared to other, more out-of-the-box solutions.
Sparse Updates
Draft.js does not receive updates as frequently as some other open-source projects, which can lead to uncertainty around the timeline for bug fixes or new feature implementations.

React Native Desktop features and specs

Cross-Platform Code Sharing
React Native Desktop allows for code sharing between mobile and desktop platforms, reducing development time and effort. This promotes a unified codebase across iOS, Android, and macOS platforms.
React Ecosystem
Developers can leverage the extensive ecosystem of React and React Native, including libraries, tools, and community support, thus simplifying development and benefiting from existing solutions.
Hot Reloading
React Native Desktop supports hot reloading, which allows developers to see changes immediately without rebuilding the whole application. This greatly enhances development speed and productivity.
Native Performance
React Native Desktop aims to deliver a performance close to native applications on macOS, allowing for smooth user experience and efficient utilization of the system's resources.

Possible disadvantages of React Native Desktop

Immature Project
React Native Desktop is still a relatively young project compared to its mobile counterpart. It may lack some stability, advanced features, and support that are available in more mature frameworks.
Learning Curve
Developers familiar with only web development might find it challenging to adapt to React Native's paradigms and native coding patterns required for desktop applications.
Limited macOS-Specific Components
There might be fewer out-of-the-box components and libraries tailored for macOS when compared to those available for mobile, requiring more custom implementation work.
No Official Support
As an open-source project, React Native Desktop doesn't have official support from Facebook or a large organization, which might lead to slower updates and a greater reliance on community contributions.

Analysis of React Native Desktop

Overall verdict

React Native Desktop can be a good choice if you are already invested in the React Native ecosystem and are looking for a way to expand your application's reach to desktop platforms without starting from scratch. It benefits from the familiar JavaScript and React syntax, as well as a large community of developers who contribute to its growth. However, depending on the project's specific needs and the level of maturity expected, it might lack some features or optimizations available in native desktop application frameworks.

Why this product is good

React Native Desktop is designed to allow developers to use React Native for creating desktop applications. It leverages the existing React Native ecosystem, which means that developers familiar with React Native can transition to desktop app development more easily. By allowing code sharing between mobile and desktop platforms, it can significantly reduce the development time and effort required to maintain consistency across platforms.

Recommended for

This framework is recommended for JavaScript developers who are already comfortable with React Native and want to leverage their existing skills to develop cross-platform applications that include desktop environments. It is suitable for projects that require rapid prototyping and consistent user experiences across mobile and desktop devices.

Draft.js videos

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Draft.js and React Native Desktop)

Draft.js

React Native Desktop

Developer Tools

39 39%

Developer Tools

61% 61

Text Editors

100 100%

Text Editors

0% 0

Tech

0 0%

Tech

100% 100

Rich Text Editor

100 100%

Rich Text Editor

0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Draft.js and React Native Desktop. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Draft.js seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 28 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Draft.js mentions (28)

Rebuilding a web text editor
Therefore, we wanted to choose a low-level framework that would solve most of the issues related to text input. We settled on Draft.js, which was quite popular at the time (2020). All we had to do was integrate it into our current system, attach it to the data storage, and implement the ability to edit styles with our constructor—done. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
Introducing react-rte-light: A Lightweight Rich Text Editor for React
Are you looking for a lightweight, flexible, and modern rich text editor for your React applications? Look no further! I'm excited to share react-rte-light, a TypeScript-based rich text editor built with Draft.js. It’s designed to work seamlessly with React 16.8 to 19, offering a minimal-dependency alternative to heavier editors like React Quill. Whether you're building a blog platform, a note-taking app, or a... - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
Lexical 0.24 with Vanilla JS: Getting started
Lexical is an open source project and considered the successor of Draft.js. It is primarily developed by Meta, licensed under MIT. It is not restricted to React, but supports Vanilla JS, too. The flexibility enables us to integrate it with other JS libraries such as Svelte and Vue. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
Ask HN: Is there a licensable/free version of the "Substack" email editor?
- https://draftjs.org/ If you're talking about liking the full experience with settings and previews, that I'm afraid is all custom built. I can't imagine an open source reusable one being out there, but I could be wrong! - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
Which Rich Text Editor to use ?
I've always used Quill and always satisfied with it. It can be adapted to React Native as well. Despite the most popular RTE is Draft js it has some limitations on mobile. Source: about 3 years ago