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Gio UI VS UIKit

Compare Gio UI VS UIKit and see what are their differences

Gio UI logo Gio UI

Gio is an open source library for creating portable, immediate mode GUI programs for Android, iOS, Linux, Windows, macOS.

UIKit logo UIKit

A lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces
  • Gio UI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-22
  • UIKit Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24

Gio UI features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Gio UI allows developers to build applications that run seamlessly on multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android, reducing the need for separate codebases.
  • Immediate Mode GUI
    Gio UI employs an immediate mode design, which can simplify the rendering pipeline by directly processing GUI elements as they are defined in the code, avoiding retained state complexities.
  • Performance
    Gio is designed for high performance, leveraging the power of modern GPUs. It utilizes efficient drawing routines suitable for resource-intensive applications.
  • Go Language Integration
    Being native to Go, Gio UI offers seamless integration with Go applications, allowing Go developers to leverage their existing skills in building robust UIs without needing to learn another language.
  • Lightweight
    Gio UI is lightweight by design, making it suitable for applications that require efficient resource utilization and are meant to be distributed across multiple environments.

Possible disadvantages of Gio UI

  • Limited Documentation
    Compared to more mature UI frameworks, Gio UI's documentation may be less comprehensive, which could lead to challenges in understanding and utilizing all of its features effectively for new developers.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Gio UI's community and ecosystem are not as large or well-established as some other UI frameworks, which might limit available third-party libraries, tools, and community support.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers unfamiliar with the immediate mode GUI paradigm may face a steep learning curve when starting with Gio UI compared to traditional retained mode GUIs.
  • Complexity in Styling
    Styling in Gio UI might require more effort compared to CSS-based styling found in web technologies, which could complicate the UI design process for more visually rich applications.

UIKit features and specs

  • Modularity
    UIKit is highly modular, allowing developers to include only the components they need. This can lead to more efficient and faster loading webpages.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The framework comes with extensive and well-detailed documentation, making it easier for developers to get started and effectively utilize components.
  • Responsive Design
    UIKit is designed with responsiveness in mind, offering a sleek user experience across different screen sizes and devices.
  • Customization
    UIKit allows for deep customization through its LESS and SCSS files, enabling developers to modify the framework according to their needs.
  • Active Community
    There is an active community which leads to consistent updates and a wealth of shared resources and plugins.

Possible disadvantages of UIKit

  • Learning Curve
    For beginners, UIKit can be complex and might require a learning curve to become proficient in its use.
  • Limited Third-Party Integrations
    Compared to more mature frameworks like Bootstrap, UIKit may offer fewer third-party integrations and plugins.
  • Potential Overhead
    Including too many unnecessary components can add to the overhead, resulting in slower load times if not managed properly.
  • Inconsistencies Across Browsers
    Occasional inconsistencies may be noted across different browsers, which may require additional effort to resolve.
  • Less Recognition
    UIKit is not as commonly recognized as some other frameworks, which may lead to challenges in finding developers experienced with it.

Gio UI videos

Samsung S5660 Galaxy Gio UI demo

UIKit videos

Should I Learn SwiftUI instead of UIKit?

More videos:

  • Review - SwiftUI vs UIKit – Comparison of building the same app in each framework

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Gio UI and UIKit)
Developer Tools
14 14%
86% 86
Design Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Web Frameworks
100 100%
0% 0
CSS Framework
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Gio UI and UIKit

Gio UI Reviews

Best GUI frameworks for Go
gioui: Uses the modern GPU-based UI architecture and can be used to create mobile and desktop applications. Gioui is lightweight and has a minimalistic API

UIKit Reviews

22 Best Bootstrap Alternatives & What Each Is Best For
UIkit includes an extensive collection of HTML, CSS, and JS components, all easy to use and customizable. Features include a responsive grid system, navigation components, form elements, and more. Though UIkit does not offer explicit integrations, its modular nature means it can be easily incorporated into many different web development workflows and tools.
Source: thectoclub.com
15 Top Bootstrap Alternatives For Frontend Developers in 2024
One of the advantages of UIKit is that it offers a wide range of UI components, even more than Bootstrap. It also includes unique components like Totop, Thumbnav, and more. Considering its rich set of resources, UIKit can be regarded as an ideal alternative to Bootstrap.
Source: coursesity.com
Top 10 Best CSS Frameworks for Front-End Developers in 2022
UI Kit has a comprehensive collection of CSS, HTML, and JS components. It is modular and lightweight. Used for iOS application development, UIKit is one of the bestfront-end CSS frameworks.
Source: hackr.io
10 of the Best Bootstrap Alternatives
UIKit offers an easy approach to developing sophisticated web interfaces. It’s a modular front-end framework that can be used with HTML or JavaScript. With this structure, you may quickly create your web layouts with ease. This structure is perfect for laying out your website. When compared to Bootstrap, this framework offers more UI components. It also includes oddity parts...
Best CSS Frameworks in 2019
Our fourth framework to consider is UIkit. UIkit is “a lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces” (UIkit). The framework comes with built-in animations, is customizable and has out-of-the-box designs.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, UIKit should be more popular than Gio UI. It has been mentiond 22 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.

Gio UI mentions (8)

  • How to Create Your First Mac App Using Go
    Go Programming Language Gio Toolkit for Go Xcode Command Line Tools Apple Developer Documentation This blog post provides a comprehensive guide to building your first Mac app using Go, with plenty of code examples to help you understand each step. By following this guide, you can quickly get started with Mac app development and explore the powerful capabilities of Go and Gio. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Bare Metal Rust in Android
    > At least with a language like Go, it somewhat makes sense, and has been attempted: https://gioui.org/ Gio UI is an immediate-mode UI, and immediate-mode UIs map very nicely to Rust. Egui is quite easy to use. https://www.egui.rs/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Bare Metal Rust in Android
    I didn't bash Java/Kotlin. In fact, I have written few android apps in Kotlin, Java and I also have fiddled with Jetpack compose, JNI and NDK (I have also played with mpv's Opengl/Vulkan's rendering on Android if that matters to you). I don't want to share the projects of mine because I don't want to reveal my identity. > https://gioui.org/ I know that tailscale's android application is written in it but I don't... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Bare Metal Rust in Android
    Tell me you've never done any Android development, without telling me... This is such a low-effort "take" without any effort to justify _why_ you'd want something like this. There's a high amount of impedance mismatch trying to write GUIs in a non-GC language like Rust which _has_ to run on what's essentially a Java VM (ART). At least with a language like Go, it somewhat makes sense, and has been attempted:... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • htmx/Go experiences?
    I am building the same but with golang and https://gioui.org/. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

UIKit mentions (22)

  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    UIkit: A lightweight and modular front-end framework. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Building UIs with Franken UI, a Shadcn alternative
    Franken UI is compatible with UIkit 3 and can work as a standalone CSS framework but can be integrated with Tailwind CSS for faster styling and customization. The design of Franken UI is influenced by shadcn/ui. It aims to provide a solution to developers who are not comfortable using React, Vue, or Svelte by leveraging UIkit for JavaScript and accessibility. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • SwiftUI vs. UIKit: What is the best choice for building an iOS user interface in 2024?
    As an iOS engineer, you've likely encountered SwiftUI and UIkit, two popular tools for building iOS user interfaces. SwiftUI is the new cool kid on the block, providing a clean way to build iOS screens, while UIkit is the older and more traditional way to build screens for iOS. SwiftUI uses a declarative style where you describe how the UI should look, similar to Jetpack Compose in Android. UIkit, on the other... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How To Build a Web Application with HTMX and Go
    All that's left is adding a little style. I won't claim to be a frontend engineer or a UI designer, so I just used UIKit to easily add modern-looking style to the HTML table and buttons. As mentioned throughout the article, the CSS classes and other small details are excluded since they are not directly relevant to the tutorial. See the full example on GitHub to try running it for yourself. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • On the search for a truly "good" UI framework.
    Can try UIKIT out if you're looking around, I've used it solely for some quick slider stuff in certain projects and use it fully in others. The docs are pretty good and they have a discord community that's fairly active. Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Gio UI and UIKit, you can also consider the following products

Fyne - The Fyne toolkit is an easy to learn, free and open source, platform for building graphical applications for desktop, mobile and beyond.

Bootstrap - Simple and flexible HTML, CSS, and JS for popular UI components and interactions

Postgres.js - Postgres.js - The Fastest full featured PostgreSQL client for Node.js - porsager/postgres

Semantic UI - A UI Component library implemented using a set of specifications designed around natural language

HubSpot Growth Stack - Tools that grow with your business.

Materialize CSS - A modern responsive front-end framework based on Material Design