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Is it currently possible to write desktop applications using javascript, html, css?
Possible solutions:
Use Adobe AIR runtime and program in js. But no, if I'm using AIR, the AS3 suites it the most. So not a good option.
GWT: No because it uses Java and then convert it to js or what ever.
Pyjamas: Interesting. But I'm currently focusing on JavaScript. So I don't want to use python and cross-compile to js. Run a local server and use the browser in full screen mode. Sort of okay, but still its the same browser thing. And difficult to distribute.
So what is the best option? I'm excited about node.js which is the main reason for looking into JavaScript. Otherwise I would have choose python.

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there's also Appcelarator Titanium (appcelertor.com). –  Javier Jan 13 '11 at 12:15
@Javier Appcelerator Titanium seems to be the best choice. Wow! It seems to do html 5 stuffs + mac, windows, linux, iPhone, Android and most other devices. Great one. Btw you could post in as an answer instead of a comment. –  kadaj Jan 13 '11 at 12:25
My first thought on reading the question title: "Can" and "should" are two very different things. :-) –  BlairHippo Jan 13 '11 at 14:34
@BlairHippo Oh! That makes my mind restless. So is there any reason I shouldn't? –  kadaj Jan 14 '11 at 3:59
Nah, no good reason. Just a knee-jerk reaction to some old prejudices about JavaScript. Based on the answers here, it looks like there are some interesting options if you want to take it beyond the web-client-side scripting tasks it was originally designed for. –  BlairHippo Jan 14 '11 at 15:27
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3 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

HTML 5 gives you everything that you need to build an application that runs in the browser but without access to any live network resources. That's effectively a desktop application, and it it all JavaScript.

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Interesting. So I don't have to use appcelerator then? Just code in straight html5, js and css3. Nice. –  kadaj Jan 14 '11 at 3:54
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I can and have used Appcelerator for doing both cross platform applications built in JavaScript / HTML and mobile applications built in JavaScript.

The documentation may be a bit weak in some areas, but it's a solid platform for developing.

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Maybe Mozilla Prism is what you are looking for?


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Be careful with it. I jumped on this wagon two years ago, when the final release was supposedly a couple of months away. It's still in beta, and not much is going on in the project. –  Mchl Jan 13 '11 at 13:33
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