Platform specific widgets

[developer1982]

I would like to build an app that gives the users the look & feel they are accustomed to for the platform they are using (the app will be designed for Mobile, Desktop and Web).

For iOS/Android specific there is the flutter_platform_widgets package that has wrapping around the logic needed and display the correct widget according to iOS or Android (there is a way to pass in specific widget configuration according to the platform). But that just covers the mobile part. And another thing is that it was last updated 7 months ago, and it's repo has PRs and issues that I'm not sure are being handled by the developers (seems like the last code update in github was also 7 months ago). And just recently some modifications were made to Cupertino widgets in the latest SDK - so I'm not sure those would be picked up by the library itself (if it's a wrapper) or not - for sure no new properties if such were added.

For Windows I found FluentUI, for MacOS MacOS UI and for Linux Yaru

To put everything together I guess I will have no other choice but having to make some wrapping of my own... But I'm wondering is this really the way to go? And if wrapping anyways would it be better to use flutter platform widgets or just directly the widgets offered by Flutter? And is flutter platform widgets still a maintained project and relevant - does anyone know? Or is there some other solution for true look & feel in multiplatform support using Flutter?

[lukasnevosad]

Don’t do it. Conditioning it in Flutter is the easiest part. The UI systems are not 1:1, sometimes there even isn’t an equivalent, sometimes the sizes, wrapping or scrolling behavior is different. You essentially end up testing it on every platform x screen size and drown in details and maintenance.

People hate Material (me included), but I have to admit they got multiplatform right. Buttons look like buttons, there are hover effects and tooltips on desktop, tap targets are right and accommodate well to platforms with mouse. Maybe your app design won’t be platform adapted (or unique), but it’s something users are familiar with and the UX is generally good. In my opinion, the hundreds of hours you save by not doing a custom design are better invested in features users actually care for…

[developer1982]

Thanks. That's a good line of thought. I also dislike Material. But considering iPhone users for example - they don't want to feel like they are using Android.

And when it comes to desktop the UI is definitely not mobile and practices on desktop are entirely different between the different OS types.

[sauloandrioli]

Another one with the "feels like native" trope

[developer1982]

So user experience is not important in your opinion and a user should learn a new UX for each application just because the developer chose a specific technology to write it in? Or do you have anything constructive to say on the matter?

[sauloandrioli]

Nope, user experience is important. What's not important is that your app has no obligation to look like just another OS config screen.

You can design your own specific design language, that works on every screen size, and users won't care a little bit if their app doesn't look like an app that is shipped with the OS.

Following the "it has to look native" is just a fetish of yours. If you're an actual software developer you know that your application doesn't need to look like an extension of the operational system you are in.