Slack is pretty good for a web app. You can tell they really worked hard to make it feel native.
But there are just some fundamental differences between desktop apps and web apps.
Just like a website, the Slack desktop app is slow. Open Apple Messages, and you'll see all your messages instantly. Open Slack, and you'll be greeted by a loading screen, followed by a loading screen with an insightful quip. Click on a different channel, and you'll see another loading screen, followed by another loading screen with a different funny message.
And then there are all these inonsistencies... Holding down the mouse on a popup menu doesn't work; you need to click to open, then click again to select. Resizing the sidebar is not possible.
I can't find a source for this right now, I've been searching, but I remember reading something about the Messages app (I can't remember if it was iOS or MacOs/OSX) is actually a webview app! Would love it if someone could find a source proving/disproving it.
This made me curious, and I checked by attaching a debugger to Messages.
The content view with the bubbles is a web view. All the other views (sidebar, input field, etc.) are native controls.
I guess this is a sort of "best of both worlds" approach. You have all the flexibility of HTML & CSS for complex content layout, and you get performance and usability of native sidebars and text fields.
But there are just some fundamental differences between desktop apps and web apps.
Just like a website, the Slack desktop app is slow. Open Apple Messages, and you'll see all your messages instantly. Open Slack, and you'll be greeted by a loading screen, followed by a loading screen with an insightful quip. Click on a different channel, and you'll see another loading screen, followed by another loading screen with a different funny message.
And then there are all these inonsistencies... Holding down the mouse on a popup menu doesn't work; you need to click to open, then click again to select. Resizing the sidebar is not possible.