it seems ridiculous that we have to embed an entire browser, meant for internet web browsing, just to create a cross-platform UI with moderate ease.
Why are native or semi-native UI frameworks lagging so far behind? am I wrong in thinking this? are there easier, declarative frameworks for creating semi-native UIs on desktop that don’t look like windows 1998?
Check out Tauri.app
I don’t understand exactly how this is different. Is “WebView” not still very similar to a browser?
Yes, but it’s shipped by the os, so the actual app install is way smaller.