Electron for Desktop Apps: The Complete Developer’s Guide

What you’ll learn

• Learn how to make native-feeling applications using web development technologies
• Master the intricacies of development with Electron JS
• Build applications that work well on both MacOS and Windows from a single codebase
• Develop both traditional single-window apps and status tray-based apps
• Understand how to integrate existing technologies like React and Redux into your Electron JS apps
• Build a lucrative business with desktop apps, because there is so little competition in the marketplace

Requirements

• Basic understanding of Javascript

Description

Take your web dev skills out of the browser! This course will teach you the topics you need to make a #1 best-selling desktop app.

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What is Electron?

Electron is an elegant solution for writing desktop-based apps using existing web technologies you already know, like HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Electron is used for ultra-popular apps like Atom, Slack, and Discord.

Who builds desktop apps?!

In the last 10 years there has been a tremendous shift from desktop to mobile, true, but the result is that there is a huge opportunity to create desktop apps, as all other developers have shifted over to building mobile! You can easily get into the front page on the MacOS store with an app you spend a few days building – this would never happen on mobile! The last app you’ll build in this course can be easily tweaked into a front-page app.

What Will You Build?

All of my courses are ‘learn-by-doing’: no boring endless lectures with Powerpoints, only live, interactive coding examples. In this course we’ll build four separate apps with increasing complexity, each of which will profile different features of Electron. By putting each concept into a real app, you’ll get a better idea of when to use each unique and powerful feature.

Both MacOS and Windows supported!

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Apps you’ll build:

1. Video File Analyzer. Learn how to manipulate the underlying OS with this first app, in which you’ll build a tool to analyze video files, supported by the FFMPEG CLI tool. This app will get you familiar with Electron, along with an understanding of how to build a basic app.
2. Cross Window Todo List: Ok, yep, a todo app, I know, but you’ll learn how to manipulate multiple windows with Electron, along with customizing the top menu bar. Additional emphasis is placed on cross platform experiences between MacOS and Windows
3. System Tray Timer. Build a classic system-tray based app – this is the type of app that exists as an icon by the clock on your desktop. You’ll learn how to add a ton of polish to common Electron apps, which will make your users assume that they’re using a fully native experience.
4. Video File Converter. Make an app that can convert video files to any other format. Existing apps with the exact same feature set sell for $10 on the MacOS store. This tool is amazingly useful, and is something that I use daily myself!

Here’s what we’ll learn:

• Learn the theory and history behind Electron
• Build complex desktop applications using repeatable processes
• Assemble both classic desktop apps and ‘tray-based’ apps
• Add polish to your Electron apps, making them feel more native
• Sidestep the common pitfalls associated with Electron

I’ve built the course that I would have wanted to take when I was learning Electron. A course that explains the concepts and how they’re implemented in the best order for you to learn and deeply understand them.

Who this course is for:

• Anyone who wants to create compelling native desktop applications