Designing cross-platform GUI apps with Fyne

Platform Agnostic

© Lead Image © Ion Chiosea, 123RF.com

© Lead Image © Ion Chiosea, 123RF.com

Article from Issue 273/2023
Author(s):

The Fyne toolkit offers a simple way to build native apps that work across multiple platforms. We show you how to build a to-do list app to demonstrate Fyne's power.

One of the biggest challenges in modern app development is the requirement to develop a separate codebase for each platform that you want to support. Fortunately, the Fyne graphical user interface (GUI) toolkit lets you program your app once and then deploy it rapidly to multiple devices.

Fyne is an open source GUI toolkit built for the Go programming language, a popular general-purpose compiled programming language created by Google a little over 10 years ago. Go is frequently used for cloud services and infrastructure projects. However, the Fyne toolkit makes it possible to quickly build native GUIs for desktop and mobile devices. One of a number of GUI toolkits for Go, Fyne aims to be the simplest to use, appealing to both beginners and experienced GUI developers.

Fyne's idiomatic design makes it easy for Go developers to rapidly learn its principles. Fyne allows developers to create their own custom widgets thanks to its rich widget set and extensibility. With graphical elements inspired by Material Design, Fyne will feel familiar to many end users, while remaining open to theming by app developers. Fyne is fully unit tested and supports rigorous test-driven development. Released under the same permissive BSD licence as Go, Fyne is supported by an active development community.

[...]

Use Express-Checkout link below to read the full article (PDF).

Buy this article as PDF

Express-Checkout as PDF
Price $2.95
(incl. VAT)

Buy Linux Magazine

SINGLE ISSUES
Print Issues
Digital Issues
 
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Print Subs
Digisubs
 
TABLET & SMARTPHONE APPS
Get it on Google Play

US / Canada

Get it on Google Play

UK / Australia

Related content

  • Wheat and Chaff

    If you want to keep only the good photos from your digital collection, you have to find and delete the fails. Mike Schilli writes a graphical application with Go and the Fyne framework to help you cull your photo library.

    more »
  • Treasure Hunt

    A geolocation guessing game based on the popular Wordle evaluates a player's guesses based on the distance from and direction to the target location. Mike Schilli turns this concept into a desktop game in Go using the photos from his private collection.

    more »
  • Chip Shot

    We all know that the Fyne framework for Go can be used to create GUIs for the desktop, but you can also write games with it. Mike Schilli takes on a classic from the soccer field.

    more »
  • Programming Snapshot – Go Racing Game

    The fastest way through a curve on a racetrack is along the racing line. Instead of heading for Indianapolis, Mike Schilli trains his reflexes with a desktop application written in Go, just to be on the safe side.

    more »
  • Free Selection

    The photogrep GUI tool, built using Go and Fyne, is designed to filter photos just like the grep tool filters file names from a pipe.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

Learn More

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Security Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source