HACKER Q&A
📣 apatheticonion

Is MAUI how you make applications with the new Windows 11 styling?


Making modern desktop applications on Windows with native Windows styling has been so confusing to me.

I am familiar with WinForms but that's no longer how you make UIs that are dressed in the new new UI style of Windows 11?

Example: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/react-native/wp-content/uploads/sites/76/2022/11/settings.png

Initially I went down the rabbit hole of learning WinUI. A lot of the starter tutorials don't even compile when copied verbatim and I believe it has been functionally abandoned (right?)

I understand Microsoft are putting a lot of energy into MAUI as a cross OS UI framework. Is that the correct way to write applications that use native Windows 11 styling?

Tutorials seem to produce applications that look more like native Android or metro apps.

If it is how you make Windows 11 UIs, can I trust that it will stick around?

Alternatively, if I make a WinForms application, can that use native Windows 11 styles?

  👤 gigel82 Accepted Answer ✓
The truth is, no-one knows. You cannot trust Microsoft to stick to something long term. Yes, apparently MAUI is here to stay, but they said the same thing about the dozen UI frameworks they killed before.

You can try plain MAUI, or something like React Native Windows, but -as much as I hate it- I think Electron gives you the most stable foundation.