Add evaluation of winit

content/blog/2024-04-24-winit-2024.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
++++
+title = "Evaluating winit for cross-platform applications"
+authors = ["Daniel McNab"]
++++
+
+<!-- Post's date SHOULD be changed -->
+
+Linebender is working to develop cross-platform graphical user interfaces in Rust.
+This naturally requires interaction with the underlying platform.
+In Druid, we used our own platform integration crate, [druid-shell][] (later moved into its own repository as [Glazier][]).
+In January, we [decided][tmix-01] to use [winit][] instead for Xilem (our next GUI toolkit).
+The Rust ecosystem has generally settled on using winit to provide platform integration.
+For example, winit is used by the [Bevy][] game engine (in the default configuration).
+
+<!-- ## winit's scope -->
+
+winit's scope is documented in their [FEATURES][winit features] document.
+This gives the objective as supporting features which are common to all platforms.
+Platform specific features are then expected to be built outside of winit.
+These common features generally work well, although there are a few features which might be expected to be supported, but are not yet available.
+Copy and paste support is another feature.
+There is a draft pull request ([winit#2156][])
+
+In Druid we have taken great care to ensure that user expectations of native applications are considered.
+We intend to continue similarly in Xilem, ensuring that Xilem applications can be respectful of their user's .
+However, to meet these expectations, Xilem does need to interface with platform specific features.
+As an example, on macOS, applications are expected to fill the menu bar, including where there are no windows.
+However, this is currently not directly supported by Winit.
+
+ <!-- <https://github.com/rust-windowing/winit/pull/1583> -->
+
+Menu bars, accessibility.
+
+Overall, our evaluation of winit is that it provides a strong foundation of support for most platforms.
+However, it currently requires application developers to use a large number of external integrations for critical functionality, which add to the challenging
+There have been efforts to produce external crates which support.
+
+[tmix-01]: @/blog/2024-02-06-tmix-01.md
+[druid-shell]: https://crates.io/crates/druid-shell
+[winit]: https://crates.io/crates/winit
+[bevy]: https://bevyengine.org/
+[glazier]: https://github.com/linebender/glazier
+[winit#2156]: https://github.com/rust-windowing/winit/pull/2156
+[winit features]: https://github.com/rust-windowing/winit/blob/master/FEATURES.md