If you know node backend and web front-end, there are at least two options right now:
For a self-contained, deployable desktop application use `node-webkit`. It is basically chromium + embedded node.js. From what I'm reading, atom-shell is similar to node-webkit. There are a few other `node-webkit` like projects on github.
For lighter deployments, where your audience already has chrome and node.js installed, try `node-chrome`. It's a skeleton to run a chrome packaged app locally which communicates over websockets to a node.js service you build.
Both of these are good options if your UI, notifications can be contained in HTML. Challenges arise when you want to use OS specific integrated menus, growls/notifications, tooltips, etc. Node-webkit may have addressed most of these by now.
For a self-contained, deployable desktop application use `node-webkit`. It is basically chromium + embedded node.js. From what I'm reading, atom-shell is similar to node-webkit. There are a few other `node-webkit` like projects on github.
For lighter deployments, where your audience already has chrome and node.js installed, try `node-chrome`. It's a skeleton to run a chrome packaged app locally which communicates over websockets to a node.js service you build.
Both of these are good options if your UI, notifications can be contained in HTML. Challenges arise when you want to use OS specific integrated menus, growls/notifications, tooltips, etc. Node-webkit may have addressed most of these by now.