Mac Utility Fluid – Make an app for any web site

Posted on 02 October 2009 by


Do you have a few web sites that you visit more than most?  If you’re like me you keep several browser tabs opened to the sites you visit often throughout the day. If you’re on a Mac check out this utility I recently came across which helps with this problem.

fluid

Fluid creates SSB (site specific browsers) to help you manage these sites more efficiently.  Fluid gives any web application it’s own icon, standard menu bar, place on the desktop and much more.

When launched Fluid displays a tiny window where you specify a URL of a web app you’d like to launch.  You give the application a name, give it a location and then assign an icon.

fluid create

Fluid also offers the ability to convert your favorite webapp into a Menu Extra SSB – “an SSB that exists only as an icon in your OS X system Status Bar next to other Menu Extras like the Clock and Spotlight. Click the Menu Extra SSB’s icon and your chosen webapp appears as a drop down window.”

fling

Watch this quick video which details how the entire process works.

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All your SSBs are launched independently of themselves.  So if you have one opened and running and go to open a new one the second SSB will open in its own window preserving the first SSB you had running.

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Fluid does a whole lot more too including “tab browsing, built-in Userscripting (aka Greasemonkey), URL pattern matching for browsing whitelists and blacklists, bookmarks, auto-software updates via the Sparkle Update Framework, custom SSB icons, a Java Script API for showing Dock badges, Growl notifications, and Dock menu items, and more.”

Check out Fluid and get the free download here.

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- who has written 824 posts on Gear Diary.

I have always had a passion for gear and gadgets. It all started for me with the release of the very first Palm Pilot. I've always had an interest in handheld electronics. From handheld PDAs, to cell phones, Mp3 players, watches and other products, I'm the first person my friends, family and colleagues call when they need advice on tech. I have roots in the online tech. forum community. I served as the Administrator to Howard Forums.com and as a Moderator at both Treo Central.com and Blackberry Forums.net. Under the screen name “lgreenberg” I've amassed 50,000+ postings. I also manage my own YouTube channel under the user name larrygreenberg. I'm always eager to help.

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