Fluid Applications
Fluid is an SSB (Site Specific Browser) application built by Todd Ditchendorf for OSX. Using the webkit rendering engine, the tool allows you to create dedicated applications for your most frequently used web apps. As the line between desktop and web based software continues to blur, fluid takes the web application a step closer to desktop harmony with it’s OS based cousins.
Fluid is rapidly developing, and is looking as if it will become a valuable and flexible tool for users and organisations. It comes with a handy plugin architecture, and support for adding dock notifications to applications through userscripts.
I’ve been using fluid since it first appeared for various applications. I’ve found that some apps work better in the browser, some better in isolation via fluid, but it’s such an easy process to create a Fluid SSB, that experimenting and seeing how you like it is no great pain. I’ve turned to fluid for my google applications, as well as the web apps you see in the image up top. They are Backpack, Facebook Chat, and muxtape, all of which are almost constantly running. for these small, simple applications, fluid is perfect. And in the case of facebook chat, it means I can keep in touch with my inconsistently available friends without spending hours on the facebook website itself. Muxtape as a fluid application is greatly enhanced by the thumbnail plugin, which changes it from a browser, to a song library, by providing you with individual lists of songs to flick through at your leisure. Lovely.
The simplicity and focus of Backpack from 37Signals is equally well complimented by a fluid SSB, which steps back and allows you to get on with using the application, without the distraction and visual clutter of a standard web browser.
You’ll want some pretty icons to go with your fluid applications. And there are lots - including the ones in this post - available in the fluid icons flickr group.
