Interesting OSX App for Apps

Today, upon hearing about it from a podcast I frequently listen to, I found a very useful little application for OSX called Fluid. Fluid essentially allows you to create an application out of of a website. Basically what you do is supply Fluid with a URL of a website that you might want to access outside of your normal browsing functions. Because it creates an application out of the link, OSX recognizes whatever site URL you place in the program as an individual app, so Spotlight will pull it right up in a search.

Now that the general description is out of the way, why on earth would you ever need such a program? Currently, the uses I’ve come across involve Google, mostly, and Google applications specifically. The first application that I made with Fluid links straight to Google Calendar, which speeds up checking such things, of course. Other uses could be to go straight to Google Docs or their spreadsheet application. Fluid would essentially allow you to “make” an office suite with Google applications. Very neat.

Of course, you can always just open your browser of choice and go to these places. What’s nice about Fluid is that since these created applications reside outside of the browser space, there’s no worry that you might accidentally close a tab or have the browser crash. Or simply it might help separate work from play for those who are easily distracted and who don’t really feel like simply hitting Command+N for a new browser window.

So if you’re curious, check out Fluid. It’s totally free and may indeed just allow you speed up some of your work.