We’re surrounded by web apps. That’s a given. Since the beginning of the web 2.0 era, we started collecting logins, passwords, subscriptions..I mean, who on earth hasn’t ever heard of Gmail? My dad (yeah, I always choose him as my example) has a Gmail account.
But, there’s a problem: have you realized how much visual space do all these web apps steal from your browser window? I tell you: a lot. Mail + Facebook + Google Reader + Digg + Last.fm (pretty popular services almost everyone uses) are 5 open tabs in your browser. And if you have an horizontal tabs layout, you know that five tabs are too much.
But remember, we are Mac users, couldn’t there be a solution? Sure!
If you daily use a lot of web apps, Fluid.app will make your lives easier. With Fluid you can create SSB, Site Specific Browsers.
Put simply, you can turn a webapp into a desktop application that will run into your dock.
Developed by Todd Ditchendorf, Fluid is a lightweight application which will sit in your Applications folder, waiting for you to open it and tell it to create a new desktop app from url. The process is simple and fast: paste the url, choose a location for the app, pick up a custom icon or use the default one. And you’re done.
Moreover, Fluid.app supports Tabbed Browsing, built-in Userscripting, URL pattern matching for browsing whitelists and blacklists. See all the features at the official site.
Anyway, in this post I’ve collected 30 of the best webapps you should turn into desktop apps with Fluid.
Enjoy! 
Gmail
World’s most popular online mail service.
Google Docs
Edit and share documents online. Killer app.
Google Calendar
Google Voice
Google’s revolutionary VOIP app. Follow this Lifehacker tutorial to make a perfect desktop app.
Google Tasks
Simple to-do manager.
Analytics
Another great service by Google to monitor your website’s visitors with tons of other detailed stats.
Google Wave
Big G’s latest collaborative tool. Still in Beta.
Google Reader (with Helvetireader skin)
A cool facelift for Google Reader by John Hicks.
Facebook Chat
Wordpress
Move your blog’s admin panel onto your dock. Very useful.
Create beautiful presentations online.
Save pages for later. Restyled with Instapaper restyled.
Digg
MobileMe
Backpack – Campire – Backfire – Highrise
Picasa
Flickr
Dropbox
Get Satisfaction
Hootsuite
Hahlo
Last.fm / Pandora
A stunning stats webapp from Shaun Inman.
A revolutionary online feeds reader, by Shaun Inman.
github
Freshbooks
Easy and simple online invoicing tool.
Resources:
Further Reading:
Using Fluid to Create Site Specific Browsers (via Smoking Apples)
15 Fluid Apps You Can Build for Your Business (via ReadWriteWeb)
How to Get More Out of Fluid (via Mac.AppStorm)
#1
That's what Daniele said 10 months ago:
as always amazing post!!!!
PS: niente post in italiano??? perfortuna che so l’inglese..sei il migliore..
PPS: sono quello che ti rompe spesso su twitter (DANIfromAiTf)
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#2
That's what storiesofmac said 10 months ago:
L’italiano l’ho accantonato per il momento in favore di più posts in inglese.
Ma quale rompere, magari tutti come te!
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#3
That's what Daniel said 10 months ago:
I would suggest that you add the links to some of those sites. Such as Facebook chat. While it only took about 20 seconds of perusing google, it may be hard for some people to find the link.
In any case:
http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php
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#4
That's what igreg said 10 months ago:
Great Post, great app I’ve just discovered, that’ll make my day !!!
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#6
That's what Alexis Brille said 9 months ago:
Nice list but I know you didn’t mean to turn ALL those into Fluid apps, right?
.
By the way, you should consider http://rememberthemilk.com. Great, GREAT web app.
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#7
That's what Ammon said 9 months ago:
Anyone know where I can get a nice icon for HootSuite? Thanks in advance!
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