How To Turn Any Web Site Into A Menu Bar App

How To Turn Any Web Site Into A Menu Bar App

Mac: Fluid is one of those venerable Mac apps that we’ve loved for a long time. At its core, Fluid is all about turning any web site into a Mac app, but a lesser known feature is how you can turn any web site into a menu bar app as well.

Creating your own web app with Fluid is as simple as dumping the URL of the web site of your choice into Fluid and clicking “Create”. But stuffing yet another icon in your dock is annoying for many of us, especially if you’re working on a smaller monitor. Instead, you can put it into your menu bar. Menu bar apps are great because they get out of your way and sit unobtrusively at the top of your screen. To make your own menu bar apps, you’ll need to pay for the the advanced version of Fluid for $US5. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Open up Fluid and type in the URL of the web site you want to turn into an app
  2. Name the app
  3. Select an icon for the app (or just let Fluid pull the favicon from the web site). This will be the icon that appears in your menu bar
  4. Click “Create”
  5. When the prompt comes up, select “Launch Now”
  6. Select [Your app name] > Pin to Status Bar and select “Ok”

That’s basically it. Once you’re all set up, you can customise that menu bar so it only displays the smaller mobile version of the app, create your own Gmail app, or even add a notification system to some apps.

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