Using Fluid with Gmail and 37signals apps

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Using Fluid with Gmail and 37signals apps

Fluid is an extremely useful app. It turns any web app into a native Mac app with it’s own dock icon. I’ve been using it with Gmail for several months now. This is by far the best solution for Gmail if you want to use all of the Gmail specific features (e.g. archiving, labels, shortcuts). It’s way faster than using Google Notifier and having to load Gmail every time you get a message and it’s more convenient than keeping Gmail open in a browser, thanks to the unread count in the dock icon.

I’ve also been using it for 37signals apps. Once upon a time, I had a separate Fluid app for Backpack (quite possibly the most useful app ever), Basecamp, and Campfire but the new 37signals ID feature has eliminated the need. Now you can conveniently access all of the 37signals apps in one window.

Creating a 37signals Fluid app

When creating the 37signals Fluid app, just use http://launchpad.37signals.com/ as the URL. Also, be sure to allow browsing to each of the 37signals apps you intend to use.