Fluid-created SSBs have one final trick up their sleeves: they can be installed as menu extras, instead of applications. That's right, you can browse a website from your main menu bar. This really only makes sense for a site that has a small "headlines only" view; for example, the . To create a menu-bar SSB, create the SSB as usual and then use the Convert to MenuExtraSSB command in the SSB's program menu. (There's also a Convert to Normal Application command, available by control/right-clicking on the menu bar icon for a menu-extra SSB, to return the SSB to normal mode.)

While I don't really want to have 30 to 40 SSBs--I still use tabs for the majority of my browsing--the ability to turn often-referenced sites (or flakey sites that cause browser crashes) into standalone applications can be very useful at times. I have about three sites I'm using in SSB mode now, and I can see adding a couple more in the future. Fluid makes the process basically painless, and has worked well with every site I've tried it on. If you're intrigued, give it a try--it's a free program, and it doesn't take long to set up an SSB for a trial run.

Fluid 0.9.4.1 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later.