Fluid has just been updated. It’s a clever new app that allows you to make your own site-specific browsers (including the power of Greasemonkey scripts in Cocoa).

Along with a raft of bugfixes, the new version (0.9.2) can now turn the browswers into menubar items for even greater flexibility.

Longtime Hawk Wings readers will remember the small flurry of site-specific web apps two years — Michael McCracken’s WebMail app for Gmail and Chip Cuccio’s GCal app for Google Calendar. With no bookmarks, other windows and other temptations, these apps allowed users to focus on their productivity without distractions.

Fluid works on the same principle. Based on Mozilla’s Prism app , it creates a site-specific app, complete with its own Dock icon, menubars and other individual settings.

Here are some that I made earlier for Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, mint and facebook:

Now, when I want to get the email done, I open the Gmail app, when I want to unwind I turn to the facebook one. I am never tempted to work when I should be relaxing, nor to relax when I should be at work. (That’s the theory; as every “Getting Things Done” fan knows deep in their heart, in the end no app can save you from yourself!).

The ability to run Greasemonkey scripts inside these Fluid apps is very cool. Previously only really available to Firefox users, Fluid now lets me load my two favourite scripts from userscripts.org so that I can use Gmail with killer keyboard macros and some of the noise taken out of the Gmail interface:

Fluid’s free-standing apps can each have their own preference settings. The overall behaviour of the window is also customizable — overlaid on the Dashboard, normal, floating or embedded in the Desktop. Here, for example, is my mint in Fluid’s simple black HUD style:

A Flickr group – Fluid Icons – offers lots of nice looking Dock icons for various web sites. I scored most of the icons in the screenshot above from there.

The possibilities seem enormous, and this article only scratches the surface of the app’s potential.

This updated version lets you turn a browser into a menubar utility, so that clicking on its menubar icon opens its window–instant, roll-your-own to-do lists in a Fluid-generated Remember the Milk or Stikkit app!

Fluid is freeware and available from the Fluid web site . productivity, GTD, Getting Things Done, webkit, fluid, gmail, google calendar, facebook, mint, google docs, web 2.0, web apps, greasemonkey

Gina Trapani has released an update to her excellent Better Gmail 2 extension for Firefox.

This is the Better Gmail extension that works with the new Gmail interface.

The new version adds four new features: One Click Conversations (quick access to previous emails from a particular sender), Hide Invites Box, Google Reader Integration (in the Sidebar) and Rollover Highlight Messages (which highlights message rows as you mouse over them).

It also marks the return of skins. Users can now choose between a Blue Skin and a Grays and Blue Skin (screenshot below):

The updated version is available from Lifehacker or from the Mozilla Extension Repository . Needless to say, it is freeware.gmail, not apple mail, not mail.app, productivity, greasemonkey, firefox, skins, conversations

Christina Laun at VirtualHosting.com has posted a killer list of 50 tips, scripts, extensions and hacks to make the most of Google’s Calendar service.

She starts off with some basic tips, keyboard shortcuts, integration with Gmail, reminders and so forth.

Things get more interesting for seasoned users with her collection of 15 (mostly Greasemonkey) scripts that offer skinning, interface streamlining and more, including the Better Gcal script, which combines several of the most useful scripts (à la Gina Trapani’s Better Gmail Firefox extension).

Finally, she provides a list of Firefox Extensions, hacks and some syncing utilities that help Outlook users and others get the most of Gcal. She doesn’t mention BusySync’s public beta that offers iCal-Gcal syncing or Spanning Sync , but I guess you knew about those already.

If you use Goolge’s Calendar, you will want to bookmark Christina’s collection of tips for sure.not mail.app, not apple mail, google, calendar, tips, scripts, greasemonkey, web 20, ical, productivity, firefox, syncing

Gmail is made faster and more efficient by a range of keystroke shortcuts .

Now Mozilla users can enjoy the speed boost in Thunderbird and Fastmail customers can also get some of the bonus with a Greasemonkey script.

GmailUI is a extension that brings these Gmail keystrokes to Thunderbird.

After installing it, open the extension’s preferences to see a list of the keystrokes it offers:

You can get it from the Mozilla Extensions site .

Fastmail.fm Shortcuts is a Greasemonkey script for Firefox that brings some but not all of the Gmail shortcut to Fastmail’s webmail interface.

It offers the following keystrokes:

Installing Greasemonkey scripts is a little more tricky than your average extension, but installation instructions and the script itself can be found in the Greasemonkey userscript.org repository .gmail, firefox, greasemonkey, scripts, extnesions, thunderbird, email, keystrokes, keyboard shortcuts

Langenhoven offers a Greasemonkey script for Firefox that will encrypt Gmail messages.

It achieves this by using RSA type encryption in Javascript.

The site also offers a utility for producing the public and private keys needed for encryption.

I haven’t tested this but the results look like the real thing:

Read the Known Issues section to discover that it works best in Firefox 1.5 or greater and that some of the buttons are troublesome.gmail, encryption, greasemonkey, firefox, public public, private keys, email, security

Tech. Life. Blogged. has a post that explains how to add the Agenda from your Google Calendar to your Gmail web interface using a Greasemonkey script in Firefox.

The instructions are involved but not technically demanding.

And the result is useful:

You can only have one calendar at a time loaded in this way and if your calendar is big the reloading will slow things down (a little).gmail, Google, agenda, calendar, greasemonkey, firefox, tips

I ran across two things for Gmail users today.

Adam Pash at Lifehacker has posted a tutorial of tips and tricks for getting the most out of Gmail. It even has video clips!

Among other things, he talks about some scripts for the Firefox extension Greasemonkey which add very useful bells and whistles to Gmail’s web interface.

Another Greasemonkey script promises to bring basic encryption to Gmail. It first encrypts the email into AES and then uses the RSA algorithm to encrypt the message again.gmail, tips, tricks, greasemonkey, scripts, firefox, encryption, email