_0_large.png "flotato chrome")
You can set it to ask for desktop or mobile versions of a web app, which allows you to have really tiny, narrow windows for certain apps if you like. It makes the apps look like they’re floating (hence the name). Even the little stoplight buttons are hidden by default. “No plugins, no bundled browser renderer, no javascript bridges, no bookmark background syncing.” If you like, you can set the app’s icon to be a live look at a custom cutout of the webpage itself (e.g., if you keep track of a stock or web traffic or something, that number can be visible in your dock).įlotato windows are deliberately chrome-less - and I mean that in both the literal and metaphorical ways. Google Calendar gets switched to today’s date.
For certain apps, it can automatically add badges for unread messages. First, it automatically sets the icon to something appropriate for each app, often a high-resolution favicon. It also does some very neat things with the icons. (You can manually set it in preferences if you need.) It’s just a super clever way to make new web apps, and it’s much simpler than other methods. When you open the app you’ve renamed, Flotato takes a guess at what webpage you want to open based on the app’s name, and it opens it. So instead of using Flotato’s launcher, you can just make your own. To make a new Flotato app, you literally duplicate the Flotato app in the Mac’s Finder and rename that copy.
It’s simple enough, but what it’s actually doing is kind of amazing. You open it, it opens the web app you chose, and you log in. When you launch Flotato, it shows you an array of possible web apps with a little button that says “get.” When you click that button, Flotato creates an app for that thing in your Applications folder. But Flotato’s approach is so novel and ingenious, I think it’s worth a shot, even though it’s still early in its development. It pretty much does the same thing as those other apps, giving you a separate app window for each web app you want to use. Now, there’s a new solution called Flotato. Electron, especially, has become the source of ire because it can add a lot of extra overhead beyond what a simple browser tab would do. But there are problems with those solutions. There have been many solutions for that over the years, including Fluid if you want to roll your own or Electron if a developer just wants to package all that up for you. The trick is to take these web apps and break them out into independent windows, sort of like bespoke web browsers for just one app. Apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, Asana, Twitter, Feedly, and a whole host of others could end up lost in tiny pinned tabs. Operating systems have spent 30 years creating user interfaces that make it easier to launch and switch between apps, but a lot of that effort has been thrown away. Tabs are great, but they’re also the worst.
Flotato chrome mac#
There’s a pretty good chance that a significant portion of the computing you do on your Mac happens inside web apps, probably in tabs.
It’s lightweight and easy to use once you wrap your head around it, though it takes a minute to understand because it works differently from what you’re probably used to. Flotato is a way to make little (or big) app windows for apps you might normally use in a browser tab. I’ve been playing around with a new Mac app called Flotato, and it’s so much fun and so clever in the way it works that I wanted to share it.
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