david chan's blog

HootSuite is a very powerful web-based Twitter client. It runs inside your browser, meaning that there’s nothing to install, and you can access it and use it the same way from any computer.

(Disclosure: I am currently a developer on the HootSuite team)

However, I came from a background of Twitterrific, Tweetdeck, and other desktop Twitter apps, and running HootSuite inside a tab in my browser just doesn’t feel right.  I need my Twitter fix right on my dock!

Fortunately, there’s an app on the Mac called Fluid, which allows you to create a site-specific browser that acts as a separate application.  Download Fluid and open it up!  Also, download this HootSuite icon – we will use it as the app icon (for displaying in the dock).

This is the main Fluid set up screen, here you can enter http://hootsuite.com as the URL, and give a name to the app (HootSuite, HootSuite Twitter client, etc):

Next, click on the Icon dropdown and choose “Other…”, and choose the HootSuite icon downloaded earlier.  Fluid should give you a preview of it:

That’s it!  Click “Create” and let Fluid do its magic.

Success!  Choose “Launch Now” and don’t forget to keep the icon in your dock (right-click on the dock icon and choose “Keep in Dock”).

Update:

You may have experienced your new HootSuite fluid app opening the site in a new browser window (instead of inside the fluid app itself).  That surely defeats the point of having a site-specific browser!  To fix it, goto your HootSuite fluid app’s preference:

Choose “Advanced”, and edit the very first entry in the “Pattern” list (double click on it), and change it to *.hootsuite.com*:

That should do it!  (Thanks to commenter Tim for pointing the issue out)