There are some websites that you might want to get to in just one click. Think of your work email, your local radio station, or maybe even ChatGPT. You can pin these sites in your favorite browser, sure, but then you have to go looking for those bookmarks each time you open it.
What if you could add these sites right to your Mac's menu bar instead? One click and you could open YouTube Music or Instagram in a floating window on top of everything else? That’s possible using the MenubarX app, one of my favorite recent discoveries for my MacBook.
How to use the MenubarX app to add any website to the Mac menu bar
MenubarX, once installed, shows up directly in your menu bar. Click on the MenubarX icon and you’ll see an array of web apps pre-built for you, laid out like a home screen on a phone. From here, you can add websites like Instagram, YouTube, YouTube Music, ChatGPT, and more directly to the menu bar. Or, you could add any URL you wish. Planning a wedding? Put your wedding website right in your menu bar.
Here's how it works. On the app's phone-like interface, search for a site in the Google bar up top. Then, simply navigate to the website and click away, minimize it, or close the app to save it. Once the website is added, it’s favicon will show up in the menu bar.
Or, if you want to save one of the pre-built web apps to your menu bar, you can simply click on it from MenubarX's home screen. The home screen will also show open pages as their own apps.
While the app does come with a light browser, it doesn't have a directly accessible URL bar, so you are limited to Google for your navigation. As soon as you open a website, let's say Lifehacker, the MenubarX icon on top will be updated to the Lifehacker favicon, and you'll see the entire website in its mobile view, floating on top of everything else on the screen.
To add more websites to the mix, each with their own menu bar icons, right-click the MenubarX icon and click New Tab. Note, though, that if you’re using a menu bar management utility like Ice or Barbee, you’ll first have to unhide the new tabs before you can start using them.
By default, each new tab opens in a floating window. You can use the Attach button to turn it into a drop-down instead. This way, the window will be anchored to the icon in the menu bar itself.
There are quite a few customization options, as well. First, you’re free to resize windows as you please. By default, the app emulates a mobile interface. But you can also choose a specific browser resolution from Window Option > Window Size. From the Window Agent option, you can also switch to a desktop interface, if you’d like. In the Settings page, you’ll also find an option called Refresh/Release. In the Auto Refresh section, you can choose how often to automatically refresh a page. For example, you can add a news site here, and set it to refresh automatically every 30 minutes. Or perhaps every 5 minutes for X or Instagram.
You can also use the Pin icon to pin a window, so it will always stay floating on top of everything else that you’re doing. Want to get rid of a tab you no longer need? Right-click on the menu bar icon and choose the Close Tab option.
Lastly, if you’re paying for MenubarX Pro, you can also enable ad-blocking by default. The MenubarX Pro upgrade costs $6.99. It’s a one-time purchase that unlocks unlimited tabs and bookmarks, plus gives you an option to add custom window shortcuts, custom website icons, and a custom home page (if you wish). MenubarX is also available in the Setapp app subscription service, where you can access more than 260 paid apps for a monthly fee of $9.99.
from News https://ift.tt/VxLTRy2
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment