I’ve been messing around with Fluid App a lot lately, and I’ve found one way to use it to its greatest capabilities. To create perfect little apps for sites that have an iPhone version. I first got this idea from the video of Socialthing plus Fluid App.

Fluid App is what we call ‘Site Specific Browsers.’ What the application does is it takes a single website, and turns it into a standalone application you can run on your desktop. Any website can be used with Fluid App. Go to their website with the link above and see the full details. Its amazing.

The first site i tried it with was Facebook. They have an iPhone version of their website that makes their regular website look like crap. The iPhone version looks amazing, and the normal version should look like this in the first place. To the right is a screen shot, click to enlarge. You can instantly tell that the new Fluid App skin called HUD looks amazing with any site, and this is a perfect example.

The next site i tried out was Pownce Mobile. They have a very simple iPhone website that has all the relevant features just like Facebook does. Everything about the mobile version of Pownce seems better than the regular site.

There is no JavaScript functionality (or whatever Pownce uses) so you don’t get the cool effect when posting a comment or anything, but its still awesome. Its everything you need, simpler than the normal version of the site. And once again it looks great with the Fluid App’s HUD interface.

The last one I’ve done so far is the Digg iPhone site. This is one of my favorites. Its very simple. I mean a ton more simple than Facebook and Pownce.

A header, a list of stories and a link to get to the next page of stories. When you login on the Digg mobile site it doesn’t bring you to another page, either. It keeps you right where you are the whole time while you Digg your stories.

That’s it for the sites that i have tried so far. (Their mobile versions with Fluid App) I wanted to try Socialthing! but the site wouldn’t work for me with Fluid App for some reason. I’m going to try and get it to work, but you can find a video of that here.

Update – I finally got Socialthing Mobile to work with Fluid app. What i was doing wrong was that i didn’t know you had to log in first before you could actually access the mobile version of Socialthing. But i got it to work and here are some details.

The interface is more than incredible for Socialthing Mobile. The incredible styled toolbar on the top just glows on the interface. Everything is well placed, and it the mobile version actually illustrated features that are coming soon! Such as, a profile for your username just like Friendfeed has, and also settings changing in the mobile version. Also, posting more than just status messages!

The next service i tried after Socialthing! was Brightkite. I had forgotten all about that site because i can’t really use it yet seeing as I’m on Verizon right now.

Brightkite clearly has the best interface of all I’ve seen so far. Amazing buttons with perfect gradients, a beautiful glowing toolbar just like Socialthing, your current status message on the top, and its easy as pie to use. Very simple and elegant interface. That’s what I’m seeing in most of these new startups going with a mobile version of their website.

Update 2 – I took it a step further, and loaded up an iPhone version of Weatherbug. So when i want to, i can load it up and get the temperature outside in huge numbers.

Their service isn’t great compared to The Weather Channel, becuase you can get 10 hour forecasts that way. It will do when i just want a cool little application to check the temperature though! The interface isn’t too great for this application, but i can’t seem to find a good weather application for the iPhone that actually does. If anyone knows any good web apps than let me know!

Update 3 – I have found an amazing post, from a commenter on this post. This post illustrates how to use Twitter directly from the menu bar (On Mac) with Hahlo, and Fluid App! This is quite amazing, and it brings the menu bar function of Fluid App to life! Click here! Just remember you can do this with any application!

What do you think about using iPhone versions on the desktop?