No ShrinkWrap Web2.0 Reviews

Choosy is a brilliant Mac application that allows you to choose which browser to use when loading links from other programs. I have to admit, the first time I ran across Choosy, I wasn’t that impressed. Choosy is one of those apps that doesn’t shine until you have a need for it, at which point it immediately becomes irreplaceable.

For example, I love using NetNewsWire to manage the 492 RSS feeds I read. One annoyance I face daily, however, is opening links from NetNewsWire in an external browser. I like using Safari to load iTunes links (Safari intelligently closes the iTunes-bound tab automatically), and Firefox to load links I want to tag with delicious (since I use the delicious extension). With Choosy, what once required copying the URL and pasting it into a new tab in Firefox is now handled with one click.

Choosy installs as a new preference pane located in the “Other” category:

Options available in the preference pane include de/activating Choosy, start at login, de-selecting browsers to ignore, and selecting whether Choosy prompts for a browser or automatically selects one based on the order you set.

Once you’ve enabled and configured Choosy, it will act as your default browser and allow you to direct opened links to the browser of your choice:

For more information, check out the Choosy website, which includes a couple of screencasts demonstrating how it works.

So far, I’ve only experienced problems opening links from Air-based apps like TweetDeck. Otherwise, Choosy has worked like a champ, and has quickly become an application I can’t live without.

Others uses for Choosy might include directing links between multiple Fluid apps, opening all social networking links in Flock, and directing all music blog links into Songbird.

Do you use Choosy? Tell me how you like it in the comments below.

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