A proper Mac window
The standard window buttons, so the green button’s tiling menu is there: Fill, Centre, Move & Resize. Resize from any edge, or go full screen.
Mac exclusiveApple silicon only
Any web page,
always in view.
Fanlight floats one web page in a clean, chromeless window that stays above everything else on your Mac. Your notes over your slides. Your dashboard over your code. The chat over the call.
Try it here
Pick a page.
Then try to bury it.
Choose what to float, then switch Float on Top off and on again. Point at the floating window’s top-left corner and its buttons come back.
Your script stays above your slides, even while they play.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for making the time.
Last spring we set ourselves three goals. Two of them we reached early.
The third took longer, and taught us more than the other two put together, so that’s where I’d like to start.
A year ago, every release took a fortnight. Today it takes an afternoon. Here’s how we got there.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for making the time.
Last spring we set ourselves three goals. Two of them we reached early.
The third took longer, and taught us more than the other two put together, so that’s where I’d like to start.
A year ago, every release took a fortnight. Today it takes an afternoon. Here’s how we got there.
StatusAll systems normal
APIOperational
WebsiteOperational
DeployIn progress
Response time
Chat
JoCan everyone see the slides?
SamAll good here.
AlexCould you go back one?
YouOf course, one moment.
Message…
LIVE
On top of everything. In the way of nothing.
Fanlight has one job: to keep a page where you can see it. This is what doing that job properly takes.
No. 1
Above every app. Even your slideshow.
Fanlight sits above every app and follows you to every desktop, and Stage Manager leaves it right where you put it. Play a Keynote slideshow in a window and your notes stay on top. Share just the slides, and nobody on the call sees them.
No. 2
Nothing between you and the page.
No toolbar. No tabs. No address bar. The window buttons stay out of sight until the pointer comes near them, and a slim band along the top takes on the colour at the top of the page, and follows it into dark mode.
The dashed line marks the band. Point at its top-left corner to see its buttons.
No. 3
The microphone, when you want it.
Pages that listen just work: scripts that scroll as you speak, dictation, voice calls. Fanlight asks once for each site and remembers your answer, and Forget Microphone Choices wipes the slate clean. The camera always stays off.
Allow example.com to use the microphone?
Fanlight will remember your answer for this site. To be asked again, choose Fanlight › Forget Microphone Choices.
example.com can use the microphone.
Fanlight won’t ask about this site again.
And all the little things.
Grab it anywhere
Drag it by the top edge, like any title bar. Or hold ⌘ and drag from anywhere on the page.
One click does it
A click on the page counts first time, even while another app is in front. Then your keyboard, Esc and presentation clicker go straight to the page.
Back where you left it
Fanlight remembers the page, the size and the position, and opens straight to them next time.
Float, or don’t
Window › Float on Top. Switch it off and Fanlight is an ordinary window again, until you want it back on top.
Full screen, both ways
⌃⌘F takes the page full screen. A page’s own full-screen button, on a video say, works too.
Mac exclusive
Made for the Mac.
Only the Mac.
Fanlight isn’t a port, and it isn’t a browser in disguise. It’s a native Mac app, built for Apple silicon and nothing else. That’s why the whole download is under 1 MB, and why it behaves like every other window on your Mac: because it is one.
- Chip
- Apple silicon only. M1 or later. Intel Macs can’t open it.
- System
- macOS 13 Ventura or later
- Built with
- Swift, AppKit and WebKit, the engine behind Safari. No Electron, no bundled browser.
- Trust
- Signed with a Developer ID and notarised by Apple
- Install
- A disk image. Open it and drag Fanlight to Applications.
Float whatever you keep glancing at.
If it opens in a browser, it opens in Fanlight. Nothing is built in and no site is favoured: you choose the page.
Scripts and speaker notes
Keep your words up by the camera, where your eyes already are.
Dashboards and status pages
Builds, uptime, sales, the support queue: one glance, all day.
Chat beside a call
Keep the conversation readable while the meeting fills the screen.
Live streams
The match, the launch, the lecture, playing in a corner while you work.
Docs and references
API docs beside your editor, a style guide beside your draft.
Your own localhost
Building a web app? Float your local server beside your code. Plain http works for local addresses.
Pairs beautifully with
Teleprompter
Fanlight was first put through its paces with Teleprompter, a prompter in your browser that scrolls your script at your pace, or only while you’re talking. Float it under your camera, give it the microphone once, and read every word without looking down.
Open TeleprompterUp and floating in three steps.
- Download and dragOpen the disk image and drag Fanlight to Applications.
- Type an addressThe first time, Fanlight opens with the address box waiting. Change it whenever you like with ⌘L.
- Put it anywhereSize it, park it, get on with your work. It stays on top, and reopens on the same page.
Good questions.
Will Fanlight run on an Intel Mac?
No. Fanlight is a Mac exclusive built only for Apple silicon, and an Intel Mac won’t open it.
Which version of macOS do I need?
macOS 13 Ventura or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon.
Will people on a call see it?
Only if you share your whole screen. Share a single window, your slides say, and Fanlight stays yours alone. In Keynote, choose Play › In Window to keep your notes on top of the slideshow.
Does it use my browser’s sign-ins?
No. Fanlight keeps its own cookies and storage, apart from Safari, Chrome and the rest, so you sign in to a page once inside Fanlight.
Can a page use my camera or microphone?
The microphone, if you say yes: Fanlight asks once for each site and remembers. The camera, never.
Which pages can I open?
Any page served over https, and local pages, such as localhost, over plain http. macOS blocks plain http to other addresses.
Why is it called Fanlight?
A fanlight is the half-round window above a front door. It doesn’t open; it just lets the light in, all day long. Fanlight does the same for one web page.
Let the
light in.
Float your first page today. One small download, one window, and the page you need is always in view.
Download Fanlight 0.3