In this week’s review, I’ll be taking a look at a simple and minimalistic time and weather extension that may be worth installing, if you’d rather not look outside the window for up-to-the-second weather (jokes, of course).
This would have been the first of my weekly Chrome extension reviews, if it wasn’t for the weather API issues plaguing the weather apps across the Chrome Web Store. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but it seems that the Google Weather API was silently put to rest.
Currently
‘Currently’ works right off the bat when installed for the first time, auto-detecting your location and showing you the relevant data for your area. The weather data is now pulled in from the recently partnered Wunderground (a very new change, due to the weather API issues).
This simple idea is expressed with a minimal design aesthetic that focuses entirely on the content.” – Rainfall
I really like how the weather forecast fades into view, as well as the subtle fades when rolling the cursor over the monochrome icons makes for a very elegant and smooth experience. Even on first-glance, you know that the developers have a good eye for great design.
Settings
In the settings menu, you can change the background colour from ‘light’ or ‘blue’, though I prefer the default background, ‘dark’. There are options to change the default language to that of your choosing, as well as being able to change the way the clock is displayed. There is also an option to toggle the animations on and off.
The only option I tweaked was the setting from Fahrenheit to Celsius, it just makes more sense for me.
Summary
‘Currently’ is a news and weather extension, and it does exactly that with no unneeded ‘extras’ and bloat. Although it has a very clean and minimalist design which is pleasing to the eye, it isn’t the most functional, which is obviously not the developers intention anyway.
If you miss the grid of your most visited websites or apps on the new tab page, you can still access them with one click of a dedicated button at the bottom-right of the page.
Overall, it has been very well designed and would look great on any desktop.
Give it a try and let us know what you think, or tell us what your favourite news/weather extensions are.
Got an extension suggestion for us to review? Then feel free to give your recommendations in the comments!