This trend of beauty can be seen in Windows 8 (the Metro side), iOS 7, Android KitKat and now OS X Yosemite. If you want to give the same beauty makeover to your Chrome start page (new tab page), keep reading.
1. Momentum
Momentum is a mashup of productivity and inspiration. For starters, it looks gorgeous. It will show you one motivational quote at the bottom. There’s a high res background on which sits the clock in big bold letters. You’re invited to add your focus task for the day. It’s not synced with any service. But it will always be there. If you are like me, you open the new tab hundreds of times a day. Nothing like having to stare at the focus tasks multiple times a day to get you going. Beware though, at 37 MB, this is the heaviest extension I’ve ever had the pleasure to come across.
2. Currently
Currently is a simple and elegant extension that displays the current time and weather. If you want to keep it simple but don’t want to look at the plain old Google page, try Currently instead. You can tweak the styling to suit your needs.
3. Instatabs
Want to look at your Instagram feed every time you start Chrome? It’s possible with Instatabs. You can’t upload photos or share them. Once logged in, your Instagram feed will show up in a grid of six. You can watch videos, interact with the content, even like and comment right from Instatabs. The extension supports sponsored posts but I’ve yet to run into any.
4. OneFeed
OneFeed is a social media based start page. It lets you connect to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Instagram accounts to pull in the latest updates. You can then view all the updates shown in a beautiful cards layout that sits over a space background that’s much like iOS 7’s default wallpaper. It is fast and fluid. The News section curates the best of what’s going on in the world. The great thing about this extension is that you can add your own RSS feeds to stay up to date with your favorite blogs.
5. AlphaQuotes
AlphaQuotes is an amazingly simple start page. All it does is displays an inspiring quote or phrases in big red capital letters. The background is white. There are no credits to the author (which should have been there) or links to anything. At the bottom it simply says Built with AngularJS, linking to the official site, not that of the extension. If this is an ad for AngularJS, color me impressed. Hover over the text and it will change to a shade of blue. Click on it to change the quote. Again, this thing is lightweight and amazingly fast. It is also a good reminder to get over that Javascript hump. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
