Minimo

Even though Chrome is without a doubt the best all-round browser out there, it’s not to say that it’s also the most exciting one. Things can become very dull in some departments when browsing with Chrome, and you have to admit it, you’ve tried a “new tab” extension once or twice in an attempt to spice things up a bit.

While there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of good Chrome extensions that provide fresh looks to your new tab pages, most of them are not exactly useful, or particularly stylish. Well, if you do happen to like these types of extensions, you might want to check out Minimo, an extension that aims to be both useful and stylish at the same time.

Once installed, Minimo provides a simple new tab page that displays a few valuable data at a glance such as the current time and date, the Internet connection status, the estimated download speed (expressed in Mbps), and the battery level (if you’re using a laptop or a device with a battery).

The extension also boasts a very neat, rich-text scratchpad dubbed “writing mode” that allows you to jot down notes, to-do lists, or simple ideas for later. You’re also provided with a little navigation bar for quick access to your favorite websites.

As its name suggests, Minimo has been designed to be remarkably minimalistic. However, don’t be fooled, as its seemingly simple GUI offers a lot more customization features that you might be led to believe at first. For example, it offers two GUI modes (Dark and Light), and a wide array of GUI themes (with an option for creating custom themes currently in the works).

From the same place, you can also select the specific type of info you want the extension to display. Head over to the Advanced Settings foldable menu and you can also change the time format and the writing mode keyboard shortcut.

Taking everything into account, Minimo is one of the many Chrome extensions to have joined this particular niche of New Tab Page tools. It’s very stylish, it integrates with Chrome nicely, and it’s deceptively customizable.