Good, but needs two simple improvements.

Nano Weather is a nice, compact app that does what I expect a weather app to do: provide me with weather information. In that respect, the app is great. And, for the most part, the app sits on the menu bar unobtrusively, out of the way, until you need it.

However, there are a couple of very important things that need to change in order to rate this app higher than three stars:

1. The graphics used on the menu bar to indicate weather conditions are skeuomorphic, and they are so small as to make it nearly impossible to make out at a casual glance. If the developers could simply provide a small, simple, monochrome icon option, it would make the application much easier to use. For instance, today it is snowing outside. Instead of an image of a sun, slightly obscured by clouds, with what appears to be snowflakes (so small, its hard to tell), why not simply show a simple black-and-white snowflake? Done! If it is raining outside, how about a simple black-and-white raindrop? Done! Easy to take a quick glance, and no dwelling on the skeuomorphic image trying to figure out what it means.

2. Why do I need to tell the app where I am? The app should simply default to my current location (easy to automatically determine), and show the weather for where I am at the current time. If someone wanted to view weather in another location, just have them type in the location (as the current configuration allows). Done! What is most important to me is what the weather situation is currently where I am, as I travel extensively in my job.

With these two simple enhancements, this application would easily rate at five stars.

Erik Johnson about Nano Weather