Filed under: Widget Watch
AccuWeather Widget provides a rich alternative to Apple's Weather widget
When I recently wrote about hacking Apple's Weather Widget, a common question was: "Can you tell me how to change Apple's Weather widget to use Accuweather.com again?"
Now you might think this is just coming from some people who don't like any form of change, but several people said that the new weather widget simply did not work for them, showing no results or incorrect information for their location.
Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that no, I don't know how to hack Apple's weather widget to use Accuweather.com. I'm not even sure that it can be done.
The good news is that there is no real need to hack the Apple weather widget, because Accuweather.com provides their own widget which works really well, offering an animated weather map and a 15-day forecast (when expanded, 4 days when collapsed).This should come as good news to those who found that the new weather widget simply just did not work as well, but I would encourage you to check it out even if you like the Apple weather widget.
One minor usage note: I found that when I had expanded the widget I could not figure out how to make it collapse again. There are actually four separate views available which you toggle through by clicking on the "Accuweather.com" banner at the top of the widget (try it yourself and you'll see what I mean).
If you find that you get a blank section of the widget, which also happened to me, remember that command+R will always "refresh/reload" whatever widget you have selected.
iPhone users may be happy to know there is also an iPhone compatible page available.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lo said 1:18PM on 10-10-2009
Is it just me or is the design a little mid-90's
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Galley said 1:33PM on 10-10-2009
I've always that AccuWeather had the best forecasts. This widget is great. It reminds me of their iPhone web app I used to use back in the day.
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Anthony said 1:55PM on 10-10-2009
It's ugly as sin, I prefer Apple's design. I'm also one of those who got hung out to dry by Apple's ditching of Accuweather
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adam said 2:19PM on 10-10-2009
I prefer the weather underground widget. Looks good, has accurate forecasts, as well as a moving map and local cams/pictures.
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Nomore475 said 2:25PM on 10-10-2009
This app is U-G-L-Y. I use Weather Bug Elite. 99 cents and it has animated radar. It rocks. Besides, how accurate can a monthly forecast be?
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tom said 2:33PM on 10-10-2009
Click on the top banner to make the darn thing shrink (one section at a time)
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Charles said 4:35PM on 10-10-2009
Accuweather is ugly and cluttered to the point of unusablility. The As Adam said, Wunderground.com iPhone-customized web page is much better. I particularly like their "Wundermap," a full-screen scrollable, zoomable, live radar page.
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Dave Barnes said 4:42PM on 10-10-2009
Obviously, I am not alone.
I installed it.
Played with it for 1 minute.
Thought: this is really ugly.
Uninstalled it.
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DDG said 1:08AM on 10-11-2009
Why would anyone need an iPhone friendly version of this widget (mentioned at the end of this article), when there is a native AccuWeather app for the iPhone? For my use, it beats the built-in (Apple) weather app hands down. Features data for a lot more cities than the Apple weather app supports, and even shows forecast videos right on your iPhone from Accuweather's TV channel.
Search the App Store for AccuWeather.com, and it is the app with the clouds as the icon.
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jake said 10:48AM on 10-11-2009
I'd recommend WX by Craig Hunter. It is two-part program with the main program sitting on your computer while the companion app sits on your iPhone/Touch. The two are sync'd and the interface for the iPhone/Touch is very clean. I think both the weather reports and the satellite imagery are top-notch, and the maritime observation and hurricane tracking plugins are really great add-ons. I haven't seen the same accuracy or flexibility in various "name-brand" meteorology apps. This one is a real weather-wonk app.
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vincentreusch said 2:05PM on 10-11-2009
Maybe it's not beautiful, but it does have an animated radar, and is far more functional that the mac weather app. Certainly not "cluttered to the point of unusability." That's a little silly for a tiny little widget with three or four functions.
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Bob Lieberman said 11:40AM on 10-18-2009
On my iBook G4, this widget causes my keypad and trackpad to behave erratically, as if the trackpad clicker were stuck down. Keystrokes weren't recognized, I couldn't stop scrolling, moving the cursor was dragging things all over the place. Remove the widget, problem solved. It's repeatable. I have no idea why it does that, and it took FOREVER to isolate the problem.
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