Ever wondered how much time has passed since the start of the day, or how much time until the day ends? Sure you have. I mean, practically everybody with a clock and an understanding of the concept of time does, right?

That's the exact reason why a small GNOME Shell extension called Day Progress was created. This simple GNOME Shell extension displays both how much time has passed since the start of the day, and the time remaining until the day ends via a cool customizable progress bar.

Before anything else, it's important to note that Day Progress is heavily inspired by the macOS app with the same name, developed by open-source developer Sindre Sorhus.

With that out of the way, we can now talk about "the why." Why would anyone use it? The first and most obvious aspect is that, yes, everyone with a clock can tell this information pretty effortlessly. However, sometimes, seeing something in a different way can prove quite beneficial.

For example, by instantly viewing how much of the day has already passed, you can quickly tell "where you sit" with the work, projects, and tasks you want to accomplish.

Coolness factor aside, this extension has a few small tricks up its sleeve. What really surprised me about it is that it's very customizable. By default, the extension is set to "a full day." However, the really cool thing is you can set it to display your work interval (for example, from 9 AM to 5 PM).

You can also choose to display only the time elapsed rather than the time remaining (or you can keep both). There are other options such as the panel position (center, left, and right side), the bar's dimensions, and the bar's edges (circular).

As usual, the easiest way to install Day Progress (or any other GNOME Shell extension) is with the help of Extension Manager.

A GNOME Shell extension that shows the progress of the day (or the progress of your work hours, or whatever time progress you want) is not something particularly impressive. Then again, the large majority of GNOME extensions are not impressive, but there's something really nice about their simplicity and the way they just make the experience with GNOME a bit better.

If you're a fan of small and cool GNOME Shell extensions, then Day Progress can be a nice addition to your desktop.