Review of the X-Rates.com Currency Converter

In fact it has at least one neat feature which makes it very user friendly. So let’s take a closer look and see what it has to offer.

What is the URL to go directly to it?

The URL that you need to visit to go straight to the currency converter is:

http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html.

For your information the home page address is: http://www.x-rates.com.

What is it like?

Don’t be fooled by the basic looking nature of this website. The page that the currency converter is on is a balanced looking one that isn’t exactly afraid of white space! You’ll see some information on either side of the page, and the currency converter sits neatly in the white space that is in between them.

The design is very simple but that makes it all the better to view and use, so you shouldn’t have any problems with this at all, no matter what your reason is for using it.

Is it easy to use?

The converter is laid out a little differently to some other ones you may have come across in the past. But that doesn’t make it unnecessarily complicated.

Instead of entering the amount you want to convert first, you are prompted to select the currency you are converting from instead. You have a choice of twenty three currencies here, but all the main ones are included, plus quite a few others. In short, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding the one you want. And as usual, hitting the first letter of the country in question will speed the process even more, by taking you to the first option that begins with that letter.

The same currencies are then included in the second drop down box as well, in which you will select the currency you want to convert to. The third step is to finally type in the amount that you wish to convert, in order to complete the process.

All you need to do then is hit the ‘calculate’ button to get your results. The page doesn’t change when you do this – what happens is that the conversion rate instantly appears in the blank box above the information you have selected. If you type in a different amount and hit calculate again, the amount will change to reflect that.

Are there any particular features worth noting?

There is one feature in particular that makes this website well worth bearing in mind for doing quick conversions between the most popular currencies.

If you take another look at the page you will see a number of small flags in a box to the right hand side of the currency calculator itself. Twelve flags are featured in all – six in the ‘from’ column and six in the ‘to’ column. If the conversion you want is available using these flags, then all you need to do is click on the flags you need and hit calculate.

This makes the most popular conversions extremely quick and easy to do, since you don’t have to find the currencies you need from the drop down boxes given.

You can also look further back into the history of two currencies you have the current conversion rate for by clicking on the link underneath the converter that says ‘two currencies’. This will take you into another page which shows a graph of their progress over recent months. You can also invert this graph if you need to.

One final and neat little addition is the inclusion of a simple calculator that you can use if you need to. This pops up in a smaller screen as soon as you click on the ‘calculator’ clickable link.

In conclusion

All in all, this currency calculator is a little deceiving on first glance. It seems to be extremely basic, and it certainly looks that way, but it is very easy to use and has a number of functions that make it very attractive to many different users.

The historical nature of it can be a big advantage in some ways, should you need to look further back than simply seeing the current rates between your two chosen currencies.

Everyone has their favorite currency converter of course, but as far as X-Rates.com is concerned, it has several neat features that make it particularly user friendly.