Considerations for designing for Television

In Best Practice, Television by Fredy Ore

Today I started work on a TV compatible design. After a little research, there are some important considerations for Web TV.

1. Screen Dimensions for 4:3 are Width=560, Height=420.
2. Usable Space are Width=544, Height=372.
3. 48 pixels are taken up vertically (36 at bottom of the title bar from height) and 8 pixels on each side (total16)
4. No Horizontal Scroll Bar!
5. Can only view Flash 3 content, at the moment.
6. Because television is interlaced at 60 Hz, a one-pixel line will show only in half the frames (30 Hz).
7. Graphics are shrinked by 10%. So avoid graphics with small text/type.
8. Supports only 8-bit color (256 colors)
9. Keep text at least normal size (12 points). WebTV displays sans serif type regardless of what you typeset.
10. Javascript 1.0, Supports CSS & DHTML, but not XML & VBScript

For more info on Web TV check out the following
www.webtv.net
Authoring Web TV
Development Checklist
and
WebMonkey’s WebTV article

Detecting everything with BrowserHawk

In Archive by Fredy Ore

If you thought Browser detection was limited, check this one called “Browser Hawk”. It detects everything from Active-X controls, Security, All browser Plug-ins, WAP and even PDA detection. This server based browser program has it all, it really is amazing.

www.cyscape.com/showbrow.asp