WebTV Design Guide For Webmasters

by Kathy Casper (kathyc@delphi.com)

Webmasters today need expertise in many different technologies, platforms, and languages to create quality sites. With the advent of Internet terminals, such as WebTV, it’s now necessary to master the concepts of what has been called "broadcast design", in addition to traditional web design. WebTV expects sales of 250,000 units this year alone, and users of this technology could soon represent at least 5% of accesses to sites on the Web. With WebTV and other network computer (NC) devices on the horizon, good broadcast design becomes a key issue.

What are the crucial differences between web page design for computer display and design for broadcast media? How can existing pages be enhanced for the TV viewing audience?

Contents

• Primary Considerations - Audience, Screen Size, Color Usage and Navigation
• Document Structure - Header Information, Document Body, Content
• Document Elements
• Tables
• Frames, Forms, Images
• Multimedia - Sound/Animation, Audioscope
• Conclusion - HTML Tag Tips, Testing Your Pages, References