INTRODUCTION TO THE TV-BROWSER
tv-browser is very different to a home computer. It is
specifically designed for television sites and enhanced
broadcaster applications. There are many factors which make
the tv-browser interpret web-pages and display them differently on
the television screen.
The largest problem today in Australia is that many web-pages are
designed for a home computer. In other parts of the world (such as
the UK) television web devices have been around for some time.
Therefore web developers have designed websites for displaying on
both the television and a home computer. Over time, as more
television set-top boxes come to market, it will be in the interest of
many developers to ensure their websites also display effectively on
a TV screen. By using some smart programming, a web developer
can actually design the same web-page to fit both a computer
monitor and television screen without having to design two seperate
versions.
The tv-browser is based on world standards (W3C). These standards
comprise of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), JavaScript, CSS
(Cascade Style Sheets) and the DOM (Document Object Model).
Many aspects of the home PC browser are not standardised. For
example, many websites will work on Internet Explorer but may
interpret differently on a Netscape browser (or vice versa).
The Interactive Player was specially designed to enhance your
television viewing by offering other information and services that
arrive to you either via an Internet connection (telephone line) or by
the television broadcaster.
What you will find:
A television screen has a lower resolution (less dots on the screens)
than a computer monitor. Therefore, sometimes a web-page may
appear to be actually bigger than the screen. Othertimes, the tv-
browser may try to wrap all information onto the tv screen size.
Web-pages designed specifically for a television viewer will be
shown correctly.
In addition, many home computers have 3rd party plugins such as
Macromedia Flash, Windows Media Player, etc. These plugins are not
W3C standards and therefore not available on this digital product at
the time of printing this manual.
More information regarding the tv-browser, W3C standards, can be
found by searching the Internet.
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