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WebTV/MSNTV |
What is WebTV/MSNTV? With WebTV (now marketed as MSNTV Service), a person can explore the Internet using a device (internet receiver) that connects to the television set and a phone line. With WebTV, a user will have access to email and and access to some, but not all, internet content and webpages. Cool Page and WebTV The most common WebTV question asked by Cool Page users is: Why do my pages look fine on a computer's web browser but they look different or misaligned in a WebTV browser? This is due to a number of reasons. The WebTV browser is not the same as a browser on a computer, it has specific limitations. It can only display pages that are less than 540 pixels wide. If your page made with Cool Page is wider than 540 pixels the WebTV browser will not display the page properly. The WebTV browser ONLY uses one Font Style, the Helvetica Font. If your page use a different font the page may appear misaligned in a WebTV browser. Cool Page uses exact pixel positioning of objects on the page. This means that wherever you place an object, that is where it will appear when viewed in a web browser. If your page is wider than the screen size of a viewer's computer, the web browser will automaticallly add horizontal scrollbars, allowing your page to be viewed in it's entirety. The WebTV browser can not use horizontal scrollbars, therefore it will cut off the parts of a page beyond 540 pixels width or it will try to display all of the page content, misaligning the page. A visual example of an incorrectly designed WebTV page is given on Microsoft's WebTV developer web site here: http://developer.msntv.com/Develop/Tables.asp There is more information about designing for various screen sizes on the Screen Resoulution Guide. How To Design Pages Just For WebTV • Make the pages no wider than 540 pixels. • Use limited multemedia content. • Use the free Microsoft WebTV Viewer to preview your pages made specifically for WebTV browsers. (Export your pages and open them in the WebTV viewer.) • Use the Helvetica Font. WebTV uses that font ONLY, for ALL pages. • More info at FAQ's below and at this WebTV Design website. |
1. What's the difference between MSN TV Service and WebTV service? MSN TV service is the new name for WebTV service reflecting the ability to access more popular MSN content like Hotmail, MSN News and more. Although the service name is changing, you still buy WebTV receivers to use it. top 2. Will Internet transactions be secure on MSN TV Service? The MSN TV Service supports Secure Socket Layer (SSL), the Internet encryption standard. This allows the MSN TV Service to offer secure online banking and shopping to subscribers, making transactions online simple, convenient and safe. top 3. What is the difference between WebTV and a computer? WebTV receivers and the MSN TV Service subscription is designed to enhance your TV viewing experience. While it does provide access to the Internet and e-mail — from the comfort and convenience of your couch — it is not designed to offer spreadsheet, word processing or other capabilities often associated with PCs. top 4. Can a user print my Cool Page webpages from MSN TV Service? Yes, sometimes. WebTV receivers have built-in printer ports but there are relatively few printers that will work with WebTV, therefore plain text is best. WebTV will work with select Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Epson, and Lexmark printers. This includes, but is not limited to, the Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 600 series and the DeskJet 810/830/880/895 series plus select older/discounted models. Also supported are Canon BubbleJet printers including BJC-1000, 2000 and 6000 series, plus select older/discounted models. top 5. How does a WebTV user navigate? A set-top box does not have a mouse. This can make navigating web pages challenging. Set-top box users navigate Web pages with a yellow selection box controlled by arrow buttons on the keyboard or remote control—as opposed to a mouse. This selection box highlights the hyperlinks on a webpage. Although the selection box is supposed to be an excellent navigation device, it may not always appear on the screen where expected on complex pages. This is because the set-top box browser has to sometimes rearrange the elements of a page to get it to display within the confines of the TV screen. top 6. Can my WebTV viewers download and store software applications or games from my website? No. WebTV Classic and WebTV Plus receivers do not have a capability to store this kind of information. top 7. Why don't my pages fit in the WebTV screen? The design area is smaller for TV. The screen will accommodate pages of only 540 pixels wide and 370 pixels high, although the actual dimensions of the screen are somewhat larger. (560x420) WebTV can scroll pages vertically but they CANNOT scroll horizontally. top 8. Why do some things on my pages look blurry on WebTV screens? Dark backgrounds work better than light ones for TV, and both pure white and pure red should be avoided because they cause distortion. Colored boxes of one pixel will flicker on a TV screen, so horizontal lines (colored boxes) should be at least 2 pixels high. Webpage text will always appear blurrred somewhat on WebTV screens. The WebTV browser has built in methods of rendering text and tries to correct the blurriness, however it can cannot completely control how text appears on the screen. Fine graphics, like small detailed images, will appear blurred on a WebTV screen. top 9. Why don't my images look good on a WebTV screen? See #8 above and #10 below. top 10 What about colors? A television set displays a more "natural"-looking image than a computer monitor but does a poor job of displaying thin lines and colors with high intensities of red, green, and blue. The problem is that text characters, the bulk of web content, are made up of thin lines. Some colors commonly used as background colors can have a distracting "glow" effect when displayed on a television. The most common example is pure white or yellow. These colors are so bright that they can actually cause the edges of the picture to warp. Backgrounds that avoid high intensity primary colors are more comfortable on television. The most soothing color for a WebTV background is medium blue, and the default WebTV background color is gray. top |