Interactive TV Testing

I tested the emulated Interactve TV service on a web server to see if the videos and interface streamed correctly...




Everything works fine and users will be able to get a decent idea of what an Interactive TV service for Hexus.net would look like.

The Interactive TV can be viewed at: http://zappa.tvu.ac.uk/~06hodgsonbyrnew/IC/InteractiveTV.html

Mobile Website Testing

After developing the test version of the mobile website, I tested it on Opera Mini to see if it displays adequately on a small mobile screen.



As you can see the mobile version of the website works, however the right hand side of the page is slightly clipped off. This is not a major problem, as the text is still legible, however phone screen resolutions vary size, so it would be impossible to accommodate all of them perfectly.

The mobile website can be viewed at: http://zappa.tvu.ac.uk/~06hodgsonbyrnew/IC

Week 5

After doing some research into websites that can be adapted to work on Mobile Phones and Interactive TVs, I have found that a highly popular technology news site called "Hexus" would be a good choice to port to these platforms.
(www.hexus.net)

I feel this website would be a good subject to convert platforms for because the news contained in the site is sometimes relevant to the platforms its being read on (mobile phone news, technology releases and reviews, etc.). This would work especially well on the TV because users would be able to watch the stories from Hexus's video channel (www.hexus.tv), and then use Interactive TV to skip between different 'channels' from the .tv website.

Here is a mock-up of possible designs for the mobile website (compared next to the original website)...


Here is a mock-up of the Interactive TV content using a screen capture from a video on Hexus.tv, and showing what buttons a user would use to navigate the menu...


In order to give a proper taste of how the interactive TV will work, I will create a simulation similar to the mock-up shown above in Flash. Where the user will click the buttons highlighted on the remote control to navigate and change whats on the screen.

I will develop the mobile web page as a small functional web page written in XHTML with suitable content to give the feel that it is a fully working mobile website.

Week 4

I have been looking into simulators that run on Windows, that I can use to test the artefacts.

One of the best examples I have found for the mobile web page testing is the Opera Mini simulator. Opera Mini is a browser that can be downloaded to Smartphones, but Opera also provide a demo of the program on their product website. (http://www.operamini.com/demo/) This program (and even the simulator) has full support for XHTML, WAP and HTML standards, so makes it a good choice to test any site I develop for the mobile to be tested on.

Another example I found is a WAP simulator program fro Windows called WinWap (http://www.winwap.com/downloads.php). This program is limited in the way of how it can ONLY display WAP pages.

I have not managed to find a suitable Web on the TV simulator, and so I am considering emulating the experience in Flash.

Week 3

This week I looked at design principles in the context of different websites. For example how websites that offer different information or services from one another have different layouts and navigation (sometimes removing aspects completely).

To help me put websites in some kind of context I looked around at "help" websites that offer pointers to make a good website.

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

This website has a list of the "Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design". Where it lists common errors designers make in their designs, such as bad search functions or not answering user questions. These negative points are a good set of pointers to make sure designers make a usable site.

I also did some research into Internet on TV, and discovered that this technology is somewhat obsolete.

However, the technology now carrying on from what the TV brought is now using "Media Center" PCs as TVs.



These Media Center PCs connect to TV sets and allow the user to seamlessly navigate between their PC and TV. This allows users to view full desktop standard web pages with the click of a button. This is not very popular at the moment, but it is going to be the next step in Internet on TV. However with all that being said, the old TV Internet should not be ignored when developing a relevant web site.

I also did some further research into the mobile web in the form of hands on experimentation (to get an idea of the restrictions mobiles have). I used a modern phone to navigate to web pages that weren't even developed for the mobile browser successfully, and could perform most functions (even view flash videos from YouTube and see PHP forms)

Week 2

I looked into old technologies that were used to make TV interactive (such as TeleText, Ceefax etc.). I also saw how these are obsolete today and aren't really used anymore, (because of how slow and basic the navigation is, and the unattractive typeface and low-res pictures).

I also conducted some research into why mobile technologies have been specially adapted.

“The Mobile Web Initiative's goal is to make browsing the Web from mobile devices a reality”, explains Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web. “W3C and mobile industry leaders are working together to improve Web content production and access for mobile users and the greater Web.”

http://www.w3.org/Mobile/


As this quote says, the mobile market has certain restrictions that require the standards of the "desktop" to be revised (because of the small screen and slower network etc.). Such refined elements include reduced versions of Mark-Up languages (for example XHTML, aka Extensible HyperText Markup Language). This language allows simple web pages (often just lists with few images) to easily be displayed over the mobile network.

However, the mobile browsing market is becoming more adaptable to the common web standards, with some phones able to have Java Applets and Flash plugins, to offer a more immersive mobile web surfing experience.

Week 1

I mentally theorized about what people might use mobile and TV Internet for. (news, sports highlights, games etc.). And will conduct research into the kind of websites that have been converted for mobile and TV use.