While working at Virgin Media I had the opportunity to work on some interesting projects, not least of which was an experimental TV interface for a new hardware platform they were testing
The Basic Screens
The modern patterns for program guides seem to be the best solution for the job, so there was little to explore there.
The navigational limitations also restrict what can be done with other screens and mean that little can be added beyond a basic grid system
Navigational Solutions
The real problems came when I started to look at the possibilities for navigation. The prototype hardware had been delivered with a remote control that had functions that not even the platform developers understood. Some of the complaints around the current TiVo platform came from the complexity of the remote control, so I didn’t want to make a navigation system that required a complex controller. To simplify on-screen navigation, I had to redesign the original Broadcom controller so that some transport keys could be used for actions like “next page” and “previous page” or “next day” and “previous day”. This had the added effect of making the controller simpler and easier to use.
The Working Model
Once I had redesigned the controller I needed to construct a prototype that would allow me to test out the various navigational models I wanted to use. I did this using the same tools used by the platform: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
