Video In

by Randall Redmond
Summer 2001

Visit our TV Friendly Web Site GuideWith an Internet set-top box you can use your television to surf the World Wide Web. But just because you can log on and punch up a site on your TV set doesn't necessarily mean it will look good. Why? Because computer monitors display a higher resolution than television monitors. Your TV wasn't designed to display Web content and most Web pages weren't designed for the TV screen. As a result, most Web sites simply don't look good on the television. Sound hopeless? It's not. More and more site designers are building Web pages with TV surfers in mind. These sites have large icons, less text and require little scrolling for navigation. We've searched the Net to find these TV-friendly sites. Here are a few to check out the next time you tune in and log on.

Warner Brothers Online
Category: Entertainment
[www.warnerbros.com]
This site has something for everyone. The site's use of white text over black backgrounds is easy on the eyes and well-suited for the TV screen. The huge Warner Brothers' catalog of movies and programming is well served and easy to navigate, and there are games, animated shorts, interactive stories and chatrooms for those looking for interactivity.

The Comedy Channel
Category: Entertainment
[www.comedycentral.com]
The Comedy Central site contains great links to its various shows and audio clips of entertaining comedians. It offers interactive features like chat rooms and comic horoscopes and games. This site uses Java. Most of the site employs large, bright graphics, but it does have a few sections that use a small white font against a green background.

Art.Com
Category: Art
[www.art.com]
This site not only contains gorgeous artwork and brief written synopses about the pieces, but also sells it. Art.com has a huge assortment of categories to chose from, including everything from impressionist prints to animation cells. Some of the text is a bit small, but the pictures look nice on the TV screen and the site is easy to browse from ten feet.

Sonic Net
Category: Entertainment
[www.sonicnet.com/videos]
Part of the huge SonicNet Web site, this page offers streaming music videos in nearly every imaginable category. It is well organized and easy to read. The only difficulties with the site could potentially be the download times and the fact that it uses Java. The site consists of two windows; the smaller window offers musical choices and specific information while the large window offers format choices such as MP3.

Virtual
College Day
Category: Information
[www.criterioninfo.net/vcd]
Not sure which college to choose? This TV-friendly site provides information about colleges and universities, covering schools in most of the United States. It provides maps, "survival kits," diary entries from students, tuition information and more.

House of Blues
Category: Entertainment
[www.hob.com]
One of the most impressive musical sites online, the House of Blues site boasts Web casting, streaming audio and video clips of various artists as well as a large inventory of interesting music-oriented paraphernalia and concert information. The graphics are large and friendly, and the orange and yellow type stand out sharply against the black background. In some places the type is small and may be hard to read on your television, but the overall design is quite TV-friendly.