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Does javascript work proberly? What colors should I avoid? Does flash work as it should? Do .hover .click, etc work as they should? What about TV browsers?

Are there any major gotchas that differentiate developing for the TV form factor, as opposed to a normal monitor?

Tomkay
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    Most of these depend on the browser the TV has - without more details, that's like asking "does javascript work properly on a PC?" The user may have Netscape Navigator 3, in which case it's "definitely not", or they may have the latest Chrome, in which case it's "probably yes". It is the same thing with browsers for devices - some are more capable, some not. – Piskvor left the building Nov 25 '10 at 11:08
  • Okay that's a good point.. What TV browsers are available? Do they use Opera or own developed stuff?.. Are they W3C conform? Many questions. – Tomkay Nov 25 '10 at 11:10
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    Hmmm, from searching for "tv www browser" it seems they are a weird mix: some wrap Internet Explorer, some Gecko (like Firefox); there's even one called LunaScape that offers IE rendering (Trident), FF rendering (Gecko), and Safari/Chrome rendering (Webkit engine). There even seem to be some homebrewn ones (Kylo). It's indeed a weird landscape in tv-browser land :) – Piskvor left the building Nov 25 '10 at 11:15
  • This may be relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSN_TV . Also, as with everything else web-related, there's a Google product: http://www.google.com/tv/ (I'd expect the latter to be an Android+Chrome) – Piskvor left the building Nov 25 '10 at 11:19

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While it is difficult to discuss specific technical points without knowing the target browser or OS, there are design issues that can be addressed differently for TV vs. desktop vs. mobile browsing.

Jakob Neilsen's Alertbox article "TV Meets Web" provided an interesting - if somewhat dated - overview of the kinds of design issues one encounters when making websites for use on television screens. Except for the point about screen resolution (HD TVs today can have higher resolution than some computer monitors), most of his points are still valid.

He addresses two kinds of differences between desktop-based and TV-based web browsing. First, users will often access pages from their TV with a different purpose than mobile or desktop users. For example:

  • People use their TV when they are in their living room. They are probably looking to enjoy entertainment as opposed to doing work (desktop) or looking up information (mobile).
  • Using a TV is often a social activity shared with friends or family. They may even pass the remote control around the room. In contrast, most desktops and mobile devices are being used exclusively by one person.

Second, there is a difference in how people interact with the pages:

  • Desktop users have a keyboard and mouse. This allows them to enter large quantities of text and to select elements precisely.
  • TV users will likely use a remote to select elements or control an on-screen keyboard. Therefore, there should be fewer elements to manipulate and less text to enter. This is similar to requirements for mobile pages.
  • TV users may not be able to directly point to an element like users with mice or touch-capable mobile devices.
Anton
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You can always start with SMPTE color bars, (make sure they have the three pluge bars) and see if they look similar, and correct, on both types of screens. Another issue to consider, although maybe not as big of an issue since HD is here, is whether the video signal is RGB, or R-Y, B-Y-, Y.

I still use a Standard Def, CRT monitor for my website color correction.

Alessandro Machi
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There are several issues that you should adress, to name the few:

  • low resolution (if you develop for PAL - 720x576)
  • interlace - if you use horizontal lines of one pixel wide, you'l flicker - only on crts
  • pixel aspect ratio - if you are on 16:9 screen an have 1024x768 resolution for example
  • overscan / title safe area - crts don't have whole screen visible
Daniel Mošmondor
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