Google Offers Tools for Bringing Websites to TV

As if Web designers and developers didn’t have enough on their plates, what with the variety of browsers and standards to code for, there’s a new kid in town – Internet TV. Not only do they need to account for browser, screen size and standard, but an entirely different method of interaction.

Today, Google has acknowledged this problem, writing that it has worked to create some easy solutions for developers looking to optimize their content for Google TV.

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“As the Google TV platform continues to launch across more devices, developers are probably searching for an easy way to bring great content to Google TV users. We’re happy to announce that we have an answer,” the company writes on it’s blog. But what is this answer? According to Google, it’s not only using the same standards and tools that are in use for the Web, but also providing some simple starting points:

Google TV enables developers to build powerful websites using the same technologies they already work with. These include HTML5, JavaScript, CSS and Flash. While existing websites can be displayed in Google TV, the user experience isn’t always ideal within the context of a living room. We previously provided a guide for optimizing websites for TV, and today we’re releasing several templates and a UI library to make it easier for developers to build optimized sites.

Of course, Google TV is Android based and developers are still awaiting access to the devices to begin developing Android apps. Early on in January, a team of hackers rooted Google TV so developers could begin working on porting their Android apps over to Google TV, but the hack is not for the faint of heart. Not to mention, an app is not a substitute for a website that displays properly on all devices it will be accessed from.

To that end, Google has released two template designs focused on delivering video content. They’re open source under the Apache 2 license, so they’re fully customizable. Take a look at the example below:

What do you think – has Google TV arrived to the point where you’re thinking about making sure you have a version of your site that works on it? Or is that the last thing on your mind?

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