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.
We’ve created two template designs that are focused on delivering video content, but equally suitable for photos or other multimedia. We recognize that some developers prefer using open web technologies, while others prefer Flash. So we’ve created two separate versions of each template.
All templates are open sourced under the Apache 2 license, so developers can make modifications to these templates and customize them to fit their brand and desired functionality.
One important optimization for browsing websites on TV is ensuring that D-pad navigation works well. The JavaScript-based templates utilizes a new library we’ve developed for this purpose-- the Google TV Web UI Library. This library has been open sourced as well.
To get started, you can download the template you want and visit our Google TV Web Developer Forum to get help. We look forward to seeing all the great sites developers will build using these templates.
By Steve Hines and Daniels Lee, Google TV Developer Relations Team