Ten Foot Product Forums

Disabling the arrow keys

Andy Henderson — Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:20 pm

Author: Andy Henderson
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:20 pm

Actually, the default behaviour is to pass on the arrow keys to the browser. The browser's reaction to the arrow keys is to scroll.

If a Flash program captures the arrow keys then the TFB should still work fine with the page.

If you're interested in reassigning keys, the Tailoring and Regionalisation Guide provides more details. In particular, the launcherLogFileName parameter of the Ten Foot Launcher allows you to log key codes so you can work out what to reassign.

Disabling the arrow keys

Robert Parker — Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:36 pm

Author: Robert Parker
Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:36 pm

Hi Andy,

The default behaviour for the TFB is to scroll the page when the MCE remote arrow keys are pressed (up,down,left,right). What if a web page, say a flash program, needed these keys ?
I had a look in TenFootBrowserSettings.xml and the Tailoring guide but couldnt find any reference to the arrow keys or the scrolling actions. If I knew the integer value for the arrow keys would I be able to disable (or re-assign?) the scrolling behaviour?

thanks
Robert

Yellow Border around "links" (?)

Andy Henderson — Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:45 pm

Author: Andy Henderson
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:45 pm

The Ten Foot Browser generates tab and back-tab characters in response to the replay and skip keys. The finetune interface is responding to the tab and back-tabs. You can see the same effect if you run the site in IE or similar. Keying tab and back-tab moves you between the buttons on the site.

Yellow Border around "links" (?)

Robert Parker — Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:53 pm

Author: Robert Parker
Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:53 pm

Hi Andy

I am able to navigate around http://finetune.com/wii/player.php using the replay |< and skip >| MCE remote control buttons just like navigating to standard anchor links.

But I think the "buttons" on this web site are not actual html anchors, I think they are part of the flash program UI. If they were standard links then the default selection highlight would be a dotted box, instead the selection highlight is a yellow box. My question is, how does Ten Foot Browser know to navigate to these "regions" within the flash UI ?

thanks
Robert

How to Make a Great Application Better

Robert Parker — Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:11 am

Author: Robert Parker
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:11 am

Quote:

Sorry, that wouldn't help. Tabbing to a link does not activate the 'hover' style. Not my choice, Microsoft's.

According to Sitepoint it looks like :focus which would be the correct pseudo class. Unfortunately IE7 doesnt support :focus, fortunately IE7 does misinterpret :active to give you the same effect!

I've had a go at using :active to highlight the selected link more clearly, see http://www.citaforums.com/TenFoot/viewtopic.php?t=38. Could the first page (the one with Homepage and Favourites link) use the Local Page Tailoring as well?

How to Make a Great Application Better

Andy Henderson — Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:05 am

Author: Andy Henderson
Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 12:05 am

Robert Parker wrote:

4) Maybe something in the localPages.css could control the hover link style ?

Sorry, that wouldn't help. Tabbing to a link does not activate the 'hover' style. Not my choice, Microsoft's.

Robert Parker wrote:

5) Yes it is non-standard html but from my point of view there does need to be a way to navigate web pages using the rgyb buttons of a remote. The built-in browser of the Netgem iPlayer uses this method of accesskey attributes. I have tried to float the suggestion with Opera and Firefox, no joy so far (I envisaged the browser would allow configurable key mappings like "ctrl-alt-r = {red}" etc then any remote control could be configured using girder etc to generate the ctrl-alt-r keystroke combination). Try my website at http://homenet.tv to see how it fits in. Can it be implemented in the Ten Foot Browser?

I see what you mean, but I can see some issues:

Without a standard markup, the facility would be applicable to just a few sites that use it.
Browser developers are focused on standards implementation right now. I don't think you'll get much sympathy for a non-standard approach. You could try to get W3C to consider it as a standard, but I expect you'd find it a very frustrating exercise.
Unlike keyboard keys, there is no standard way to recognise the colour keys. Microsoft implements them through a device-dependant interface.
The colour buttons are not implemented on all remotes - the US apparently sees no need for them.
I already make extensive use of the colour buttons (I figured that someone should). In the TF Browser they implement the first line of the menu options.

So, the only way forward would seem to be a specific development in the TF Browser that would work with just your site (and any others that followed suit). I'd consider that if I knew more about what you have in mind. Perhaps you could drop me a line at Andy {at} SeeITA.com.

How to Make a Great Application Better

Robert Parker — Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm

Author: Robert Parker
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm

1) & 2) yup I was hasty here. If you have set the homepage then when you launch the Ten Foot Browser, the link to the Homepage is the one with the focus (although it doesnt have the dotted box indication!). So just pressing Ok gets you to your homepage easily. The first experience a new user will have is having to press the Skip button loads of times just to get to the Favourites (not very user friendly)

3) Second option for me!

4) Maybe something in the localPages.css could control the hover link style ?

5) Yes it is non-standard html but from my point of view there does need to be a way to navigate web pages using the rgyb buttons of a remote. The built-in browser of the Netgem iPlayer uses this method of accesskey attributes. I have tried to float the suggestion with Opera and Firefox, no joy so far (I envisaged the browser would allow configurable key mappings like "ctrl-alt-r = {red}" etc then any remote control could be configured using girder etc to generate the ctrl-alt-r keystroke combination). Try my website at http://homenet.tv to see how it fits in. Can it be implemented in the Ten Foot Browser?

thanks

How to Make a Great Application Better

Andy Henderson — Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:52 pm

Author: Andy Henderson
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:52 pm

Robert Parker wrote:

First let me say thanks for this browser, it's just what I've been looking for. It is superior to the anpark MCE browser plugin and saves me struggling with Opera kioskmode.

Glad you find it useful. Thanks for letting me know.

Robert Parker wrote:

1) I dont begrudge CITA having recognition for developing this application but really the first page to show should be whatever the user has set their Home Page (especially given 2) below). I suggest the CITA logo+website etc should just be a splash screen that disappears after a couple of seconds.

You might not have seen it yet, but this page also lets you know if there's an updated version available and, if so, gives you a link to a list of changes.

I don't go straight to the home page because, although that's often what I want to do, I also want to go to favourites a lot of the time. Home page is the default, so just press Enter to go there. Press Skip and Enter to go to favourites.

Robert Parker wrote:

2) It is cumbersome to navigate to the homepage or bookmarks from the CITA first page because the Replay button doesnt jump to the last link on a page, instead you have to use the Skip button to go through all the CITA menus items first before reaching the Homepage or Bookmarks links

I'm puzzled by this one. The home page link should be highlighted by default. Just press Enter to go there. The Favourites link is next so you should be able to use Skip and Enter to go there.

Robert Parker wrote:

3) The launcher mechanism should be able to configured go straight to browser instead of showing the list of 10 foot products

See this thread. I'm interested in your feedback.

Robert Parker wrote:

4) When cycling through links on a page, the "highlight" of the link should be clearer. The dotted box is too faint to see when viewed from the 10 foot distance. Can this be configured to show some kind of coloured background? (compare with Opera "positional navigation" using the shift+arrowkey - Opera highlights the selected link in blue background)

Unfortunately, the dotted lines are added by IE and I don't know any way to change how they appear.

If you get lost, you can use the 'Highlight cursor' button on the browser menu to show you where you are.

Robert Parker wrote:

5) Can the browser be configured to recognise the accesskey="{colour}" html anchor attribute ? The Netgem iPlayer recognises accesskey="{red}" or {green} or {yellow} or {blue} thus enabling web pages to be written so that the equivalent remote control buttons select that anchor link

I'm intrigued. Can you give me an example of a page that implements this? As far as I'm aware (but bear in mind that my ignorance knows no bounds) this is not standard HTML.

How to Make a Great Application Better

Robert Parker — Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:31 am

Author: Robert Parker
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:31 am

First let me say thanks for this browser, it's just what I've been looking for. It is superior to the anpark MCE browser plugin and saves me struggling with Opera kioskmode.

Here my initial observations (excuse me if some of these have been solved or or I just havent uncovered the relevant option):

1) I dont begrudge CITA having recognition for developing this application but really the first page to show should be whatever the user has set their Home Page (especially given 2) below). I suggest the CITA logo+website etc should just be a splash screen that disappears after a couple of seconds.

2) It is cumbersome to navigate to the homepage or bookmarks from the CITA first page because the Replay button doesnt jump to the last link on a page, instead you have to use the Skip button to go through all the CITA menus items first before reaching the Homepage or Bookmarks links

3) The launcher mechanism should be able to configured go straight to browser instead of showing the list of 10 foot products

4) When cycling through links on a page, the "highlight" of the link should be clearer. The dotted box is too faint to see when viewed from the 10 foot distance. Can this be configured to show some kind of coloured background? (compare with Opera "positional navigation" using the shift+arrowkey - Opera highlights the selected link in blue background)

5) Can the browser be configured to recognise the accesskey="{colour}" html anchor attribute ? The Netgem iPlayer recognises accesskey="{red}" or {green} or {yellow} or {blue} thus enabling web pages to be written so that the equivalent remote control buttons select that anchor link

Thanks again.

Customising the look of the Favourites page

Robert Parker — Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:53 am

Author: Robert Parker
Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:53 am

You can change the look of the Favourites page by creating your own css file. This feature is supported by the Ten Foot Browser and your custom css will not get overwritten whenever the browser gets updated with a new version.

I find this particularly useful because the default black on white colour scheme is not ideal for viewing on a television and the standard IE indication of link highlighting (the dotted box) is too faint to show up at 10 foot distance. Both of these can be fixed with this "local page tailoring" feature.

Attached are my example files, unzip and place the files in the folder where the browser is installed, usually "C:\Program Files\CITA\Ten Foot Products\". If the folder is different from this then you will also need to edit the css file to adjust the location of the background image.

Hotkey for browser

Andy Henderson — Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:24 pm

Author: Andy Henderson
Posted: Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:24 pm

There's a couple of possibilities:

I could provide a configuration option to differentiate between hot buttons so the Launcher can automatically launch, say, the first application in the list (which happens to be the browser) if one of the hot butons is used. So, for example, double-pressing the 'More' button could open the browser and double-pressing the Teletext button could open the Launcher.

Unfortunately there a problems with using any of the other buttons as hot buttons (though there's nothing to stop you trying to use any of the others via the configuration options) so this works only if you have the Teletext buttons on your remote.
I could provide an option to cut out the Launcher so it never appears (as requested in another recent post). Instead the not button would launch, say, the first application in the list. That would mean you could not use the Launcher to launch anything else.

Either of the above work for you? Any other suggestion?

Hotkey for browser

riadmelb — Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:38 am

Author: riadmelb
Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:38 am

Hi mate, is it possible to have a hotkey for browser. I use media portal and I only need a browser. I find it really useful if I can go directly to a browser while watching TV.

Thank you for your app,
Riad.

Extenders

Andy Henderson — Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:45 am

Author: Andy Henderson
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:45 am

Only if the extender implements a remote PC connection like RDP or VNC.

Sorry, but there's unlikely ever to be a good browser implemented within Media Center (and therefore available to extenders) because of the restrictions imposed by the Media Center development environment.

Andy

Extenders

Frank — Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:36 pm

Author: Frank
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:36 pm

Any way to get this and the other apps working on an Extender?

Frank

Launcher does not reply

richard — Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:06 pm

Author: richard
Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:06 pm

You're right about adsl tv, you can't acces it from the UK ... unless you go to the site VPN and get you're self an ip adress from within Switzerland..
I know it gets a little bit slower but with high speed it should be ok.

About remember passwort i will try that out, in the mean while i thank you very much and if there is anything new or have to have somethings tested, you can always reach me here..
richard@canadadreams.info

Richi