Netflix quietly updated their user interface to include a section called Characters in the Just For Kids menu. What makes this so brilliant is that a preschooler can now choose the programming they are interested in by picking their favourite picture. They don’t have to know how to read. Whether you think a two year old should be picking their own programming—or even watching TV—is a debate for another day. But I think the move to more intuitive, iconographic interfaces for kids is fascinating. I am curious to see what these kids will continue to expect as they get older. Everything will be touch enabled, on demand, device independent, and in the cloud; with simpler interfaces. The present still a long way to go, however. A three year old could pick Franklin to watch, click play on the first episode, but would have a very hard time trying to trouble-shoot the accompanying Digital Rights Management error message. Perhaps Netflix should work on self-diagnostic, self-healing code next.
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.png "Franklin")
.png "Netflix Error")
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