The issue of usability of the increasingly interactive TV ads has come up before (two years ago here), and yesterday Ball State Uni's Michael Bloxham wrote a great post on MediaPost's blog:
"I have a sneaking suspicion that the world of TV advertising will not be waiting to embrace the cold, hard discipline of usability as readily at it will ultimately embrace the creative potential of interactivity."
I've been watching lots of DVDs lately after getting a Blockbuster subscription, and the DVD interfaces are a total chaos. There, it's like the Web of 1998 -- no conventions, plenty of animated glamor, lengthy splash screens. Try turning the subtitles on and you find that the option resides under randomly-named menu names, and whether you selection is active is anyone's guess since there's no color or animation feedback. The very name -- English captions for hearing-impaired -- is puzzling. What about people who can hear well but simply prefer subtitles?
Earlier:
Designing Usable Conferences
Usability in Movies
Writing for RSS Usability
