Blog: the importance of a good user interface by Leyla Brooke, isdayilove.co.uk

There is nothing worse than purchasing a new piece of television equipment and not been able to use it. I know it's happened to me. You research for ages reading reviews and then you get it home after spending rather a lot of money and you can't read the menu. Or the menu is in some amazing neon colour that just hurts your eyes. So you put it to one side and never use it again, a waste of money.

As daft as it may sound, the menu and user interface was something I really liked about YouView. My previous TV, I would never use because I just could not read the menu. I never knew what was on or what was coming next. The YouView box lays everything out so it's easy to follow. A grey bar indicates the current time, the progress through each program and this then clearly identifies what is currently on. I can read the white text on the dark background. It stands out and it's clear. There are no over bearing colours, it's clean and crisp. The font used is not so small it's unreadable from a distance; in fact I think the contrast in colours helps.

The date and time at the top of the menu is also a handy feature of YouView. As it explains the program length, not something you see on all other systems. As well as the menu you also have a preview window, this is great to watch the current selected program. The window has been well thought out and placed so that it does not distract from the program list.

Once a program is selected, you can then choose to go back into this full TV guide or opt to use the mini guide.

I am a fan of mini guides. I love that I can keep watching a program but can also have a flick through to see what else is on. The same font and colour scheme is used throughout, which means it is just as clear to read. I also find it useful that the previous and next program are displayed slightly smaller than the current program.

I think a good user interface can really make or break if something is used. I use YouView every day because it is simple, easy to read and there has clearly been a lot of thought put into the functionality of YouView.

Online blogger Leyla, writes a blog called thisdayilove.co.uk and she has written this blog especially for YouView.

www.thisdayilove.co.uk

@thisdayilove

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Leyla is a full time working Mum. She has two beautiful girls ages 3 years and 15 months. She blogs at this day I love where she aims to capture those precious Mummy moments, and takes a positive from each day.

LINK:	http://www.youview.com/news/2013/11/01/blog-the-importance-of-a-good-u...
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