Roku Developer Program

[scyber]

In the past, Roku (via Anthony Wood) has commented that youtube required an HTML5 app and the current gen boxes (at the time) could not support it. Now that the YouTube app is officially out, is that how it was implemented? I'm curious to know if building HTML5 apps will ever be available via the public SDK or if it is only a "partner" only capability?

My company is speccing out supported platforms for our projects and despite my best efforts, Roku is not on the list 😞 HTML5 capabilities would make it an easier sell since (in theory) we could re-use existing development from other platforms.

[RokuJoel]

Is YouTube HTML5? Well, if we go by the definition of HTML5 on Wikipedia, then the answer is "not really", but there are some related technologies in use, as well as some custom firmware additions needed to support the channel.

if building HTML5 apps will ever be available via the public SDK or if it is only a "partner" only capability?

Not in the immediately foreseeable future, no, and we we strongly discourage our premium partners from going this route.

- Joel

[kerlix]

That's too bad, Joel, because the majority of the channels on Roku are absolutely hideous as a result of the confines of the SDK. Even the majority of the professional apps look like they were made as weekend community college projects. They're ugly, Joel. I hope you will find a way to allow developers to make your devices more appealing.

[RokuMarkn]

There's nothing in the SDK that seriously constrains developers as to the look and feel they can produce. It's just a question of the effort involved. A developer who already has an HTML5 based implementation would obviously like to see Roku support HTML5. If a developer has an implementation in a different language, or is starting from scratch, HTML5 support may be moot.

--Mark

[RokuJoel]

If you want to make a great looking Roku app that works exactly the way you want it to, use our 2D API functions, you can do almost anything you want to do with a UI with those, and the performance, depending on your programming skill of course, should be better than what you see in YouTube, Netflix or Hulu+

- Joel

[squirreltown]

"RokuMarkn" wrote:
There's nothing in the SDK that seriously constrains developers as to the look and feel they can produce. It's just a question of the effort involved....

--Mark

This is technically true, but practically really only true if a developer is willing to build each and every component from scratch using RoScreens & bitmaps. I surely haven't seen all the channels available but It doesn't seem like there are any developers willing to do that, and as someone who has gotten his feet wet, I can certainly see why. There isn't a gadget-comparison review out there that doesn't mention something along the lines of "the Roku interface is a little clunky" or "not-as-slick-as" or similar before continuing that the "Roku shows video as well as anything and is sometimes cheaper". I would certainly appreciate the ability to make things look better, fonts, consistency of features across different screens, buttons that aren't the width of the screen, text that cant be themed, how about a simple graphic overlay feature that doesn't disable the controls from the underlying screen? The Roku is an awesome box and making it open-source was a really smart move. Don't make the Microsoft mistake of thinking people care about what the processor is, they will respond most to what they can see.

[RokuChris]

"squirreltown" wrote:

"RokuMarkn" wrote:
There's nothing in the SDK that seriously constrains developers as to the look and feel they can produce. It's just a question of the effort involved....

--Mark

This is technically true, but practically really only true if a developer is willing to build each and every component from scratch using RoScreens & bitmaps. I surely haven't seen all the channels available but It doesn't seem like there are any developers willing to do that,

Off the top of my head, I'd say that CNBC, NFB, and TWC are all good examples of what can be accomplished with the BrightScript 2D APIs.

[squirreltown]

Thank you Chris. I really wasn't saying its not possible to make good looking stuff, just that its exponentially more work than using the standard components, and I hope Roku comes around to seeing that. CNBC is a good example - only one screen but very nice and then you go to the message dialog and its the stock one which doesn't match the main screen at all and is a bit jarring. If you are saying so what? then fine, I've already made my point, but there is a reason the developers decided not to finish the job and make the entire channel a cohesive design. As someone who is primarily a designer, Its probably not surprising that i think design is important.

[RokuJoel]

Check out the Daily Burn channel - all 2d APIs

- Joel