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This chapter describes the design features of channels that you should consider and specify before implementing your project. The target platform, the network infrastructure, the user interface and usage modes are some of the design elements you must consider.

Our broad definition of a channel does little to define what makes a channel successful. Here are some of the attributes of a channel that will facilitate (though not guarantee) a channel’s success.

First and foremost, the channel must deliver compelling content. Compelling content is rich, timely and relevant. Relevant means delivering the right subject matter to the right users. Rich means making the experience deep and rewarding (see Appendix A). Timely means delivering content at the right time or delivering something that is new and up to date.

Successful channels are good at maximizing their brand value or establishing their brand presence. The user interface design can play a big role here. The look and feel of the product should be unique to the brand and consistent within the brand. Elements of the user interface include color selections, navigation paradigms, and usage of screen real estate. Full-screen user interfaces are best, because they make maximum use of the PC resources and exclude the effect of other products and brands.

This presents some problems if the developer chooses to use a Web browser as the user interface. Web browsers can dilute brand presence with the brand of the browser vendor (such as Microsoft or Netscape). Also, the navigation controls in browsers are not unique, which makes it difficult to design the user interface and make effective use of the full screen resolution. This white paper discusses alternative user interface methodologies and provides some of the techniques for providing a full-screen branded interface.

The primary question, of course, is how will you make money? A hybrid content delivery requires a unique business model that considers both the traditional CD-ROM business model and Internet business model. The Internet provides revenue streams, such as those from the sale of products, advertising and e-commerce. The revenue for Web sites is dependent on attracting a large number of users. CD-ROMs depend on supplying a product through normal retail channels but typically have a short shelf life. Channels provide a unique opportunity to reach millions of users and extend the life of existing CD-ROM or Web site applications.

Issues often overlooked by developers are accessibility and awareness. Once you create your channel, how will users find out about it? And then, how easy is it for users to access it?

One of the advantages of the browser method is that it helps to solve the accessibility problem. Almost everyone has a browser; therefore, they have access to the components of your content delivered via the Internet. Additionally, users can request or purchase the CD-ROM content via an Internet transaction, and the CD-ROM can be used to deliver a more compelling user interface, as well as richer content.

According to Moore’s Law, the performance of the PC platform for a given price point doubles approximately every 18 months. Ever-faster PCs provide developers with opportunities to introduce new capabilities and experiences that could not be delivered before. These opportunities translate into product differentiation in the marketplace.

The most common mistake that developers make is to underestimate platform capability, particularly over the life of their product. End users tend to invest the majority of their time and money on the PC during the period immediately following the PC purchase. This is the "sweet spot" of end-user interest that developers want to attract, and the best way to attract this interest is to create content aimed at deriving maximum value from these new systems.

Developers should specify their target PC platform to be at least equivalent to the middle- or high-range system at the time their product ships. Then, during the life of the product, the minimum system configuration defined for your product will move down into the lower PC price points. In this way, your product will always have an audience of new PC buyers.

What about the installed base of lower-level but still-capable PCs? Broadening the target market to low-end PCs can be accomplished in many ways. This is where the concept of scalability comes in. Scalability is a strategy of providing an alternative experience for the low end. Perhaps this means delivering an alternate set of lower quality audio or video. Or perhaps certain parts of the content are inaccessible to low-end PCs. To effectively implement scalability, it is necessary for the software to detect the PC’s performance capabilities. This can be accomplished with the CPUID instruction. (For more information on how to use this instruction, refer to DRG’s developer Web site.)

The more compelling channels adopt this philosophy: Aim high; scale down. Aim your development at the high-end platforms and, if necessary, scale down to meet the capabilities of low-end PCs. This ensures the application delivers the richest possible experience to the end user.

Delivering a rich experience over the Internet can be frustrating to the developer as well as the end user. High-bandwidth connections to the home such as ADSL, satellite and cable modems promise to alleviate this problem. But the fact of the matter is that these technologies are just beginning to emerge, and it will be many years before there is a sufficient market to warrant designing a high-bandwidth delivery strategy. So for today, and for the next few years, we must face the fact that the majority of users will be connecting to the Internet using POTs rate modems. Highend systems shipped today are typically being configured with 56 Kbps modems. The vast majority of Internet Service Providers can support at least 28.8 Kbps, and they are beginning to make the transition to 56 Kbps. Today, it is safest to assume that the user can connect to the Internet at speeds of at least 28.8 Kbps.

Another quality of service issue that commands much less attention is latency. Defined simply, latency is the time for one packet to make a round trip from the end user to the Internet server. Even if the bandwidth required is much smaller than the bandwidth available, there are delays imposed by the Internet that are perceptible to the user.

This is particularly evident with satellite connections. Satellite connections provide very high bandwidth, but the latency is also somewhat high. The packets have to travel a long way—about 44,600 miles round trip. Even at the speed of light, the trip would take about 0.24 seconds.

What does this mean to your design? It is important to consider not only bandwidth delays, but also latency. Every time the user clicks a feature, will the server have to be accessed? If so, the user will wait, even if all the necessary content assets exist locally on the user’s system.

To help solve the bandwidth problem to the home, a new class of PC applications has emerged that combines the timeliness and interactivity of content from the Internet with rich multimedia content delivered via conventional CD-ROMs. These applications are known as hybrid applications. The CD-ROM and the Internet are complementary mechanisms for delivering content to end users, as each is suitable for different types of content. This white paper discusses hybrid technologies and components that make it easier to combine the content from CD-ROMs with content from the Internet—to deliver a compelling and seamless experience for the end user.

The hybrid application model uses three basic vehicles for delivering content: live Internet connection, push delivery via the Internet and CD/DVD-ROM. The most bulky and less timely content is distributed on CD-ROM, while the most timely and less bulky content is delivered via a live Internet connection. Push delivery provides a suitable compromise for data that is too bulky for a live connection on the Internet, but cannot wait for the next publishing cycle of a CD-ROM.

Given the multiple delivery strategies of hybrid, the key for application developers is to create an end-user experience that seamlessly combines the content from all three sources. End users should not be burdened with three different user interfaces with which to view content from three different delivery methods. Multiple user interfaces create a partitioning of the content that seems artificial. Next, we’ll discuss various user interface technologies and how the developer can create one application to integrate content from all three sources.

With a hybrid content delivery model, it is important to consider which usage models the product supports. Are a CD-ROM and an Internet connection both required for the product to operate? Combining a CD-ROM, push connect and a live Internet connection will provide the richest experience. But will they provide a working (albeit lesser) experience if one is missing? Will it work if there is no push content? Will it work if the user is not connected to the Internet? How will it work without the CD-ROM?

The issues surrounding the supported usage models can also affect the business model for the channel. If advertising is employed, there must be a way to track ad impressions and usage. This is difficult if there is no connection. Is there a commerce element to the business plan? How will transactions be accomplished?

Users will watch channels that are rich in content. Rich content comprises great-sounding audio, full 24- or 30-FPS video, or 3D graphics that make the user’s experience realistic. Consumers are used to watching TV, or using software that is very interactive. Today’s games provide great 3D interfaces that make them fun to play and immerse users in 3D worlds that are exciting to explore. To keep consumers tuned in to a digital channel, the user’s experience needs to be equal to or greater than these other forms of entertainment. The challenge to the developer is the integration of these rich multimedia types with real-time elements that can be delivered over the Internet.

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© 1997 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

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