In Depth: Save time and hassle: future proof your website
When it comes to futureproofing your site, the obvious starting point is to write, clean, semantic, standards-compliant code.
"Proper separation of content, presentation and interaction means your site's content will always be available on new devices," says Opera web evangelist Bruce Lawson. "And if you have to tweak things, such as adding media queries to support mobile devices, it's easier to find the right place."
RESOLUTION FREE: Bruce Lawson's media queries demo shows how styles can be optimised based on a browser's window width
But while standards-compliant code may be a necessity, it's not enough in itself to ensure your site is future proof. With the adoption of new standards being held back by browser issues, and the growing adoption of cutting-edge technologies like CSS3, a more subtle approach is needed. And the buzzphrase of the moment is 'progressive enhancement'.
Progressive enhancement begins with a baseline of usable functionality, then increases the richness of the user experience depending on the support for enhancements offered by the browser.
"When it comes to futureproofing a website's front-end, it's an indispensable concept," stresses Easy Designs principal Aaron Gustafson. "Focus squarely on page content and assemble your markup in the most appropriate way. That forms the baseline level of support for all users and will work no matter what user agent or operating system is accessing that content.
"With the baseline established, apply styles progressively, providing varying levels of design based on the capabilities of a user's system. For some, that may mean more basic typography, and for others a beautiful multicolumn, layered layout using RGBa. Similarly, scripts can test whether they should run before attempting to do so, creating more potential levels of enriched user experience."
It's vital not to forget the 'enhancement' aspect of progressive enhancement, adds Digital Marmalade managing director Marcus Brennand. "By all means use CSS3," he says, "but not for a site's integral parts. The trick is to ensure people using older browsers aren't aware they're missing anything, and your enhancements shouldn't impact on a site's usability."
AVOID: Third-party shortening services such as is.gd don't mesh well with futureproofing – because if the site or service goes down, the links it's created won't work
The important thing is to at least start exploring the possibilities. By working with new technologies now, a site is more likely to remain contemporary for longer, without major overhauls. Furthermore, Lawson notes that browser manufacturers have more impetus to implement standards people demand:
"If no one used, say, border-radius, it wouldn't have been a priority for browser vendors to implement." That said, he suggests covering all the bases when working with experimental properties, adding whichever vendor prefixes are available along with the current 'standard' prefix. That way, you're covered now and when the specification stabilises.
Access all areas
Gustafson argues that progressive enhancement also solves the oft-moving goalposts of accessibility demands, due to the emphasis on content and the user's ability to engage with it. However, he suggests keeping tight reins on interface and contrast, ensuring they're accessible to all.
In the UK at least, things appear to have calmed down in the accessibility space, and while, as Lawson notes "bad legislation mandates specific techniques that can go out of date", British legislation merely requires you to "not make it harder for people with disabilities to use your site, as long as that requires only 'reasonable' adjustment".
Utilising aforementioned good coding practices from the start of your project, along with sensible, coherent navigation and layout, should therefore ensure radical changes aren't required accessibility-wise in the future.
Less predictable is SEO – something designers wish they could futureproof against, but it's an uphill task. "SEO is an ever-changing beast," says designer and developer Soh Tanaka. "There's little you can do aside from keeping up to date and implementing the latest techniques and strategies. Having said that, if a site's as dynamic as possible – running on a CMS where content, title tags, etc, can be edited on the fly, and pages can be named in an SEO-friendly manner – it will be flexible enough to accommodate trends SEO will go through."
Tanaka adds that the only true constant for search engines is relevance: "Search engines want to drive users to the most relevant pages for their searched terms," he points out "Constantly adding and maintaining relevant content helps ensure quality inbound links and therefore high search engine visibility."
LIVE SEARCH: Search engines are now integrating live search results from the likes of Twitter and Facebook
Pod1 technology and operations director Mark Hopwood adds that search engines now also integrate live search results from the likes of Twitter and Facebook, so sites wanting to futureproof themselves must push out content to appear in these results.
When coding, you also mustn't forget your team and yourself, rather than solely concentrating on users and search engines. "Always design your work with a view that if you're not around the next day, someone can pick up where you left off," says Brennand.
He recommends aiming for clean, tidy, commented code, using descriptive class and ID names for CSS, rather than shorthand, to help legibility. "For more complex programming, produce full documentation," he adds, "and this should be updated during further developments. This may sound obvious, but when new developers get their hands on code, they sometimes don't maintain documentation."
As a final thought in this area, Lawson suggests moving as much of your work as possible to open formats, especially when it comes to storage: "Ensure your documents can be imported using a variety of programs, so you're not tied to one file type supported by one vendor."
Going mobile
The benefits of open standards versus proprietary ones were starkly thrust into the spotlight with Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. Despite Flash's ubiquity on the desktop, a lack of support from Apple devices resulted in many sites effectively being incompatible with them.
And even mobile platforms that do support Flash don't always provide a great web experience, largely because designers have for years worked on the assumption that monitor sizes will always increase over time – and have therefore designed accordingly.
Mobile platforms and tablets are real game-changers, creating the greatest device divergence in web design's history. And while smartphones are currently playthings for the relatively affluent, it's clear that cheaper technology will increasingly have web access. To that end, anyone interested in futureproofing online projects must be mindful of multiple platforms.
HTML5: Lots of websites are utilising HTML5 already – check out some of the best examples at html5gallery.com
With this requirement still new, various methods are mooted. Hopwood suggests you "ensure the basics work on most phones," likening such development to accessibility. "If your site loads in a text-only browser, it'll work on a phone – and your main concern is providing people with access to key functions."
However, owners of flashy mobile devices expect more than the bare minimum. "Devices like the iPhone are good at displaying most websites, but you're better off building an iPhone-specific version or an app that provides users the ability to perform tasks or use your services," says Brennand.
On sites for mobile, Lawson reminds us that standards can again help – "CSS3 media queries enable you to serve styles to specific devices based on attributes such as screen width" – and he notes that utilising vector graphics and SVG is worth considering "because images are drawn mathematically and therefore look sharp on any device".
Aside from staying away from Flash, a mobile website must take into account the nature of the device (more than likely having a touchscreen interface one interacts with by prodding a finger rather than clicking a more precise mouse pointer) and where it's used (in places with slower web connections).
Reduce file sizes where possible, make links and buttons highly visible, and maintain a smaller grid to minimise horizontal scrolling," recommends multimedia designer Mike Precious. And Fully Illustrated founder Michael Heald adds that when you're including JavaScript-reliant effects and Flash on websites, you need to ensure they aren't key to the design or interaction.
"This means when a device that can't handle the technologies lands on the website, it still offers a great experience." he explains. "I try to increasingly rely on static visual impact – something that's viewable on almost every device."
Design movements
Careful consideration regarding graphic design components should, of course, extend to all platforms, since a site can be dated by its visual appearance alone, preventing it from being futureproof. "Concepts should drive a design rather than trends," explains Phase 2 Technology senior web designer Samantha Warren.
"A popular technique can date a design if it becomes popular during a specific time period." She cites the 'wet floor effect' that's currently endemic online, saying reflections of this kind will soon be associated with the 'Web 2.0' movement of the past couple of years.
Trends will always exist, tempting designers to cram in as many as possible. Brennand thinks the key to relatively timeless design is to "ensure everything you put in a design and every decision you make through the design process is done for a reason". He adds that with close attention to detail and solid, well thought-through design, your sites will remain contemporary and fresh as trends come and go.
In terms of specifics, two major fundamental rules for a futureproof creation appear to be:
1. keep things simple, and;
2. ensure your work is relatively scalable.
"I always aim to create layouts that can bend and shift, that can carry amendments, subtractions and new creative elements, and embody a revolution over time without degrading," says Precious. He recommends considering grid systems, noting that 'compartmentalising' works now and will work in the future, enabling quick, simple modifications to a website.
On simplicity, Keith Robinson, creative director of Irata Labs, adds: "Having graphic design that's easily refreshed is a big help. A clean, classic look where subtle changes can be made to keep things fresh eliminates the need for redesigns."
WEB STATS: Keep track of the latest usage trends and developments at statistics.gov.uk
Heald notes the modular nature of web design means amendments may even only take a few seconds to implement once a new graphic component has been created: "Where possible, I design sites where a large background image makes the most of the visual impact. This enables me to significantly change a site by creating a new kick-ass background."
Ultimately, though, the main considerations with futureproof graphic design are your client, the brand and the consumer. "Designing for these things rather than any fad reduces the likelihood that radical changes will be needed in the future," argues Hopwood. "Design trends will always change and evolve, and so it's most important to focus on the brand values of the client."
The importance of content
The last element in the futureproofing mix is by no means the least – content. Content is hugely important – and yet it's something many web designers consider secondary to visual appearance or under-the-hood technical proficiency.
Too often, content is something 'forced' out of clients, hacked into a site and subsequently ignored. "But to keep a website current and relevant, you must provide constantly updated, current and relevant content – futureproofing technology and design without addressing content is pointless," argues Robinson.
He believes a maintenance plan should be part of every site's content strategy. "Plans will vary from site to site, but it's always important to routinely review and update existing content, and resources should be allocated accordingly."
With budgets tight in the current financial climate, minimising effort and the need to update is essential. Mike Precious recommends you "stay away from bringing content into the context of a particular season, day or moment in time," adding that "content without time stamps can maintain more perceived relevance in the long-term".
Regarding layout, the utilisation of flexible grid structures ensures pieces of content can be added or removed without a major redesign. Increasingly, clients request the ability to update aspects of their own sites, and this should be encouraged. It frees up designers to do what they enjoy most, and provides clients with the means to keep content current. (That said, the content maintenance plan should still involve the designer, who can check to see if content is being updated and advise the client accordingly.)
Having a content management system is therefore a must for most modern sites, although Brennand warns against just taking something off the shelf, without fully considering the ramifications: "A CMS must be as intuitive and user-friendly as the site's front-end, otherwise a client will struggle and not update a site as often as they should."
Brennand recommends giving departments access only to elements they're tasked with maintaining, ensuring clients don't rely on IT staff for site updates, and providing easily applied templates: "To keep a site's news current, staff should be able to quickly integrate images or video, and, if relevant, have headlines appear throughout the site – all managed efficiently via a straightforward interface."
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In Depth: How the web is improving the lives of disabled computer users
The internet has become a fundamental part of our daily lives – a rich source of facts, discussion, fun and community that's home to an infinite number of ways to share thoughts and kill boredom.
There are, of course, many opportunities to achieve this in the open world too – but that's not quite so easy for a lot of folk. For many disabled and special-needs people, the internet has proven to be truly life-changing.
"It's opened up a world that would otherwise not exist," says Jay Cohen, founder and manager of www.disabledonline.com, a global online community comprising forums, blogs, links, resources and a store of assistive technology.
Cohen suffers from muscular dystrophy, rendering him unable to use a keyboard. Nonetheless, he's been running this busy site since launching it as a message board in 2004.
ONLINE COMMUNITY: Disabled Online started as a message board in 2004 and has gone from strength to strength
"To have an opportunity to communicate with others, research information and find entertainment, all from the comfort of your home, makes the internet a true blessing for those with physical limitations," he explains.
A real boost
Alex Barker runs and works on the Advice and Information Line for AbilityNet, a charity that provides technological help and assistance to any of the UK's 9.8 million disabled citizens who want it.
"People with disabilities have found the internet a real boost because it helps to make life easier by providing online access to services such as banking and food shopping, and also gives them the ability to network with other people who are in the same situation as themselves," he says. "Isolation can be an issue, but the advent of support groups means people can join an online community from the comfort of their own home."
AbilityNet is funded by grants and donations, and by charging for some services in order to generate the money necessary to provide advice and assistance for free. It also has links with some of the tech industry's biggest names. "Both Microsoft and IBM support us in terms of giving us office space and so on," explains Barker.
In fact, the charity was born out of IBM in the 1980s, when the company noticed a small group of its employees providing assistance to disabled users and elected to provide start-up funding for a dedicated organisation in that vein. In 2008, AbilityNet was able to directly assist 43,724 people in overcoming their accessibility issues with computers – largely through its free phone and email support lines.
Particularly successful lately is the charity's new wiki, which is known as AbilityNet GATE (Global Assistive Technology Encyclopaedia) and can be found here. AbilityNet GATE can be added to and updated by anyone with anything to share about accessible computer use.
MALTRON: This device is designed to be mounted vertically and operated with a head wand or mouth stick
AbilityNet's work with the IT world itself is just as important as the many ways it goes about providing information to its users. "I think AbilityNet as an organisation has tried to make people more aware of what is good practice in terms of the provision of IT, and hopefully we've managed to change the perceptions that people have of disability," says Barker.
"A computer makes it so easy for someone with a disability to work at the same speed as their peers. I work on the Advice and Information Line and it's so rewarding helping someone change their settings on their computer to make it easier for them to work effectively."
That change in perception is key – the internet is a great leveller, providing the same potential to absolutely everyone. "The internet has made accessing information so much easier, so even if you don't have the physical ability to go and find the information, you can probably find it online."
As well as information, the internet gives users the option to remain anonymous. Does the fact that other internet users don't immediately know they're chatting to someone with a disability mean they act in a way they otherwise wouldn't?
"It may play a factor in certain situations," thinks Cohen. "I suppose it all depends on the circumstance. I have been on social networks and chatrooms where I didn't disclose my disability – only because I felt there wasn't a need. Sometimes I would share this, other times I wouldn't. The usual reaction is indifference, although there has been the occasional surprise and curiosity reaction. You really have to take it all in your stride [and remember that] most of the time you are dealing with a complete stranger."
While there are a great many services and communities dedicated specifically to disabled and special-needs internet users, it's a mistake to think such folk are behaving differently to anyone else online.
"We mostly try to keep an open discussion," says Jay in regard to DisabledOnline's forums. "We want our members to have the ability to voice whatever is on their minds, as long as it's respectful to others. We aren't looking for any specific agendas in our chatrooms: it's an open forum and we plan on keeping it that way."
Neither is there a huge centralised online community available for disabled people, explains Cohen: "I think it's just like any other segment of the population. Sometimes they get bored at one spot, so they visit another. Then they come back after a while. The community is growing, so with that more options arise."
And the web also offers the opportunity for easy and fluent discussion across international borders, something that can otherwise be very tricky for people with limited mobility. "I believe it's helped unite the community by bringing together voices from all over the world. We have members not only from the US and UK, but from India, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries. We are truly a worldwide community."
It would be very tricky for many disabled people to enjoy the benefits of the web without the help of assistive technology – a catch-all term for anything that enables disabled people to achieve things that would be trickier without hardware or software assistance.
The term encompasses everything, from ramps and dropped pavements to Braille printers and brain-computer interfaces. Also included are built-in operating systems and browser functions that make computers much easier to operate.
Examples include getting the computer to emit a certain tone when the Caps Lock is activated, and the ClickLock utility, which enables highlighting and dragging of on-screen items without having to keep the left mouse button pressed.
MOBILE BRAILLE: The Optilech EasyLink 12 portable Braille input/display for mobile phones
Cohen had a definitive answer when we asked what type of assistive technology has proven most useful to him: "I have pretty severe physical limitations. So for me personally, voice recognition software has had a huge impact on my life. It allowed me the freedom to pursue my vision of creating DisabledOnline. I highly recommend it for those who have the inability of operating a standard keyboard and mouse."
Although he helps with a broad range of different needs, AbilityNet's Barker agrees: "I would say that one of the main developments is within voice recognition software. Quite a large number of our clients are interested in using this technology and now it's becoming easier to access as it comes bundled with Windows Vista and Windows 7."
While third-party titles such as Dragon Naturally Speaking provide far more features, the fact that they can cost up to £200 presents a major obstacle to a lot of people who might otherwise benefit from them. Whatever else you want to say about Vista, it was a big leap forward in terms of universally available speech recognition – both for replacing mouse and keyboard dependency with voice commands, and for dictating documents and emails in almost any application.
While speech software remains a long way off replacing all manual interactions with our PCs, it really comes into its own in continual usage by those who need it. It's worth noting that we interviewed Cohen via email, and had no idea it was all done thanks to voice recognition software until he mentioned it.
In general, though, are the major operating system and browser providers doing all that they can? "I think that it's getting easier now for people to make small tweaks to their systems," offers Barker. "For example, a client with Parkinson's may benefit a lot from just turning Filter Keys on. It's free and this just shows that adaptive technology doesn't have to cost anything."
More standardisation online has helped too: "I have seen significant improvements with accessibility online," says Cohen. "There are still some sites that need to improve their layouts, but in general I do see the World Wide Web Consortium Accessibility Guidelines being followed."
The director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is original father-of-the-internet Tim Berners-Lee, and the organisation's Accessibility Guidelines lay out key best-practice rules that every website should follow.
Major ones include providing text-based alternatives for any image, video or audio content, ensuring that everything is accessible via keyboard alone, providing easy means of navigation and orientation across busy sites and ensuring legibility. Find out more about these best-practice rules and how to implement them here.
And yet website and software creators are still routinely guilty of even the most basic oversights. The issue of colour-blindness, for instance, is regularly overlooked.
Only a pitiful handful of games provide alternate colour schemes for people who struggle to differentiate between green and red, and far too many design-led websites don't seem to notice or care that their fancy Flash menus are completely inaccessible to anyone who lacks the dexterity to use a mouse. Yet matters are gradually and continually improving.
The internet succeeds in knocking down all barriers – whether they be down to age, gender, ethnicity or physical capabilities – and, as the already multifarious means of accessing it continue to increase, so too will the traditional barriers of communication and entertainment further erode.
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In Depth: How to build your own PVR for free
Personal video recorders (PVRs) are usually quite expensive – and for good reason. This is the device you are entrusting your favourite entertainment to: shows like 24 and Lost, that crucial sporting fixture or last summer's Hollywood blockbuster that you missed at the cinema and are desperate to see.
What if your PVR runs out of space and is unable to record anything on the one night you're kept late at work and can't make it home to watch your team in the cup tie of the century? Even worse, what if your PVR's hard disk fails completely, losing that entire series you'd recorded and religiously avoided any spoilers of for the past three months, just so you could watch it all over a single weekend?
The mental anguish and resulting window repair bill (due to a PVR-shaped projectile) could all be avoided simply by building a robust PVR yourself with MythTV.
Install MythTV
Installing MythTV can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. You could install a plain vanilla Linux distro and then install and configure MythTV with a lot of nasty terminal and command-line work, but if you fancy going down the easy route, it's simple to install a Linux distro with MythTV built in to the installer.
Some of them will be based on distros we're all familiar with (MythDora is based on Fedora/Red Hat, for example) and some will be a little more obscure. Ubuntu is one of the most widely used Linux distros, thanks in no small part to the user-friendly Windows/Mac feel of its front-end, and a Ubuntu installation with MythTV built-in is just too good an opportunity to pass up for this system.
Having decided how you're going to install MythBuntu, it's a rather straightforward procedure.
Anybody who has installed Ubuntu before will be instantly familiar with the first section – select your language, location, time zone, keyboard localisation and installation drive (select the 'Erase and use entire disk' option for better MythTV performance) before moving on to selecting what you'd like your machine to be called, what your main user account will be, the respective password and so on.
It's all fairly standard stuff, and none of these options are particularly critical. Ubuntu's installation procedure has been in this format since Hardy Heron (version 8.04), and it's as easy to navigate as the Windows installation process is.
INSTALL: Impressively for an operating system with such large added extras, Mythbuntu installs just as quickly as regular-flavour Ubuntu
When asked to select which installation type you would like, be sure to select 'Primary Backend w/Frontend' from the options available. This is the first option anyone should use when installing MythTV, as any network or system containing MythTV requires a back-end first and foremost.
Once this is in place and working, you can add front-end clients or even secondary back-end machines to expand your capabilities, but getting this up and running is your first task.
For additional services, make sure to tick every box – they are all potentially very useful and provide handy remote administration tools as well as easy connection to Windows and Linux machines for file-sharing and easier setup of an additional MythTV front-end client. Even if you don't use them all, they take up little in terms of time and space, so they're worth having just in case.
If your TV card has a remote control, check the 'Enable Remote' box and search for your device (or something close if the exact one doesn't exist; those from the same manufacturer are usually quite compatible). Click through the next summary screen, then go off and have a coffee while the installation runs.
Once the Ubuntu portion of the installation is complete, you'll be presented with the Configure Guide Data/Backend screen. If you're not in the USA, you won't need to do anything to the Schedules Direct section as this is a US service that distributes TV guide information. If you're anywhere else in the world, your guide will be pulled in via the tuner, as with a normal television.
Now click the button to 'Launch MythTV Setup' and prepare to be a little overwhelmed!
Set up MythTV
At first glance you'd be forgiven for thinking that MythTV's setup isn't particularly scary – it's a rather friendly-looking, big chunky-buttoned GUI that looks quite innocuous. However, start delving into some options and you'll soon see how configurable it actually is.
CONFIGURATION: The setup looks simple now, but just you wait until you start tweaking…
Under the General section there are 12 pages of various options, from simple things like the IP address of the back-end (it happens to be the address of the machine you're on) to customising the terminal commands and port/transport settings.
Generally speaking, you can leave it all alone and everything will work, but it's something you might want to experiment with later to get more out of your system.
Also note that there is no mouse support through these menus, so there will be a lot of using [Tab] to get down to the 'Next/Back' buttons until you get everything right!
The Capture Cards section, on the other hand, is very important – this is the menu item in which you will be selecting your installed TV card. In most cases MythTV picks your card up automatically, and all you have to do is scroll left or right through the various card types, move down to the Video Device option and scroll through there until your card is displayed.
TV TUNER: If your TV card isn't being picked up automatically, try adjusting the aerial or installing the drivers manually to get it to show
It's hard to know which type your card will fall under as they're all slightly different, but if you scroll through all the available options, yours should eventually turn up.
If it doesn't, don't panic! Ours didn't either, probably due to the fact that the system we were installing Myth TV on is in a basement with very thick walls – if the TV card doesn't pick up a signal from the off, then MythTV won't realise it's there, and it won't appear under any of the dropdown menus.
You'll need to exit the MythTV setup, install the driver for your TV card manually from the Ubuntu terminal and then go back into the MythTV setup. You'll now find that it's available under the dropdown menus mentioned before.
For the uninitiated, installing drivers manually in Linux is a pretty terrifying prospect – it's all done through the terminal rather than a nice graphical Control Panel-style interface, and you end up with strings like this:
'wget http://www.wi-bw.tfh-wildau.de/~pboettch/home/linux-dvb-firmware/dvb-usbdib0700-1.10.fw'.
Fear not, though: every problem you encounter has been encountered by someone else previously, and a quick scan of the web – in particular the exhaustive MythTV wiki – will give you the exact commands you need to get back on track.
Having finished the MythTV setup, it will tell you that you need to run the MythFileDatabase command in order to prepare for viewing/recording, before rather helpfully offering to run it for you when you are leaving. Following an automatic reboot, you will find yourself at the MythTV front-end main screen, with your MythTV back-end or front-end machine set up and ready to go.
The default configuration of MythTV should easily be sufficient if you simply want to watch and record TV on that machine, but given that your PVR may be a noisy, multidisk monster that never stops spinning, it's probable that you would rather watch your shows elsewhere.
To achieve this, a lot of MythTV users prefer to stream their media from a noisy but powerful back-end workhorse to a front-end client that's situated somewhere comfortable.
Your front-end machine can be less powerful than the back-end machine: as long as it can handle video playback to a quality you're happy watching (something like the Acer Aspire Revo with onboard Nvidia Ion graphics would easily be up to the job).
MythBuntu handily comes with this front-end capability built-in – remember when you selected 'Primary Backend w/ Frontend' as your 'installation type'? If you install MythBuntu on a secondary machine and select 'Frontend' from this menu, the installation procedure is broadly the same as installing the backend, with the exception of a little tweak – you won't be selecting your TV card as a video source.
Instead, you'll be pointing it to the IP address of your back-end machine as a source of media. There's also a Windows-based MythTV client available that has the same effect.
MythTV also has an incredibly useful web-based front-end called MythWeb that lets you control your entire MythTV system from anywhere in the world via a web browser. The basic functionality of MythWeb (the ability to dial in from any PC, laptop or even your mobile phone) is incredibly handy for making last minute changes to your recording schedule, and you can also control almost every configuration setting as well as browse your stored media and download it straight to the remote that machine you're working on. It's powerful stuff.
Your MythTV machine essentially needs to be turned into a small web server in order to enable this external support. To do this, you'll need to install various components of Apache Web Server, PHP and Perl; these will present your interface and content to the outside world.
There are various separate guides around the web on installing these components, but a thorough guide that includes all the components required for setting up MythWeb can be found here. Once you've set this up (and assuming that you've followed the Apache Web Server instructions to publish at the root) to connect to your MythWeb service externally, you'll need to visit the IP address of your MythTV box in a browser. Just type it in to do so.
Once there you'll find a very user friendly web interface that will be instantly familiar to anyone who uses the on-screen TV guide on their digital tuner. Given that this web route grants the user direct access to your MythTV system, you may want to spend a little time configuring its security and various settings. You can find a thoroughly comprehensive guide to all the functionality and various commands for MythWeb here.
ADVANCED OPTIONS: The more complicated settings are best left alone until you've read up
To add even more features to your MythWeb-enabled PVR, take a look at the open-source plug-in MythStream. This add-on allows you to add a live streaming feature to your browser-based access, which means that you can record, watch and download media from any system anywhere in the world.
That's pretty impressive for a free, home-made PVR system, wouldn't you agree?
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