Thanks to the many websites and online tools created by WebTV subscribers and other services, the system's capabilities have grown incredibly since its debut in 1996. By browsing the sites below, much can be learned about WebTV's capabilities, and answers to nearly all questions about its features can be found.

WebTV Resources

Following is an overview of websites created for WebTV users. They cover a wide spectrum of resources, provide useful information about the system, and should be helpful to anyone just starting out.

  • Access Adobe.com
    Adobe Acrobat PDF files, normally unavailable to WebTV users, can now be read by e-mail. Results will be mixed, but the PDF file will be received shortly after sending. Complete instructions are provided.
  • Andresen Family WebTV Website
    One of the early legendary WebTV websites that was much heralded when WebTV started and is still useful today.
  • Beth Candy's WebTV Help
    A comprehensive website specifically written for WebTV's Scrapbook, and an excellent place for beginners to start.
  • Bill's Games
    An award-winning games site that's perfectly suited for WebTV. Play Solitaire, Video Poker, Concentration, and even print your own mazes for play.
  • Draac.com
    Before file transloading ever existed, Draac.com offered linkable graphics to WebTV users. Today, everything can be found there, including free graphics, HTML instructions, and its own e-mail service.
  • ErikPaul.Net
    Paul Erickson has left WebTV for the "greener pastures" of PC's, but he is much remembered by fellow subscribers for his wit and insight, and his website is still one of the most useful WebTV sites anywhere.
  • GifPile Graphics
    An excellent site with hundreds of listings for webpage graphics, banners, fonts and the like.
  • Hadoe's Printshop
    An ingenious website that allows users to create greeting and business cards, address labels, address envelopes, and do word processing with WebTV and a printer.
  • Hootie's WebTV Jumps
    An excellent WebTV tools site that greatly streamlines operation, is very easy to use, and is chock full of useful tie-ins.
  • It's Your Turn
    Another superb games site that is completely compatible with WebTV. Over 40 games to play. Free registration is required.
  • Learn2Type
    Teach yourself typing with this commercial website and WebTV. Free registration is required.
  • Net4TV
    A wonderful website that epitomizes the World Wide Web on television. Play its many interactive games or participate in the ongoing murder mystery, "Strange Deadfellows."
  • Printing with WebTV
    A complete guide for WebTV printing information, office supplies and tips.
  • Saverio's WebTV Help
    Several useful pages about hidden WebTV features written by a frequent WebTV newsgroup contributor.
  • Self-Taught Typing
    Another learn-to-type website created by a WebTV user.
  • ITV Search
    The Yahoo! of WebTV sites.
  • WebTastics.com
    A nice website offering authoring tutorials on site design, markup languages (HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.), discussion boards, and its own e-mail service.
  • WebTV Keyboard Guide
    A complete list of "Cmd" key functions for WebTV's wireless keyboard.
  • WebTV Tools Source
    A vast tools site created by "CKD," an expert tools maker and newsgroup contibutor. Read his daily "WebTV Tools" postings to learn even more.
  • WebTV Tools Webring
    An nice list of WebTV tools sites.
  • WebTV Video Capture
    George Casey's complete guide for using WebTV video capture and uploading with Star Boulevard. (Companion site to his printing guide above.)
  • WTV-Zone
    An independent group of WebTV users now offers unprecedented computer services for fellow subscribers. CGI support, completely tailored to the client's specifications, is available through several price packages. The site's operators are committed to making the WebTV experience as real as possible.

WebTV Corporate Sites

WebTV Newsgroups

Newsgroups cover thousands of topics and are very useful resources for information. Below are four of the more notable WebTV-sponsored groups that are exclusively for its subscribers. (For instruction on proper newsgroup decorum, read Paul Erickson's advice at his site above.)
  • WebTV Users
    The foremost newsgroup for everything WebTV.
  • WebTV HTML and Javascript
  • WebTV Printer Help
  • WebTV Tools
    The best place to go for information about online tools, and staffed by some of the most knowledgeable WebTV users found anywhere. Read it often to learn what's up with online tools, and what can be learned about ever-changing Web tools and resources.

Online Photo Development

With the development of online photo develpment, digital cameras, and flatbed photo scanning, WebTV users have capabilities formerly restricted to PC users. WebTV Plus users can completely "go digital" and directly upload photos from their digital cameras or photo scanners. WebTV Classic users can have prints scanned and placed online through local retail outlets.
  • Kodak PhotoNet
    Kodak Photonet is available though thousands of outlets nationwide and is probably the first place to start for online photo storage. Film should be designated for online development (not CD-ROM or floppy disk), and can be picked up ready to go in 2-3 days. Once picked up, photos can be moved by FTP procedures to the user's account at Epson PhotoCenter. At this writing, I haven't tried yet to attach Kodak Photonet photographs to e-mail letters, to see if I can move them to other accounts.
  • Epson PhotoCenter
    PhotoPoint was the most WebTV-friendly service anywhere, but business costs forced it to switch to a fee-based service this year. Fortunately, however, Epson PhotoCenter provides a suitable replacement. Free accounts, photo editing tools, and, most importantly, FTP uploading ("member name"@ftp.photo.epson.com) are all available.
  • Snapfish.com
    Snapfish is almost too good to be true. Thanks to advertiser support, print and online development are both free, online photo storage is permanent, and the only catch seems to be required viewing in the first 30 days. Digital photos can also be e-mailed for print development, but Snapfish doesn't support FTP uploading for WebTV.
  • Yahoo! Photo
    In conjunction with Seattle Filmworks PhotoWorks, Yahoo! Photo offers photo scanning and free storage, and photos can be directly moved from PhotoWorks to Yahoo!. But Yahoo! doesn't offer any photo editing, so WebTV users will have to go elsewhere for editing tools.
Additional Resources
  • Ambico Video Transfer System
    Available through QVC, the home shopping network, Ambico's VTS allows WebTV Plus users to scan their own slides or photos onto video tape and online via e-mail or Star Boulevard transloading.
  • HP E-photo scanner
    Hewlitt-Packard announces the first photo scanner designed exclusively for WebTV Plus.

Uploading Services
The greatest tool ever created for WebTV users was the development of FTP uploading via remote computer servers. Files could be moved across the Web to one's account, giving WebTV users the same capability that only PC users once had. Star Boulevard Transloding, the first of its kind, was invaluable to WebTV users, but excessive costs forced its shutdown, which was a severe blow to anyone using WebTV. Other free transloaders, however, still exist and are listed below.
  • Domania Freeloader
    Choose from four different transloaders but be sure to first read all instructions in order to learn their capablilites.
  • Star Boulevard Transloading II
    Star Boulevard II was originally a companion service to its free transloader, but excessive costs forced it to shut down and completely switch to a paid service. Minimum subscription is now $15, and the service is pegged at 1¢/100KB of files moved to its servers. But all of its old tools remain: Its 30 MB storage allotment, photo editing, remote e-mail service, and digital uploading.
  • Transloader.com
    Yet another transloading service with easy connections for anyone storing files with WebTV's PageBuilder scrapbook.

Graphic Imaging Websites

Three imaging websites allow WebTV users to frame, resize, caption, and apply many other effects to online graphics.

  • GifWorks
    A WebTV-friendly imaging tool with resizing and limited framing features, and great for more outrageous graphics effects.
  • ImageMagick Studio
    The most advanced of all the imaging sites with captioning, framing, resizing, and other features, and its own transloading service.
  • WebFX
    Similar to GifWorks but lacking the scope of ImageMagick.

WebTV Word Processing

Despite the vast array of online tools found across the the Internet, WebTV word processors are still the only way users can print text onto paper. (Only the most bareboned HTML is needed to use them.) The WP's listed below are completely useable and not affected by WebTV's recent service upgrades, which made several older WP's inoperable.
  • Diane's Word Processor
    An excellent Javascript-based WP that's packed with features.
  • eWord
    A brand new word processing site created by a multimedia design firm. The site is very simple and easy to use. Best of all, no HTML is required for word processing.
  • Hadoe's Word Processor
    Another Javascript WP from the creator of "Hadoe's Printshop."
  • MSN-TV Word @ Draac.com
    Draac's new easy-to-use word processor. No HTML required.
  • World Wide Web.Word
    My own word processor, its source code is freely available to anyone else interested. (Much thanks to "CKD" for providing the Javascript code fix.)
  • Yahoo! Notepad
    Among Yahoo's countless services, "Notepad" perfectly complements WebTV word processing. Text files can be created and maintained in a personal account, and then copied and formatted for printing.


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