The child-friendly version of iPlayer – iPlayer For Children – has undergone a refresh, bringing a new design that is more consistent with the standard version of iPlayer.
The new redesign takes advantage of HTML5 video technologies, in lieu of Flash and Silverlight, making the site accessible across a wide range of tablets and mobile devices.
The homepage has also undergone major changes, and is heavily image driven, with collections designed to showcase specific content, events and themes.
Other features added to iPlayer For Children include ‘simulcast streams’, which makes it possible to rewind through the previous two hours of live broadcast content. Other functionality added include the ability to pause and restart live video.
iPlayer For Children aims to offer a safe experience, and limits the programs available to those that are deemed age appropriate. These are overwhelmingly from the BBC’s two children’s channels, CBBC and CBeeBies. The site also prompts the user when leaving iPlayer For Children for the main iPlayer site.
iPlayer was launched in 2007, and is regarded to be one of the BBC’s biggest successes to date, with over 40 per cent of UK adults having used the site in 2012 and with traffic from the site representing half of all streamed video in the UK.
-Matthew Hughes
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