A service update that promised new functionality for setting up keyword searches also, unless I’m losing my mind (always a possibility to consider), added a bunch of new graphics. The navigational icons and highlight now have a little depth plus the kind of glossy finish I first encountered when Apple launched Mac OS X’s Aqua interface several years ago. (How long ago? Apple was still using Garamond.)
(It’s actually driving me a little nuts: I can’t find a reference to this change anywhere… not in the service update message, not on the TiVo web site, and not in the blogs of any of the folks who obsess about TiVo even more than I do.)
It’s worth noticing, because TiVo thinks about usability the way Yogi Bear thinks about picnic baskets. So when they make a change like this, you have to conclude they’ve had a resounding mandate from their testing labs and ethnographers. You also have to conclude that little touches like this really do matter… and that a little attention to that third dimension can yield real benefits for their users.
