Netflix Testing New Kid-Friendly UI
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Tech-savvy parents know there is a lot of kid-friendly content on Netflix. The only problem is that many young ones lack the reading ability or manual dexterity to navigate to the shows themselves. Enter the Netflix “Just for Kids” section. This new UI is being previewed for some users already, but the company hasn't said anything about it.
The entire UI of this section is different from the rest of Netflix. Right at the top are pictures of various popular characters like Hello Kitty and Big Bird. The kids can click on one to pull up all the TV and movie content that has them in it. These pages are heavy on screenshots and short on wordy descriptions.
There are also some suggestion specially tailored to kids on the main page. Netflix has not said what its plans are for this UI. It might be a preliminary test and we’ll never see this again. Or this could be the first phase in a surprise feature rollout.
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Shalbatana
August 15, 2011 at 9:38am
my 4 year old can navigate Netflix on the Wii now. They should just implement that as an option.
(or perhaps even better, they should better the UI on the Wii for adults!)
qhoa1385
August 13, 2011 at 3:15am
Why? so they can spend all day watching TV?
Seriously kids these days are not only lazy, fat, boring but also stupid
lazy because they can now do pretty much anything sitting on a computer
boring because without TV there's pretty much nothing else for them to talk about any more...
UNEXO92
August 13, 2011 at 8:47am
lol pedofile? Why are u hanging out with kids? XD but seriously, aren't you doing the same by typing that comment? anyways, get out of the past. The future is gonna be like this regardless. If you don't like it, kick them out. No, not as in, "find your own place to stay!" as in, "get your shit out on the streets" Then they wouldn't be allowed to use technology and wouldnt be fat. Smart idea? No? Dont think so? Exactly.
fourfinger
August 13, 2011 at 5:39am
lol you do realise TV has been around for a long time and you are just showing how lazy and stupid you are for posting a sterotype. since you too watched T.V. as a child, that would make you the same!
avenger48
August 12, 2011 at 10:14pm
I predict it will be less than a year before there is a major scandal resulting from a porn video ending up in this section by accident. Mark my words and your calendars.
bpstone
August 13, 2011 at 1:04pm
There are some movies that show full nudity such as the Spartacus series. It still not porn.
nmanguy
August 12, 2011 at 6:52pm
Kid friendly? What about person friendly? It's still a pain in the ass to scroll about with this new UI by moving the mouse to a side and... waiting... and waiting... for everything to scroll by. It would be easy enough to find kid-friendly movies at the moment if the interface weren't such junk.
aFineWayToDie
August 13, 2011 at 5:35pm
My thoughts exactly. Personally, I'm still more than a little miffed that Netflix has seen it fit to raise the price of my subscription. Completely outrageous considering how much of their library still isn't available to watch instantly.
bpstone
August 12, 2011 at 2:57pm
It is about time they did that. My nephew was using his Wii with my account. I left the room and came back only to see he was watching a rated R movie no seven year-old should see. He didn't understand what was going on or why those things happened in his mind. He saw it as reality instead of fantasy even after I had explained it to him in small terms. Luckily I think it was water on a duck's back and he thought no more of it afterward.
Raswan
August 12, 2011 at 6:18pm
Alright, I'll be the first one to say it. How about you stop blaming netflix's UI and start being a better parental substitute? Set some boundaries, and if that doesn't work it's your responsibility to sit in the room with him while he watches. It's called babysitting for a reason, and it's jackholes like you who blame the videogame industry for things like Columbine.
bpstone
August 12, 2011 at 9:19pm
"....it's jackholes like you who blame the videogame industry for things like Columbine."
I think that's a bunch of poppycock. I do not believe violent video games lead to violence. Next time know what you're talking about before you do blurting it out. You don't know a damn thing about me to make such assumptions. I don't give a crap what you might think and you can kiss my crusty asshole.
bpstone
August 12, 2011 at 9:08pm
@Raswan @I Jedi
Sorry to disappoint you two. I don't babysit my nephew; especially since he lives over 1,500 miles away. Their parents were home at the time and they were the ones supposed to be watching him. A visitor last I checked isn't responsible for tending to someone else's children. My sister had asked me if she could use my account so he could watch a movie. Sure! I set it on his Wii then went elsewhere. When I came back his father was upstairs along with his mother while he was watching a violent war movie. If I could have set it to child mode, then it probably wouldn't have happened. He neither is nor was my responsibility nonetheless.
I Jedi
August 13, 2011 at 11:58am
@bpstone
So, in other words, you admit that you actively helped someone else's child gain access to a service you knew was not yet set with parental-controls, yet you still left him unsupervised for a few minutes without having chose a program for him? Sir, while he may not be your kid, that's like leaving your porn magazines laying out on the floor with a kid's coloring book, and hoping the kid chooses the coloring book instead of the former. It's called responsibility, even if it isn't your kid. I disagree with your assumption that just because it isn't your kid, that doesn't mean you weren't responsible for what he saw. If his parents do not have Netflix, it's a good bet they didn't know rather Netflix had parental-controls or not. I'm assuming they trusted that you would supervise a program for him to watch.
Does this make you a horrible person, no. Did I watch rated R movies when I was young, yes; however, I don't try to go around what happened by blaming the parents for not being there in the room when even you yourself left the room with him unsupervised, and I would have taken responsibility for knowing that there was the potential he could view less-than-ideal content for a person his age.
bpstone
August 13, 2011 at 12:56pm
You must be joking right? I was supposed to laugh, yet I'm rather straight faced. His mother used to own a Netflix account till money got tight while her husband was out of town. She was in the room before I had left. Daddy was upstairs at the time doing who knows what. The mom or even pop of the child was supposed to watch him, not their guest. Get that through your thick skull.
I Jedi
August 13, 2011 at 7:58pm
As if I was suppose to already know beforehand that your sister and her husband had Netflix, right? Get real, kid. It was a mistake on both her part and your part for leaving him unsupervised. I blame her for leaving the room while the kid was still in there while you had left, and I blame you for not informing her that he could still access rated R movies from his Wii. You're trying to pin this on a family member for your lack of foresight into what he could do without the two of you in the room. It's shameful, really.
bpstone
August 13, 2011 at 8:11pm
I'm a grown man. Not a child. Nothing you said made a damn bit of sense. His father should be the second. Not his grown Uncle who was visiting from our of town. Shut up... At least ask questions before you go making assumptions. This conversation is over.
Brad Nimbus
August 13, 2011 at 7:52am
I guess the dink above you believes that as long as you are an adult you are responsible for anothers child......mistakes happen and I can't believe they are posting against you. A simalar thing happened to me with a cousin of mine, now it wasn't a video but some Wu tang clan. I let her listen to my ipod thinking the music was ok yet on the playlist there was some rated R music haha. That night she ended up asking her mom what N***** meant. Tell me that wasn't intense. I think the biggest problem with children is that they are going to be too shielded from everything. I agree a violent movie or nudity for a 7 year old is a bit much, but jesus I played doom when I was 10 and it didn't hurt me! (sorry for the spelling mistakes but its too early and maximumpc's spelling check sucks.
Carlidan
August 13, 2011 at 4:05pm
@Brad and @BpStone.
I think it is not the responsibility of Netflix to add parental control for the customers. It's up to the parents to see what the child does. Not Netflix. But hey if Netflix adds UI just for them. Good for them.
Also you have to take some responsibility for him watching the movie. You could of login in Netflix, choose a movie for him before you left. What I've read or how you stated on your comment, it sounds that your fully blaming Netflix for your neice/nephew for watching that movie. And I think that not fair. You said your sister was there before you left. Wouldn't the fault be your sister for not supervising her son/daughter rather than Netflix? Just my two cents.
I Jedi
August 12, 2011 at 8:07pm
+1 @ Raswan
I get that no one can actively watch a child every second of the day, but if you know he can access something you don't want him to, the better option is to always supervise him in such activities, not blame the service.
Holly Golightly
August 12, 2011 at 2:40pm
This is good. I favor anything that can help entertain kids while keeping them safe. Hopefully this is not just a one time thing, and will be officially launched at some point in time.
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