Tool: How Netflix uses WebKit and HTML5 for connected devices

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How Netflix uses WebKit and HTML5 for connected devices

Netflix has spent the past few years trying to get its streaming service on as many devices as possible, including TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, streaming set-top boxes, mobile phones and tablets. It’s a monumental undertaking, given the large number of different operating systems and development tools needed across a number of different CE manufacturers.

In a post on the Netflix Tech Blog, device UI engineers Matt McCarthy and Kim Trott shared a presentation that gives a peek behind the curtain in how it’s able to do so. The key is standards-based development using WebKit, JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3.

Cutting-edge features, dynamic updates and A/B testing

Standardizing on WebKit enables Netflix to deliver nearly identical code to all new Netflix-ready devices. By basing its software development kit (SDK) for consumer electronics manufacturers on WebKit, it can also use “cutting‐edge features like querySelector API, CSS transforms, CSS transitions & animations, localStorage, CORS, getters and setters, etc.”

More importantly, by relying on common web technologies, Netflix doesn’t have to develop individual applications for each device framework it comes across. It also can improve development cycles for user interfaces on connected devices. According to the presentation, Netflix typically updates its connected apps every two weeks. By using web standards, it doesn’t need to rely on CE manufacturers to push firmware updates to fix bugs or change the UI; it can do dynamic updates by itself.

Netflix also can dynamically test user interfaces, to see how users interact with them. With web standards, it can redirect different customers to different web pages, feeding them different experiences. By doing so, it can figure out which interfaces are most effective.

Different classes of devices

There’s a wide range of available processing speed and memory, from CPUs that have 600 MHz to those with 3.2 GHz of processing power, and 88 MB of available memory to 512 MB. As a result, Netflix builds in flexibility to ensure it doesn’t overload lower-powered devices with more advanced features.

Netflix currently has three tiers of devices based on their configurations, with the lowest tier having zero animation and small cache sizes. On the top end, devices have animations, large cache sizes and frequent p...

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