There is currently no support for Java, JavaScript, ActiveX, Shockwave, and many other advanced features of the web. However, the features of HTML 2.0 and HTML 3.2 are well-supported. Plain white backgrounds do not work well with WebTV - they glare, and cause distortion and dark patches. Dark backgrounds with light text and links work well. The user does not have a mouse with which they can quickly reach parts of the image, but the remote control device permits cursor movement up, down, left, or right.
Many sites have home pages with white backgrounds and an imagemap for navigation.
These will probably need re-thinking for WebTV optimisation. Navigation is supported with the sidebar tag to set up the sidebar, on the left side of the screen. Viewers can use the arrow buttons on the remote control to move between selectable items in the sidebar and items in the content area. The sidebar doesn't scroll with the rest of the content of a web page. Other tags within the web page display in the content area, to the right of the sidebar.