Another WebTV upgrade rolls out and complications follow. The WebTV world awaited anxiously for the new 2.6 upgrade. The anticipation could be felt throughout the newsgroups, chat and emails.

It appeared that most WebTV subscribers had one wish in common. They had hoped that, unlike the prior upgrade, the bugs would not follow the next.

The first complaint from users was the slowing of connection time and the almost impossible, slow loading of webpages. Connecting and surfing was at its minimum. Some users reported that they could not connect at all.

One of the first bugs reported was the loss of some "document.write" functions in JavaScript, which disabled many WebTV user tools such as the modem rate (connection speed) button as well as HTML test beds. WebTV users use HTML test beds to try out code before committing it to a web page using these tools.

Other document.write functions were left intact, as in many of Net4TV's games, or in the blue editorial type below:
This blue type is appears blue because of a JavaScript that uses document.write. If it's not blue, document write isn't working.

When you go to see your work now on a test bed, it takes you back two pages instead of one. This makes most HTML test beds useless because you are not able to review your work. The only functioning test beds left are the ones using frames.

WebTV also goofed a very basic HTML tag, or rather, a combination. Jason O'Daniel, a Net4TV Voice reader has reported that when two text formatting tags are used together, only the inner tag is applied. So on most browsers, this sentence is underlined and the last three words are bold and underlined. But on WebTV 2.6, the sentence looks more like this with the last three words only bold but not underlined. Here's a sample page.

The loss of the ability to capture still video pictures was also reported by some users.

I talked with one WebTV user, U-L-T-R-A from Ultra's WebTV Help, and he stated that he had lost some of the functions of his Sig-builder. He said that users are not able to view some of the results now. Instead of being able to go back to the Sig-builder to view their work, it now takes you back two pages, rendering some of its functions useless. Ultra says he is working on an alternative.

The script that subscribers used to read and delete their cookies has also been disabled. This was a big loss to many WebTV users. One user suggested that WebTV add the cookie reader/deleter as well as the modem rate button, to the WebTV status board page, to allow users to enjoy this great feature once again.

I also had noticed that when you pass your cursor over jump boxes now, the title becomes full width before it is clicked on. This prevents you from viewing from left to right on jump boxes used for f-keys or link boxes that are lined up side by side.

R. Scruggs reports that on a WebTV Plus, if it is powered off, it will not send the signal to the VCR to record shows using WebTV's VCR Recording features. If the unit is left on, there is no problem.

WebTV claims to support Flash 4.0, but many features, such as text areas of forms and perhaps many action scripts are not supported. As a result, sites that have Flash chat where you have to type text into a form, will not work. The WebTV doesn't recognize the keystrokes. Clicking on the Flash text area will not result in the on-screen keyboard as one might expect. Most Flash games remain unplayable. MP3 Audio in Flash breaks up and stutters. This may be a function of the really poor connections many users seem to be experiencing.

Windows Media, RealAudio, and MP3 Audio break up and stutter. Windows Media stops playing before the end of the file, clipping off part of the movie. Many RealAudio sites will not play. A message pops up telling the user that the publisher is busy. Similar attempts on a PC are greeted with success. At the very least, the error message is an error.

Readers report problems with many sites around the Internet, including Epsylon Games, Ford, and Acura.

Some WebTV users report the inability to print in color after accepting the upgrade. This is not a bug, but a change in the features. To correct the problem, check your printer options. You should be able to set the printer to print in color.

Webv offers a retrograde to return to the 2.4 update. This will leave you without the MSN Messenger. From this same page, you can also return to the 2.5.5 update that you had prior to the 2.6 update, which has the MSN Messenger, but different bugs. At the present, this is the only method to drop the last upgrade, as WebTV has not yet come up with a direct retrograde for the latest one.

We are working faithfully to try and come up with solutions to the bugs left by the last upgrade. Unfortunately, in my opinion, I doubt if we will see solutions to all of them. Some of the bugs also might be designed to remove features WebTV didn't want users to have, such as the modem connection speed. Instead, we may see some alternatives. We will continue to re-invent as usual. But I personally would like to see WebTV enhance the features and uses of HTML and JavaScript. I would much rather see quality than quantity.

Dexter Davenport contributed to the report.