The old slide's been in use since around 1996, and the main design of the Ceefax front page has changed quite a few times since then (though it seems to have remained unchanged for the last 6 years), so I'm suprised this hadn't been done sooner.
I'm surprised they are still bothering to keep Ceefax going. The majority of homes now have access to some form of digital signal, and can therefore access BBCi. I can't receive any (decent) analogue signal here and have relied on SkyDigital ever since it launched.
When BBC2 has downtime why don't they show "Pages from BBCi" instead?
It seems quite a duplication of effort to continue running both Ceefax and BBCi. Perhaps they will gradually run it down when analogue switch-off begins in 2008.
I'm surprised they are still bothering to keep Ceefax going. The majority of homes now have access to some form of digital signal, and can therefore access BBCi. I can't receive any (decent) analogue signal here and have relied on SkyDigital ever since it launched.
Perhaps because, despite 6 years of development, BBCi text still has nowhere near the level of content that Ceefax does. The promise of 'no longer having to wait ages for pages to load' has never been delivered on. Although it's improving, BBCi is still a fairly clunky thing to use - for one thing, it's still not regionalised.
As far as I'm aware, the text for the news and sport pages on Ceefax is no longer entered separately, an automatic process sources the text from pages prepared for the internet, so there isn't really a huge duplication of resources going on.
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Maybe it is easier to run a rolling Ceefax Page news service on air between 6 and 7am each morning than to run a rolling BBC-i service?
You've probably hit the nail on the head there - the scrolling 'newsreel' page is allready there, wheras nothing equivalent exists on BBCi. Rather than construct one for BBCi, it's easier just to keep putting on Ceefax whilst they still have it - remember that this is only a filler to kill dead time when the channel is closed down, it's probably of little relevance to them what is actually shown in it.
I did suspect that they may have developed some sort of connection between the IT systems running Ceefax and BBCi to avoid too much duplication, so your comment doesn't surprise me that much.
However, ITV plc's version (ITV "x" Nightscreen) uses the digital service available from Teletext does it not? Surely it would be easier for people to view those pages rather than the
very clunky looking Ceefax
I must admit I was a fan of Ceefax, and Oracle (...and Orbit...remember it's brief existence on BBC2), but times have changed! They must get even the "refusniks" used to digital text/tv sometime soon!
However, ITV plc's version (ITV "x" Nightscreen) uses the digital service available from Teletext does it not?
You've got to be kidding! Microsoft Powerpoint comes to mind when you see ITV Nightscreen. Plus AIUI Nightscreen isn't made by Teletext, it used to be made by Intelfax (who used to produce ITV's Ancillary Text Pages and the short lived ITV Text Plus), though I'm not sure who makes it now.
Though during the early days of ITV Nightscreen (well 1998) it used to be like Pages From Ceefax, as it used the same technology, though it had animation, so it felt more like 4-Tel On View.
They must get even the "refusniks" used to digital text/tv sometime soon!
Problem is Stuart, many still find Ceefax much faster and easier to use. The text is also much clearer on the analogue service I find.
But some of us can't get the analogue service down here, which is perhaps why we are in the first tranche for analogue switch-off.
I actually find the digital text services alot easier to read. I know the text font is smaller, but it's still alot clearer; and at least it has decent graphics for things like weather etc. I certainly don't find it THAT slow.
BBCi is unbelievably slow. And so is the mahority of digital text servies across all platforms. You press the red button or text on your remote control and then it says "Loading..." in the top corner for a good 20 secons or so. I can even go out of the room to the toilet to relieve myself and come back in again before the main page comes on!
Then you get the main menu and then even keying in the numbers on BBCi takes an age before the page loads.
I've got one of the oldest black Pace boxes for my Sky Digital so altogether, it is a pretty slow thing to use. Annoying.
Ceefax/Teletext on the other hand you can turn on/off and the push of the button in milliseconds, it has more content, colourful and the text is bigger and therefore easier to read. Overall, a LOT quicker too!
It will be sad to see Ceefax and Teletext disappear in the not too distant future.
