Default navigation in Flutter is unpredictable on TV platforms, requiring specific adjustments for a good user experience.
The Flutter focus system relies on key components like Focus, FocusState, and FocusNode to manage user interaction on non-touch platforms.
Designing for TV requires specific UI adjustments like larger fonts, higher contrast, and side navigation to create a usable 10-foot experience.
Use the Focus widget to manage a FocusNode, making any UI element focusable and visually responsive to focus changes.
The singleton FocusManager builds a focus tree from the widget tree to manage focus across the entire application viewport.
Use the FocusScope widget to divide the UI into distinct zones, like a navigation rail and main content, to contain focus and manage traversal between them.
Override the default ReadingOrderTraversalPolicy by creating a custom TraversalPolicy within a FocusTraversalGroup to build predictable navigation logic.
A custom grid traversal policy can be implemented by filtering potential focus targets based on their position relative to the current node for each direction.
Building a great TV experience requires treating focus as foundational, using scopes and custom policies for control, and polishing visual feedback for clarity.
Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.