for the length of the article . please help by moving some material from it into the body of the article . please read the layout guide and lead section guidelines to ensure the section will still be inclusive of all essential details . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . july 2010 kidzui the internet for kids founded san diego california united states september 1 2006 2006 09 01 as kidzui inc. founder cliff boro thomas broadhead vidar vignisson headquarters 2448 historic decatur rd. suite 105 san diego california usa website kidzui.com kidzui was a web browser designed for children developed by kidzui inc. the kidzui browser used a zooming user interface paradigm to make browsing easier for children . 1 search results appeared as scaled down images of websites videos and pictures that children click on to zoom in and see content . children can also browse by category without typing search terms . the kidzui browser did not access the open internet . kidzui uses teachers and parents to screen content and maintains a database of approved urls . 2 the kidzui browser could only access urls in the approved database . children built avatars called zuis to represent themselves online . 3 4 they earned points for web browsing and used points to gain levels and buy clothes and accessories for their zuis . 5 children could share kidzui content with friends online . 6 to add a friend online children needed to know the friends zui name . there was no online directory of zui names so children needed to get their friends zui names offline in order to add them . friends also needed to be approved by parents before they become available in the browser . kidzui also tracked children s internet usage and sends reports to their parents on what their children looked at online . 7 kidzui began development on the product in the summer of 2006 . 8 after beta testing kidzui was offered to the general public on march 19 2008 . 8 9 10 the kidzui browser and basic reports for parents are free . kidzui makes revenue through a paid membership program . 11 membership gives kids additional features like more available clothing and accessories for zuis more background and themes and the ability to get to higher levels with points . membership gives parents more reporting capabilities to track their children s online activity and more ways to customize the kidzui browser for their children . kidzui was designed for children between the ages of 3 and 12 years old . kidzui had a focus on children s online safety but they also tried to expand the content available to children online . rather than solely using filters kidzui trained and enlisted parents and teachers to search out content that is appropriate for children even if it was not designed expressly for children . 8 12 websites that had been reviewed and approved by kidzui could carry a kidzui seal of approval that indicate the site s content is appropriate for children . 13 websites that carried the seal agree to abide by kidzui s content guidelines . kid zui was also a prize on the 3rd round on the nickelodeon game show brainsurge . in august 2014 leapfrog purchased kidzui . the terms of the deal were not disclosed . 14 contents 1 history and development 2 business model 3 content guidelines 4 browser features 5 references 6 external links history and development edit kidzui was started in 2006 when vidar vignisson was frustrated because he couldn t find a safe and easy way for his own children to use the internet . 15 vignisson joined with cliff boro and thomas broadhead to create kidzui . 16 vignisson was frustrated by the approach of existing technologies that were available at the time ; online filters helped keep out dangerous content but could only be used in conjunction with adult browsers which are hard for children to use . existing children s browsers were easier to use but had access to very small amounts of content . vignisson boro and broadhead set out to build an easy to use children s browser with access to a large and diverse set of online content and activities . 15 16 kidzui is a venture backed startup . investors include maveron emergence capital and first round capital . 17 18 prior to founding kidzui vignisson boro and broadhead had been partners on other internet startups including infogate which they sold to aol time warner in march 2003 . 19 20 kidzui began beta testing with children in 2006 . 15 kidzui was released to the general public on march 19 2008 8 9 10 to generally favorable reviews . 6 21 the original release of kidzui required a paid subscription . 9 kidzui experienced some early criticism for not offering a free version of the product . 22 the company released a free version on june 4 2008 . 11 the free version of the product offers the same features as the original subscription based product . kidzui introduced a membership program that same month . 11 the membership program unlocks additional features in the kids browser and comes with more advanced reporting features for parents . business model edit the basic version of kidzui with access to all content was free . 11 revenue came exclusively from paid memberships . 11 it is not clear what percentage of families used the free version versus paying for membership . 11 kidzui included advertisements to children in their browser mostly based on sponsored partnerships with underarmour mattel and comcast . content guidelines edit kidzui used filters to pre screen content . after screening by filters content was reviewed by paid teachers and parents using a set of content guidelines . 2 in 2007 kidzui hired deanne kells a former vice president and editor in chief from leapfrog to establish the content guidelines and a process for reviewing and approving content . 2 23 kells used childhood developmental principles to form a content screening protocol where content is first determined to be appropriate for children and then classified by age for developmental level and reading ability . browser features edit kidzui used a zooming user interface paradigm where search results are displayed visually at smaller scale . 1 children clicked on images to enlarge them . the visual interface made it easier for children to browse without advanced reading skills . kidzui also had category browsing that allowed children to explore the internet using categories based on popularity or similarity . kidzui had an auto search complete feature that returns results after only typing one or two letters . kidzui offered to complete search terms using the most popular searches by other children and it showed search results as children type . references edit a b kidzui offers safe surfing for kids british computer society . a b c taylor paul march 27 2008 . safer surfing for the kids financial times . parker dolores july 7 2008 . glubble and kidzui good kid browsers silly names downloadsquad . reeks anne april 14 2008 . kidzui finds good stuff for youngsters houston chronicle online . tiemann amy march 20 2008 . kidzui creates a new online environment for kids cnet . a b csm reviews kidzui march 20 2008 . common sense media . rubenking neil june 25 2008 . kidzui pc magazine . a b c d olsen stefanie march 18 2008 . kidzui vets web for kids cnet . a b c mossberg walter march 20 200 . kidzui s parent plan lets children explore in safe corner of web the wall street journal . a b hendrickson mark march 18 2008 . kidzui the kid safe browser techcrunch . a b c d e f hendrickson mark june 4 2008 kidzui persuaded by the power of free techcrunch . telaroli gina june 4 2008 . kidzui internet for kids and those young at heart takepart . press release from kidzui reuters . perez sarah 2014 08 04 . leapfrog buys kid s web browser maker kidzui . techcrunch . retrieved 2014 12 31 . a b c bell diane march 20 2008 . quest for kid safe surfing yields new web browser san diego union tribune . a b thomas dave august 8 2008 . a safe and fun solution bizsandiego . chris march 19th 2008 . online kids application kidzui launches safe search service venturebeat . kid browser kidzui wins funding february 22 208 alarm clock . himelstein linda july 14 2003 . dusting cobwebs off a web staple businessweek online . infogate formerly pointcast sold to aol marketingsherpa hopkins mark march 20 2008 . kidzui browser a youngster s perspective mashable . see comments in response to hendrickson mark march 18 2008 . kidzui the kid safe browser techcrunch . fudge tom march 3 2008 . san diego entrepreneur creates kid friendly site for safe web exploration kpbs radio interview with cliff boro and deanne kells . external links edit kidzui official site kidzui firefox add on cvt ventures video egg maveron emergence capital first round capital v t e web browsers comparison history list for unix timeline usage share features ad filtering augmented browsing bookmarks bookmarklet live bookmark smart bookmarks browser extension browser security browser synchronizer comparison cookies download manager favicon incremental search plug in privacy mode tabs universal edit button web standards acid tests cascading style sheets html html5 javascript mathml ocsp svg webgl xhtml related topics browserchoice.eu crl http https iloo internet suite man in the browser mobile web offline reader pac pwn2own rich internet application site specific browser spdy ssl tls websocket widget world wide web wpad xml desktop blink based chromium brave chrome dragon opera sleipnir slimjet srware iron uc browser vivaldi yandex.browser sputnik webkit based arora avant dooble epic flock fluid icab konqueror lunascape maxthon midori omniweb origyn web browser otter browser qtweb qupzilla rekonq safari shiira slimboat surf torch uzbl web webpositive xombrero trident based aol explorer avant deepnet explorer greenbrowser internet explorer lunascape maxthon mediabrowser menubox neoplanet netcaptor slimbrowser spacetime ultrabrowser webbie zac browser gecko based at & t pogo avant camino firefox conkeror gnu icecat icedragon pale moon swiftfox swiftweasel tenfourfox timberwolf tor browser waterfox xb browser galeon ghostzilla k meleon kazehakase kirix strata lotus symphony lunascape mozilla beonex communicator classilla netscape seamonkey text based elinks emacs w3 line mode browser links lynx w3m other abaco amaya arachne arena charon dillo eww gazelle hotjava ibm home page reader ibrowse kidzui microsoft edge mosaic mothra netpositive netsurf mobile blink based android browser chromium brave chrome opera mobile silk webkit based bolt dolphin browser firefox for ios maxthon mercury browser nokia browser for symbian rockmelt safari steel trident based maxthon gecko based firefox for android microb minimo presto based opera mini other blazer cm browser deepfish ibisbrowser internet explorer mobile iris browser konqueror embedded microsoft edge netfront nokia xpress skweezer skyfire teashark thunderhawk uc browser vision winwap television and video game console webkit based google tv nintendo 3ds internet browser nintendo ds & dsi browser netfront steam overlay wii u internet browser gecko based kylo presto based internet channel other msn tv software no longer in development shown in italics category commons internet portal software portal retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kidzui & oldid 686593088 categories web browsershidden categories wikipedia introduction cleanup from july 2010all pages needing cleanuparticles covered by wikiproject wikify from july 2010all articles covered by wikiproject wikify navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent 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