A NICE TOUCH: I mentioned liking the new Simpsons Third Season DVD earlier — but here’s something I like about it that’s relevant to all sorts of other things: the DVD menu design.

The temptation in setting up DVDs is to create fancy, creative menus. (And it’s a temptation I’m aware of now that I can author ’em myself). And those are cool and impressive for about 30 seconds after you open the DVD, after which they’re usually a pain.

The new Simpsons’ release has a selection that basically lets you play each disc from beginning to end, like a video tape, without having to deal with menus. That’s a great idea, and all DVDs should have that option, easy to implement and up front. Or maybe all DVD players should have it.