Editing Ceefax (section)

===Fully electronic version===
[[File:Ceefax test screenshot 1972.jpg|thumb|Early test data being received in 1972 – [[The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog|a pangram]] and numbers]]
The idea was later taken up again, this time in digital and on-screen form, under the new name of CEEFAX, meaning "see facts".<ref>{{cite book |title=Videodisc/teletext |date=1984 |publisher=Microform Review |page=380 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eUUQAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> The new system was announced in October 1972, and following test transmissions in 1972–74, the Ceefax system went live on 23 September 1974 with thirty pages of information. Created in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s by the Philips Lead Designer for VDUs John Adams, his design was given to the BBC so they could start transmission. The BBC were working on ways of providing televisual subtitles for deaf people, it was the first teletext system in the world. [[Sir James Redmond|James Redmond]], the BBC's Director of Engineering at the time, was a particular enthusiast. Other broadcasters soon took up the idea, including the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] (IBA), who had developed the incompatible [[ORACLE (teletext)|ORACLE]] teletext system, at around the same time. Before the Internet and the [[World Wide Web]] became popular, Ceefax pages were often the first location to report a breaking story or headline.

After technical negotiations, the two broadcasters settled in 1974 on a single standard, different from both Ceefax and ORACLE, which ultimately developed into [[World System Teletext]] (1976), and which remained in use for analogue broadcasts until 2012. The display format of 24 rows by 40 columns of characters was also adopted for the [[Prestel]] system.

The technology became the standard European teletext system and replaced other standards, including the [[Antiope (teletext)|Antiope]] system formerly used in France.

Graham Clayton was its news executive and began working for Ceefax in 1978.<ref name="touches">{{cite news |title=Putting the final touches to SBCTEXT |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19830523-1.2.125.6.2 |access-date=13 December 2023 |work=The Straits Times |date=23 May 1983}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[The Straits Times]]'', he said that viewers got instant results for the recent snooker championships through its computers, rather than Oracle which had its reporter reading the scores through the telephone.<ref name="touches"></ref>

In 1983, Ceefax started to broadcast computer programs, known as [[telesoftware]], for the [[BBC Micro]] (a home computer available in the United Kingdom). The telesoftware broadcasts stopped in 1989. A similar idea was the French C Plus Direct satellite channel which used different, higher speed technology to broadcast PC software.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

The basic technology of Ceefax remained compatible with the 1976 unified rollout; system elaborations in later years were made such that earlier receivers were still able to do a basic decode of pages, but would simply ignore enhanced information rather than showing corrupted data.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}