1. Yes, create your own buttons.

2. This is a user interface contest - so what's important is graphical design, layout and overall operation. It doesn't have to be functional in the sense that it actually needs to control real equipment, but it ought to LOOK like it should.

For example, if I click a "Watch DVD Movie" button on the home page I might expect to see a macro transmit (which may entail a "please wait" type of screen) and then I would expect the remote to take me to a page with various DVD-related commands on it. But rather than using actual IR codes you can just use placeholder "delays".