Project SOLARIBOARD : Realtime airport-like message board
I wanted to build a simple message board that looks like an airport display (called split-flap or solariboard). A little 2-day sprint with @pilooz and we’ve got a nice working prototype!
Use case(s)
The best use-case we had in mind for this project is during an event. If you run a creative event like a hackathon, you can set up a few screens around the space and use them to send messages to the teams of participants (lunch times, mentor arrival, etc.).
But it can also make sense in a collaborative space. You could have a few screens around the space that point to the same web page and deliver info (next meetups, lunch together, call for projects, etc.).
And of course, you could just use it in your own home. If you have some kind of smart TV, it probably has a simple browser that you can point to your own url.
Just remember that at the moment, there is no security for posting messages, so if you give anyone the link to the message page, they can post anything…
So what’s next?
- Check the result on http://solariboard.glitch.me
- Check the messages interface on http://solariboard.glitch.me/message
- Check the code on https://glitch.com/edit/#!/solariboard
Glitch makes it really easy to make a duplicate project: just hit the ‘remix’ button and you’re good to go.
Customization
You can very easily modify:
- the number of rows and lines
- the ‘zoom’ (overall size of the screen)
- the time (in ms) messages are shown
- the info message that appears at the bottom of the screen
- the default message when there are no messages
- the character list (but that happens with a .psd file). At the moment, they’re oriented towards French…
- the speed of the character changes
- the way relative time is shown on the messages
You don’t even need to know how to code. All these are commented in the code
Technically
The front-screen is based on the amazing project Solariboard (from 2011!) by Carlmw on Github. It is built with Three.js and uses 3D to make the flipping so realistic. We added a simple database, a contribution interface (based on Bootstrap), a text-wrapping system, extended the character list and added sound…
Going forward
There are a few things that could make the projet better if you want to contribute:
- Sound that better fits the flipping (at the moment, the end is a bit sharp)
- Button to exit fullscreen
- Some kind of security for the /message page (you probably don’t want to have to deal with actual log in / password stuff)
- Better moderating rights (who can add/erase messages). Maybe that can be solved by just having two separate pages: /message to send messages and /moderate to moderate…
- Give messages a duration before which they expire (rather than have to do it by hand)
- Fetch internet info (weather, rss, Twitter, etc.). But that means having to upgrade quite a bit the admin panel…
- Go more ‘real time’ with a socket so that all instances of the /message are the same and updated in real-time
And I’m sure you have some ideas that we haven’t thought about… Let us know if you use it, modify it and how!
