Digital Signage/Slides

[MattDPenn]

Greetings all,

Our front office wants to have some digital signage playing on a small TV. I know Chrome Sign Builder is being depreciated in Jan 2025 so for the moment I'm not looking at that.

The first thing I tried was publishing a Google Slide to the web and setting it as a kiosk app, problem with that is it seems to want a Google Sign in whether or not the Slide is set to everyone or not. Next thing I tried was sort of the same thing via managed guest session and setting it as the default homepage/startup page but while it auto plays it doesn't appear to auto maximize.

My preference would be for the staff to just boot it up and it automatically goes to a default Slide/rotating series of images. Also trying to not have to pay for the service. That said we are eyeballing some paid/freeish options like Yodeck if we must or if we expand to beyond just the one TV.

Really hoping Google provides an alternative to Sign Builder soon.

[Bill_Gibson]

We had found a digital signage SKU that we thought might indicate that Chrome Sign Builder would live on.

This article might be of interest (published 2022)

This article lists Google digital signage partners.

fwiw, this feature request addresses the lack of communication surrounding Chrome Sign Builder and other kiosk apps.

[npl]

I had the same issue and while old chrome devices work well I didn't have any at the time and I use a Raspberry PI, but it will work on windows, linux etc.

The main part of the script opens a chrome browser  with the following flags 
'--kiosk', '--disable-infobars', '--start-fullscreen',
' https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/{path to published slide}/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=5000'

The flags may be slightly different for windows but should be ok. You need to publish the slide with global access and you may need to sign in the first time - It is a while since I set it up.

[bowarmbold128]

Its not free but RISE Vision has a nice low cost solution that you can use on the same hardware you were using for Chrome SignBuilder

[YERKO]

Que genial que existan opciones para avisadores, kiosko o señalizador digital, en nuestro colegio solo teniamos un televisor antiguo, como lo resolví:

Adquirimos a bajo costo un dispositivo (fisico) para plataformas de streaming (similar a ChromeCast, que en nuestro país tiene un costo mas elevado) procurando que tubiera instalado YouTube, desde un equipo básico con i3 instalé el programa de libre uso para transmisiones (el de una vocal y dos consonantes) y que funciona al 100% con la compatibildiad de transmisión en vivo para Youtube.
cree una cuenta para dedicarla exclusivamente para la transmisión de video con la cual transmito y recibo en el televisor. La transmisión es privada y sin sonido. Y listo

Version artesanal para transmitir avisos, actividades y videos para la comunidad educativa mientras esperan la salida de estudiantes o por los mismos alumnos en el recreo.

[don_b_nashville]

Yerko makes a great point. The common alerting protocol, CAP, https://www.fema.gov/fact-sheet/common-alerting-protocol-cap-implementation will allow emergency alerts to "take over" screens to provide directions to people in the building in the event of an emergency. Rise Vision offers a way to implement this - see https://www.risevision.com/template-details/cap-alert-v2 (but you will need to find a source for the alerts - we have yet to implement this as we're hoping to get some integration with our Raptor Emergency Management system to make the connection and haven't been able to work this out yet.

I have no relationship with Rise Vision or Raptor other than being a happy customer. 

[MissEduTech]

We have been using AirTame  which has been working really well. Not free, but small hardware to install to the tv that will play published Google Slides. Simply grab the published link and then the slides will run on the tv display. It is also super easy to have any staff with access to the slideshow update it and then updates will run immediately. A great solution for us! 

[don_b_nashville]

Lenovo has a new matchbox sized (well, almost) Chromebox if you just need one sign for around $250. Configure it in kiosk mode to loop a Slides deck, connect power and cables and there you go.

We've gotten really good results from Rise Vision, risevision.com, a paid, hosted service that offers their own sets of templates as well as an easy way to upload a Slides deck. Just share the doc in Slides, paste the URL in the field in the Rise Vision config page and you're up and going. Site license is affordable for us; budget $1k for the service, add your own media player and screen. I've been recycling some old Acer Chromeboxes past their expiration dates on the theory that this is a minimal risk unless Rise Vision is somehow intercepted by bad guys.  You can use the 3m Scotch brand double-sided tape to stick it on the back of a panel or TV with an HDMI input, put it in Kiosk mode, and it will run and on restart reboot right into the player. Works better on Chromebooks/boxes than on Windows machines IMHO. There are some free services that add in advertising, so we like having full control with Rise Vision and consider it great value for money. You can also create a "sub-company" and assign a smaller group of displays to a sub-team, so if you have a good way to moderate, you can give the keys to the kids without too much worry, unless you have a David Lightman at your school.  

[MattDPenn]

I tried running a chromebook in kiosk mode but the Slide (as a kiosk app) still wanted a login despite being set as public. That said I did hear from somewhere you only need to long in once supposedly, haven't tested that just yet.

[Kim_Nilsson]

It needs to be published to web to not require login. Sharing anyone with link isn't enough.

[MattDPenn]

I've done that and it was still requiring it on chrome devices in kiosk mode. I'm assuming it may have worked previously but right now instead of opening the published Slide it goes to the logged in account's Slide drive.

[don_b_nashville]

Go ahead and login. Here's why. Until the machine sends the username/password to the server, it won't know who the machine is or what it wants. Might seem like there should be a negotiation behind the scenes, but if there is, it's not documented anywhere I know of.

You may still not get the result you want, and if that's the case, it's not at all obvious where to go next to troubleshoot. What I do is open the Admin console, and follow the path: 

Devices/Chrome/Apps and extensions, and you'll see something like this: 

 Our two kiosk apps are a Google Form we use for morning care check-in so we know who's in the building and when they arrived, and the Rise Vision sign player app.  I haven't tried to kiosk a Slides presentation, so I think you want a shortcut to the published URL that's created when you share the Slides deck, and for that you may need to specify the URL (the way our Google Forms URL is specified here.) I don't think you're too far away from getting this going. 

Don

[MattDPenn]

That's where I've been trying to set the auto-launch from. Basically I'm trying to set this so all the staff have to do is boot it up and it'll go on its own, no need to hit the slideshow button or anything. Ideally while full screened for the sake of looks. Was looking to use (damaged?) chromebooks we already have ideally.

Anyway I logged in with my test account and despite having the "published to web" URL as the auto launch it's just taking the kiosk to the account's Slides splash page instead of the one I set as public. So essentially it just launches Slides and not the full url which is odd as in my research supposedly this has worked previously. I will note that further restarts I don't have to put the login in anymore until the URL is changed.

In using Managed Guest Session set to auto launch a URL I've had partial success. In doing some manipulation of the url (why is this so poorly documented?) I can get the Slide deck to auto play while partially full screened but I can't seem to get it to completely full screen. Namely by replacing /edit with /present?start=true&loop=true&delayms=5000 . Supposedly chrome=false is should full screen it but I'm not sure if it's an actual full screen or just full within the chrome window.

[don_b_nashville]

Ok, this is nit-picky, but check the transitions and animations - make sure that the presentation isn't stalling because it's set to "on click" rather than "after previous" . This would keep it from starting. 

What do you get when you open the published URL on another device?

[MattDPenn]

The presentation isn't stalling. If I try the published URL as a kiosk app then it just opens the Slides view in the Google Drive which has nothing in it as that test account has no Slide decks, it doesn't open the actual Slide deck (made/published/shared in my normal account) at all. If I open it in a normal webpage/managed guest session it will auto play/partially full screen but won't fully full screen just like with my modified shared URL. It's funny that there seems to be settings for managing full screen mode in Managed Guest Sessions but no option to force it.

[don_b_nashville]

I haven't done a lot with managed guest sessions. I'm looking at the help center and it looks to be device-centric, while the approach I'm taking with "utility" logins is user-centric. Maybe this accounts for some of the differences. Using a utility kiosk user, with publish-to-web access setting up the media player session, I've found that by using no Slides transitions in the creation of the presentation and only using the timing options available in "publish to web" with the "anyone with the link" sharing set up, our presentations are getting handed off to Rise Vision, which then manages the authentication outside of the Google ecosystem so that only authorized screens are able to view the link, we get the slide timings we want and the looping we need for continuous play. Managing full screen mode is done in the Rise Vision set up, so I can't be of much help on that. In working out the kinks I found myself having to powerwash the CBs after too many failures to be sure I had a blank slate to start from. I kept the admin console kiosk mode settings largely intact, just nibbling around the edges with them. 

Not sure I can finish this today, but I will try to set up a managed guest mode approach and see what results I get on this end. I know that there are resources out there for developers that have a lot more documentation than what's available in the general Google help center, but I don't have the coding skills to make much use of them.  

[don_b_nashville]

Here's a report on my experience. Let me start by saying that I think I added some confusion to the discussion as I was relating my experience with Kiosk mode while MattDPenn was working in managed guest mode. So, for example, anything I said about user properties and configurations was beside the point, as these don't appear to come into play at all given that the Guest account is the credential in use. I should have been working in the Devices tree instead of the Users tree in the console. 

I grabbed a device, searched for its SN in the larger pool of comparable devices, and moved it into a new OU, configured according to https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/3017014?hl=en#zippy=%2Cstep-configure-your-chromeos-devic... . Then I set up the guest session according to https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/3273084?sjid=11250743825655956933-NC#zippy=%2Coption-scho... 

Result: I can get everything but fullscreen mode. If there is a flag or argument or ampersand thinggy that can be added after the loop and slide change in xx ms values, I haven't been able to find it. 

Of the two links above, the first one was useful in terms of distinguishing kiosk from guest user session and getting things configured along the Devices tree.  The branch \\Devices\Chrome\Devices\ lands you in a dead end that looks like it's just a list. But it's only by back-tracking at that point by returning to \\Devices\Chrome\Settings where all the important stuff resides in the very long list of options (startup options, content in particular) where things really come together. I think this is my favorite Admin Console labyrynth so far. You can just picture the developer meetings and arguments over whether the long list of settings should be subheads under \Settings on the left or whether that would violate the current design standard for number of allowable subheads.

That second link regarding setting up assessments using managed guest sessions looks to be particularly useful. Beyond conforming to testing vendors restrictions, it may offer a way for schools to secure sessions against student use of generative AI tools when teachers want to restrict access for live and in person assessment sessions. I learned something working this out - thanks. I just wish I could have found the proper syntax for
?fullscreen=true.  For a sign, it would be a lot cleaner if the top menu bar can be made to go away.

[don_b_nashville]

Oh, yeah. Funny thing - this morning everyone walked into the digital sign I was using to lab up the managed guest session. Instead of whatever their normal start-up tabs were, they got the digital panel show. And if they closed and re-opened, it came right back up at them.

Moral of the story:  if you can't fully isolate your test environment from your production environment, tread lightly. Make sure to double-check the OU if you're working on a new config in multiple work sessions. If you have to put out fires before you can come back, might be good to log out of the Admin Console. Especially in a lead-up to a high-stakes test administration. In the corporate world it was highly restrictive change control (don't touch anything) in the lead-up to publishing quarterly financial reports.

Lesson learned - you can use your top level OU to intrusively push out messaging to Chrome users in your domain. You may find some creative uses for this. Let us know in the comments!

[Kim_Nilsson]

😂👍

[Kim_Nilsson]

Don't forget to give Google feedback on your experiences!

since Chrome sign builder still works, and works well, it's silly to not be able to use any built-in alternative to accomplish the same thing. 

I DO NOT want to have to buy a third-party service to be able to present content to a screen!

[don_b_nashville]

Thanks, Kim. l still have it installed, but the product we have meets our needs well, and it's very good value for our money. 

[talouis]

In our high school building they have the budget to afford the airtame devices and they seem to work well - we don't have the budget here in our elementary building so we took the cheapest route possible. We had old Jtouch screens that we were going to recycle (still worked) and I got a chromecast, plugged it in, and then configured the screensaver to pull from a google photos album. So, I simply just make my own "slides" in slides or canva and export them as photos and add them to my photos library. Then I simply pick and choose the images I want in there. It takes about a minute for a new photo to be displayed on the chromecast so this isn't like something you would want for an emergency, but for a display it does work pretty well. 
FYI - here is the album I am using - you can see the images in there and I simply add or delete them every couple of days!😁

[don_b_nashville]

I got a trial Airtame when they were first released. I was greatly disappointed when on going to upgrade the firmware I discovered I had to pay for the privilege. So it's sitting in my archive box next to the 5.25 floppy drive. 

[ljalg]

At some point I looked into purchased digital display systems but went away from that because the need at the district was not clearly defined and I thought I'd start out small (and cheap) until a more elaborate need was developed. I had a few Raspberry pi's sitting around and found an open source distribution (https://github.com/jareware/chilipie-kiosk ) which opens a webpage on startup and uses cron to:
- refresh the webpage every hour
- put the device to sleep at the end of the day
- wake the device up in the morning
With this and a "public to the world" (read only of course) Google Slideshow with the autorun URL in the system, I have 2 official slideshows (in lobbies) and 1 unofficial (in someone's office) running. It has been easy for staff to update (Google Slideshow) and just our level of complexity as I "manage" the devices. it took a bit of tweaking to get it going, but then I just replicate the SD card for the next one.