Top Features

Define visibility of content based on a player

The scheduling assigns the content (playlists or touch menus) to the player screens. When a network is operated with multiple players, there is often a requirement that not all players should show the same content, however certain parts of the content should be identical for all players. Creating an individual playlist or touch menu for each player would mean a lot of administrative effort, especially if only small parts of the content to be displayed should differ depending on the player.

By using the Visibility feature for touch menu buttons (or playlist pages), simple, player-specific content mapping can be achieved:

The basic idea is that only one touch menu or playlist is created, which is used for all players. This means that all players initially display the same content. If an additional menu button is to be displayed in a touch menu on one of the players, but not on all other players, this button is first added to the touch menu and then in the "Visibility" tab in the button's settings dialog you can specify that this button should only be displayed on certain players. Alternatively, you can specify that the button should not be displayed on certain players.

Custom ticker texts from TXT file

You can either enter the ticker's headlines as text line by line, or specify a path/URL of an RSS feed or a plain text (.txt) file (either on a web server (via HTTP) or on a file server (UNC file path)). If you provide an RSS or plain text file as a source, you can also adjust the "feed refresh interval" in minutes as needed. After the specified time has elapsed, the feed or text file will be polled again.

Access protection for content

Playlist pages, content within a touch menu button, and entire touch menu buttons can be provided with access protection. When access protection is enabled, the content is not displayed as usual, but the user is asked to first authenticate with a password. Either a static password can be stored or a text file that contains one or more passwords that allow access to the content.

Keyboard shortcuts in playlists

FrontFace offers the possibility to access pages of a playlist or menu buttons of a touch menu via keyboard shortcuts. This feature can be used, for example, to actively interact with a presentation and display a specific page or content. Keyboard shortcuts can also be used to set up a touch menu so that it can be navigated using the keyboard without using the touch screen or mouse.

Multi-language support for touch menus

FrontFace also supports multi-language touch menus. In the settings dialog you can set the (master) language of a touch menu. If you click on the "Add another language" icon in edit mode, you can add further languages. When creating a new language, you can choose to create an empty touch menu or a copy of the master language touch menu, which can then be used for direct translation. Basically, the different language versions of a touch menu can have completely different structures (so there doesn't have to be a complete 1:1 translation!)

Clock, world clock and countdown timer

FrontFace can display the current time as a digital or analog clock. With a custom hour offset (+/-), you can create a world clock that displays the time in any location.

The clock can also be used for a countdown or as an egg timer. An optional progress bar shows the remaining time.

Placeholder texts

Normally, text (e.g. in the Text media object or the paths and URLs in other media objects) is entered statically in the FrontFace Assistant. However, there may be situations where you want to use placeholders that are dynamically filled with text on certain occasions. FrontFace supports the use of placeholders for this purpose. Placeholders can be filled or replaced either during the publishing process or when starting a playlist from a timer or event source.

In the text editor of the Text media object, there is a button that allows you to insert placeholders using this syntax or to select from previously defined placeholders. Other places where merge fields can be used include paths and URLs of media objects such as images, videos, websites, etc., or the text box of the Ticker media object. Wildcards can also be used in conjunction with static files or when including files as links.

Overlay layouts

Page layouts and screen layouts divide the available screen space into areas called "containers". These containers can be filled with media objects such as images, videos, PDFs, Web pages, and so on. Containers can also overlap and be layered in a defined order. This allows you to create staggered or overlapping screen content.

Click2Zoom

Click2Zoom is a very useful feature for applications such as interactive bulletin boards that present relatively small media objects that a user may want to view at a larger scale for better readability. By enabling Click2Zoom on a media object, the user can click or tap the object to view it in full screen mode. The "Close" button allows the user to return to the previous content. Browsing multi-page media objects such as PDF or Print2Screen documents is also supported in full screen mode.

Alternatively, you can specify a "cover image", a graphic that is displayed instead of the media object. When clicked, the actual media object is displayed in full-screen mode.

Print and share

Many media objects displayed in a touch menu also support optional printing or sharing (e.g., via email). This allows users to take the content displayed on the device with them (physically on paper or electronically via email).

Background music

You can specify background music for playlists, playlist pages, and touch menus. Supported formats are MP3, WAV, or audio streams (MP3, M3U, ASX, etc.).

Embedding playlists into other playlists

It is possible to embed a playlist as a media object into a page of another playlist. This allows you to create more complex content.

On-screen keyboard (OSK)

FrontFace includes a virtual keyboard component (on-screen keyboard) that can be used to enter text on player systems that do not have a physical keyboard but a touch screen.

Integration of external applications

The External Application media object allows you to integrate external Windows applications (EXE files) into your playlists and touch menus, such as VLC, Microsoft Teams, VoIP dialer, or Excel.

YouTube video integration

Since FrontFace has a built-in web browser that also supports HTML5, you can easily integrate YouTube videos into your playlists.

Website scripting

Web pages displayed in FrontFace can be manipulated using JavaScript after loading. For example, you can adjust the way the page is displayed, automatically "click away" cookie banners, or automatically fill in credentials for password-protected pages.

Actions

Events can be associated with specific actions, such as showing a playlist page or clicking a button. This means that user interfaces for complex applications can be implemented without any programming knowledge.

Integrate live content (files).

You can use the hot folder feature or the file link feature to integrate "live" content into your playlists and menus, i.e. content that is not transferred to the player as part of the publishing process. To update the content on a player, it is not necessary to open, edit, and publish the project in FrontFace Assistant. Instead, simply update the source file on the original location (network drive or web server) and FrontFace will automatically display the new version.

Manage files with the Media Library

With FrontFace's Media Library you can easily manage your media such as images, videos, PDFs, XPS files and audio files throughout the entire project. In the overview you can see which media files are used in your project and which are not. For example, you can easily keep media files in the project that you want to use later or that you want to use in rotation/exchange with others. Replacing media files or changing file names is also easy because the file is automatically changed or replaced at all points in your project.

Create custom layouts

In addition to the numerous layouts that come with FrontFace, you can also create your own custom layouts using the visual layout editor or modify existing layouts to suit your individual needs. You can create layouts that are designed for a specific resolution or layouts that dynamically (responsively) adjust to the screen resolution.

Using FrontFace on a workstation PC to display only on the 2nd screen

Typically, the FrontFace Player App runs on a dedicated PC which is referred to as "player". In some cases, it may be desirable to run the Player App on a PC that is also used for other purposes. A typical use case is a desktop PC in a reception area with a second screen attached to display information to visitors or customers.