User guide

Everything you need to run your screens

This guide walks you from a new account to a live screen. If you only read one section, make it Activate a screen — that's the part that happens on the TV.

Getting started

d15play has two sides: the dashboard, where you build content from any computer or phone, and the screen, which is any TV or display showing your playlist. You never install anything on the TV — it just opens a web page.

1. Sign in at your d15play address. If you don't have an account, ask your administrator to create one.
2. You'll land on your dashboard. Create a workspace to hold your screens and playlists.
3. Build a playlist, then activate a screen with its code. The rest of this guide covers each step.

Workspaces

A workspace is a container for one site, brand or client. Each keeps its own playlists and screens separate, so a chain of takeaways or a group of schools can manage each location on its own.

• Create a workspace from the dashboard, give it a name (for example High Street Branch), and open it.
• Inside a workspace you'll find its playlists, screens and schedules.
• You can have as many workspaces as you need.

Playlists

A playlist is the running order of what a screen shows. It loops continuously — when the last slide finishes, it starts again from the top, and it keeps looping until you change it.

1. Open a workspace and choose Playlists → Create playlist. Give it a clear name, like Lunch menu or Reception loop.
2. Open the playlist and add slides (next section).
3. Drag slides to reorder them. Each slide has its own display time.

Adding slides

Open a playlist and choose Add slide, then pick a type. Every slide has a display duration — how long it stays on screen before the next one — between 5 and 300 seconds.

Image

Upload a JPG, PNG or GIF. It's resized automatically for the screen. Best results come from landscape images around 1920×1080.

Video

Upload an MP4 or WebM file (up to 200 MB). Video plays full-screen, muted, and loops for the slide's duration. Turn on Play with sound only if the screen has speakers. You can replace the video later from the slide's edit page without rebuilding the slide.

Web content

Show a live web page by pasting its address. Use this for dashboards or pages you already run elsewhere.

HTML

Write your own slide — headings, prices, notices — using standard HTML. Scripts are stripped for safety, so this is for layout and text rather than interactive widgets.

PDF

Upload a PDF and each page becomes its own slide image. Handy for menus and brochures you already have as a document.

YouTube

Paste a YouTube link to play the video on screen. Choose whether sound is on.

Text

Type a message and style it — font, size, colour, background and alignment. Good for opening hours, wait times and short announcements.

News & RSS feeds

An RSS slide shows live headlines that refresh on their own. Pick a feed from the built-in list — BBC, Sky, the Guardian, plus business & markets, technology and health sources — or paste any feed address.

• Headlines scale to fit the screen automatically: short headlines fill the space, long ones shrink so they stay readable.
• Turn on Show description to include each story's summary, and Show date to show when it was published.
• Set the background and text colours to match your brand.

Templates

Templates combine an image with moving content for a more finished look:

• Split screen — a main image on one side with a set of images sliding through on the other.
• News ticker — a full image with your own scrolling text along the bottom. You can change the image, the ticker text, its speed, direction and colours whenever you like.

Activate a screen

This is the only step that happens in the room, and it takes under a minute.

1. In a workspace, choose Screens → Add screen. Give it a name and location (for example Front counter). You'll get a six-digit activation code.
2. On the TV or display, open a browser and go to your d15play address followed by /display/activate.
3. Type the six-digit code and confirm. The screen starts playing its playlist and stays on, updating itself whenever you change the content.

Scheduling

By default a screen plays the workspace's default playlist. Schedules let a screen switch playlists by time of day and day of week — without anyone touching the TV.

1. Open Schedules in a workspace and create a schedule for a screen.
2. Choose the playlist, a start and end time, and the days it applies.
3. The screen checks for changes automatically and swaps playlists when a schedule begins or ends.

Example: run Lunch menu from 11:00–15:00 and Evening offers from 17:00–21:00 on the same screen.

Credits

Each active screen uses credits. You can see your balance and history from your account. When a screen is activated it draws a credit; deleting a screen returns it. If you're running low, contact your administrator to top up.

Troubleshooting

The screen shows "no content"

The screen is activated but its playlist is empty or missing. Add slides to the playlist, or set a default playlist for the workspace.

An image or video won't appear

Check the file uploaded fully and is a supported type (JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4 or WebM). Very large files can take a moment to process after upload.

The activation code doesn't work

Codes are six digits and case-independent. Make sure you're on the /display/activate page of your own d15play address, and that the screen still exists in the dashboard. Generate a new code if needed.

A news feed shows an error

The source may be temporarily unreachable, or the address isn't a valid feed. Try a feed from the built-in list, or check the address in a browser first.

Content looks out of date on the screen

Screens refresh on their own, but a display that's been left on for a long time can be nudged by reloading the page on the TV.