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WEBCHAT SETUP
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What is webchat?
Webchat is the main form of communication in Text2screen, it allows anyone with an internet connection to easily send messages to the admin, these people can still be blocked and censored, and there is also an option to force the users to log in before the can send messages.
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How to set up webchat input:
When on the controller page, click on the settings icon in the top right. The settings window will appear, you can now click on 'Inputs' in the left side of the settings window. Now that you have selected inputs, you can click on 'New Input' in the bottom right. The new input popup will appear, this popup contains the input type selector and the input name field. Select 'WebChat' for the input type and type a name for the input into 'Input name' and then click 'Confirm'. A new input will be created and will be called 'WebChat Input (name)'.
Note: You may need to refresh the page for the controller page to start recieving messages. The first item in the webchat input will be the 'WebChat link', this is the link that your customers will have to access to send you messages. The second item is the 'Welcome Message', this is a message that is displayed as an initial incoming message to the customer. The 'Require login' switch enables or disables the login requirement, the login requirement enforces that a person is using the same account to send all their messages. The 'Welcome Message' switch enables or disables the welcome message specified in the 'Welcome Message' text field.
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How does webchat work?
When a customer opens your webchat link (app.text2screen.com/webchat/to=xxxxxx) for the first time, they will be asked to enter a name, this name has to be unique and is filtered to not allow swear words or long numbers, once they have entered a name that is not in use, they will then be shown the webchat messages area, this is where they see your specified welcome message and can send you messages, they can only see messages they have sent themselves. If require login is turned on or off after some people have entered their names, they will be prompted again as their unique ids will have changed. If a someone has not opened webchat for 90 days, their nickname will be freed as it has not been used for 90 days and someone else can claim it.
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PUSHBULLET SETUP
For customers to use SMS or WhatsApp to message the screen, you will need to install the Pushbullet app on your message receiving device. At present, this is the only way you can receive these messages, although we are working on alternative solutions. Unfortunately Pushbullet does not currently work with iOS (Apple products) due to a licensing issue, so your receiving device will have to be Android or Windows based. The customer device can be anything with internet or cellular network access.​​​​​​​​​​
The Pushbullet app should be downloaded from their official website only. On their download page there are different options for download for either Android or Windows devices. There are also Chrome and Firefox extensions available, but we do not recommend these options unless you have advanced IT knowledge.
Download your version of Pushbullet here: https://www.pushbullet.com/apps
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Once downloaded, install the app according the the directions given in your device.
After you have confirmed Pushbullet is working correctly with your device you can go back to the Pushbullet website to create your personal Access Token. This can be found by navigating to Settings then Access Tokens on the Pushbullet webapp. It is this token which allows Text2screen access to the messages sent to your receiving device.
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​Once this is done, go to your controller page and click on the settings icon at the top right of the screen.
Click on the Inputs Tab to add Pushbullet functionality to Text2screen.
Pushbullet is now setup, all you need to do is refresh the page. Once you do this you will see a green pop-up notification in the bottom left corner of the controller page confirming everything is connected ready to receive messages!
OUTPUT SCREEN SETUP
The output of Text2screen is a web page, this means that any device with a web browser can display the output screen. This also means that any software that has a built in browser and software that can grab other browser windows are compatible. The recommended way of opening the output screen is in Chrome.​​
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The link to your output screen is available in the Outputs page in the settings window. This link can be clicked, which will open a new browser tab with your output screen on it, the link can then be copied for use on other devices.
Note: Only one device can use the output page at a time, otherwise the messages will be unpredictably split between the two.
SETTINGS WINDOW
This section details all of the custom settings you can play with from within the pop up window in the controller page. Essential settings come with the STANDARD plan, with more advanced customisation comes with the upgrade to ADVANCED plan.
These settings are subject to change as we add new features!
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GENERAL SETTINGS TAB
This tab shows options for the INPUT and OUTPUT settings for the active channels.
Once you have set up your chosen INPUT channels you can decide which features you want to enable. If you are using WebChat you may wish to require a user to login, to provide an additional level of accountability. Users can login using Google, Facebook, or their own verified email address.
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When users send a message from any enabled source it is shown on the controller page for approval (or not). You may wish to automatically send messages to the output page if you are unable to manually approve messages continuously. Caution is advised with this option! It is best used in alongside the AUTO BLOCK option for peace of mind. It is also advisable to tailor the censored words list to your requirements beforehand.
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​You also have the choice as administrator to send your messages immediately to the output screen once you press the send button at the bottom of the screen. They will not appear in the preview area for you to change the formatting or order of display, but enables a faster interaction.
MESSAGE STYLING TAB
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This contains options for setting defaults for the messages format on the display screen. Options include font, size, weight and color. You can also alternate line colors to aid readability.
Please note: These are default settings applied to all messages. You can, however, format messages individually if required (from message icon on main controller page or the SAVED MESSAGES tab).
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Select which FONT to use from the drop-down menu, then chose whether you want BOLD and/or ITALICS. The size can be changed by pressing the smaller or greater arrow buttons either side of the px size display.
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​Alternating the line colors can greatly enhance the readablilty of messages, especially viewed from a distance. It is not always convenient to increase the size of the font as this minimises the amount of messages shown at one time on the screen. Click on the color square to change the set color.
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If you switch off ALTERNATING LINE COLORS then Color line 2 will be cloned from Color line 1.
The bottom half of the pane shows a preview of your chosen settings.
SAVED MESSAGES TAB
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This is where you can add preset messages so they can be deployed with minimum fuss. Each preset message can be sent directly to the screen, custom styled or binned... as required!
You can create and save custom messages for easy or repeated recall when required. There are two ways to create a message, the first is from this tab. Click the New message button and type in your message, that's it!
Once your message is created you can SEND it, FORMAT it, or DELETE it using the icons in the box. These messages will persist until you delete them.
When you press the paintbrush icon a formatting pop-up appears. This is very similar to the default message styling tab, but includes an UNDERLINE option for really important messages!
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​Pressing the Reset Styling button removes all the individual styling for this message, and it uses the default message styling instead.
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Please note: All saved messages can be accessed directly from the input bar at the bottom of the controller page as well!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
CENSORSHIP TAB
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From here you can control and censor many aspects of messages submitted by users. Depending on the type of venue and the ages of the viewer of the screens, you can tailor the language and tone of the messages.
At the heart of the censorship feature is the censored words list. You can easily add or remove words from the list by typing them into the box and choosing either the ADD or DELETE buttons.
Clicking the View list button shows the current censored words list as a pop-up.
By default any words in this list are displayed as an asterisks string of the same length, when censorship is activated. You can also edit the list directly from here. The textbox on the right hand side shows the substituted characters for the censored word, which can be edited.
e.g. You add the word 'Turquoise' to the list from the censorship page. Click View list button and navigate to 'Turquoise'. It will be set to substitute the word to '*********'. You can change this substitution to 'Blue'.
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Text2screen can also censor other interactions not language specific:
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Removing @ submissions stops users advertising their own (or other's) private email contact details.
Removing http:// etc. stops users advertising links to their own (or other's) online sites and private accounts.
Removing numbers longer than <number_length> stops users from advertising their own (or other's) private phone numbers. By allowing numbers up to 3 or 4, birthdays and anniversaries etc can be shared.
Requiring spaces between censored words can limit the amount of false positives such as 'classy', but conversely can also be circumvented. 's w e a r w o r d' for instance...
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Please note: We are constantly upgrading censorship facilities, and welcome all feature suggestions.
BLOCKED CONTACTS TAB
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You can enable a blocklist, and manage whether users are temporarily or permanently blocked. You can also send users an automated text notification when they have been blocked.
BLOCK SETTINGS allows you to send SMS or WebChat notifications when the user has been blocked. Each block type has a text box to edit a custom message relavent to your venue/usage.
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The BLOCK LIST shows the users which are currently banned. If their number (or email/ID if using WebChat) is displayed in yellow its a TEMPORARY ban, Red indicates a PERMANENT ban.
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The colored squares to the right of the number have different actions when pressed.
YELLOW button - changes user status to TEMPORARY ban
RED button - changes user status to PERMANENT ban
GREEN button - changes user status to UNBLOCKED, and removes number from list
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Clicking the ellipsis (three dots) to the right of the status buttons shows a pop-up of further info about user.
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INPUTS TAB
From here you can setup your input channels; these determine where you get your messages from. At present Text2screen can utilise two types of inputs, Pushbullet and WebChat (more are being developed). You can also have more than one of each type, so you could have two separate WebChat inputs, for instance.
On first use this tab will only display a New input button. Clicking this will show a pop-up asking you to confirm the type of input i.e. WebChat or Pushbullet. Then you need to give the input a descriptive name of your choice, and click confirm.
If you are setting up a WebChat input you will see a box with the input type, AdminName and a link to the Webchat page for your customers to send messages from. You can delete this input at any time by clicking on the close icon. This will automatically make the WebChat page unavailable to your customers and is not reversible, so use with caution! Please see the WebChat Setup section for more details.
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If you are setting up a Pushbullet input, you will see a box with the input type, AdminName and a text box to input your Pushbullet access token. You can delete this input at any time by clicking on the close icon. This input can be re-instated providing you have not changed your access token. Please see the Pushbullet Setup section for more details.
OUTPUTS tab
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From here you can customise most aspects of the display screen from background color/gradient/image, and size and position of the chatbox, logo and static text.
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LINK: This is the link to your output (display screen). This is an automatically generated secure link which only you will have access to; please do not share this link as it will cause inconsistency with your setup. Sharing your output link is NOT permitted, and will result in the termination of your plan.
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BACKGROUND: If you have the ADVANCED or ULTIMATE plan you will have a choice of three options for the background; The STANDARD plan has only one - Single color.
BACKGROUND: SINGLE COLOR
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The only option here is to change the color. Clicking on the colored square will show a color picker pop-up where you can chose any color you want.
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BACKGROUND COLOR GRADIENT:
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This option provides up to four separate definable colors which blend from one to the other. The direction from which the gradient starts is specified in the drop down button.
'Starts from' - Top left, top middle, top right, left middle, right middle, bottom left, bottom middle, bottom right...
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You also have the option to lower the overall brightness of the gradient to increase message readability if you wish. Use the arrow buttons to change the brightness; 100% is full brightness, 0% is black.
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BACKGROUND IMAGE:
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You can drag and drop an image onto the load area, or you can click the load area to browse for an image. You can upload .PNG, .JPG, or .GIF; for best results we would choose a .PNG with a resolution of at least 1920x1080 pixels.
If the image is in any other resolution you can choose how to display it.
'Aspect' - stretch, fill, fit, tile, center
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You also have the option to lower the overall brightness of the image to increase message readability if you wish. Use the arrow buttons to change the brightness; 100% is full brightness, 0% is black.
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Please note: Only one of the background options are visible at one time, from the dropdown menu​​
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CHAT BOX
The Chat box is where the messages are displayed and can be resized and moved around the display screen as desired. Clicking on the Resize icon opens a pop-up where you can change the parameters. To change the size drag any of the white corner squares. To change the position just drag the Chat box around the display area.
The Chat box background can be assigned to any color by clicking on the colored square. The background's transparency can also be changed from solid color (0%) to totally transparent (100%).
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LOGO & TEXT​
With the STANDARD plan you have a single line text box so you can display a phone number or short message. This is displayed in white, with no available formatting. It can, however, be moved around the screen like the chat box.​ The STANDARD plan also displays the Text2screen logo at a set size, but this can also be moved around the screen as required.​​​ With the ADVANCED and ULTIMATE plans you have a few more options for text and logo.​
TEXT BOX
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You have a larger text box into which you can type multiple lines of text. You can format the text as you wish by clicking the paintbrush icon. The Text box has a background color and transparency, which can be adjusted like the Chat box.
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LOGO
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You can upload an image to serve as a logo. You can preview this, change its size and position on the screen, and apply transparency if needed.
Troubleshooting.
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When things stop working there may be an easy solution available which will correct unexpected errors.
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If your issue is not listed here, you could head over to the forum and chat with other Text2screen community users (or devs), who may have more solutions for you!