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Introduction

A number of sample layouts are now provided on the NTB. These layouts have been designed for a wide selection of typical applications and can be used almost immediately. These layouts can, of course, be extensively modified or simply used as inspiration towards the design of your own.

The layouts are not part of the update procedure so NTBs built before software version 5.1.0 will not have them. They can, however, be downloaded from our website and installed on any NTB that has been updated to version 5.1.0 using the new "Layout Package" facility.

There is a 5-step process to make the best use of these layouts in your application but it is not necessary to complete all five steps, only step 1 is essential. The steps are:

1. Re-brand the Layouts to show your organisation name, strap-line and logo by uploading 3 files to the NTB.
2. Chose a default layout
3. Change the fonts and colours in the layout to suit your application.
4. Appoint someone and show them how to change the text and TV station that may be showing on the screen.
5. Customise the layout background image and content of the other screen zones.

STEP 1: Re-Brand the Layouts

Almost all the layouts show our branding. To re-brand them, you need to obtain:

1. Your logo as either a flash file, image or both. Try to get the image in a 256x256 pixel size and try to set the background colour to transparent. Only .PNG format will support transparency and you need more complex image editing tools than MS Paint to work with transparency. If this is not possible then a white background is best.
2. Create a new text (.TXT) file, type just your organisation name into it and save the file under any name you like. Use any text editor like Notepad to create the file but don't use a word processor like Word.
3. Similarly put a strap-line in another .TXT file and save it as a name that comes after the above file in alpha-numeric order.

FTP to the NTB or use the "Files and Folders" page to upload all the above files into the folder: "media/branding"

STEP 2: Choose a Layout

Browse to the "Layouts" page on the NTB and click the "Audition" button beside each layout to preview it on the display device. You will notice that they have all been re-branded. If the text no longer fits in the zone or is not in the appropriate colour then just ignore it for now. Work through the layouts until you find one that most suits your application. Make a note of the layout name and browse to the "Schedule" page. Edit the default entry in the schedule and change the layout name to the one that you have just chosen.

If there are more than two layouts then you can add additional ones to the schedule to appear at certain times of day and/or days of the week.

Click "Activate" and your layout will appear on the display device.

STEP 3: Fix Fonts and Colours

If your organisation name and strap-line appear in an incorrect font or colour then browse to "Layouts" and click on the relevant zone in the relevant layout to edit the playlist for that zone. There should be just one item in the playlist, click its "Edit" button. You will then be able to change the font family, size, style and colours. Click "Apply" when done and then "Activate" to see the changes appear on the screen.

STEP 4: Change the Text and TV Station (if applicable)

Appoint someone to manage the text and TV station that may be showing on the screen. Show the appointed person (known as an "Ad-Hoc user") how to log onto the NTB with the user name "foyer" and password "9999". (Both user name and password can be changed in the "Setup | Users" page.) Click on the "Pages" link in the browser and bookmark this page / add it to their favourites. All the user need do in future is select the bookmark/favourite.

Click on one of the options on the page (e.g. Messages) to either edit the scrolling message, change the TV station or edit the contents of a table and click "Save" to see the change happen on the display device. This is only applicable if the chosen layout happens to be showing these items.

STEP 5: Customise the Layout

The essence of most layouts is the background image and the content of the main zone. FTP to the media/show folder on the NTB and the into the folder named after the layout and you will see a folder for some of the zones on the screen.

The "back" folder holds the background image. Download it, edit it and put it back again if you want to make small changes to things such as the wording or colours. If you want to make more radical changes then download the "blank.png" image and use it as as a template for your own design. Put your new background image into the folder and delete all the others. If there is more than one image in the "back" folder then the one that will appear on the screen will be the one that appears first in alpha-numeric order. Put a zero at the start of the file name to force it to the front if you want to keep more than one image in the folder. Click the "Activate" button or restart the NTB to show the layout with your new

The "main" folder usually contains videos, images and/or flash files. Upload your own content into this folder and delete any items that you do not want and your content will appear on the display device in due course. There is no need to re-activate although this will speed the process up.

There may be other folders that are used to show various information. All you need to do is replace the content of these folders with your own files.