Layouts, playlists and campaigns: how screen content fits together

A layout is one screen design. A playlist is a list of pictures and videos that play in turn, either in one area of a layout or full screen on its own. A campaign is a list of whole layouts that take turns. The schedule then decides which of these plays on which screens, and when.

It starts in the media library

Everything begins as a file in the media library, whether it's a photo, a video or a PDF. You upload it once, give it a name you'll recognise and a tag or two, and from then on you can use it in as many layouts and playlists as you like. When a photo changes, Replace File swaps in the new version and, with Update across all Layouts ticked, puts it into every layout you're allowed to edit.

Get into the habit of tagging early, because tags are how a playlist can fill itself later on.

Layouts: one screen design

A layout is what a screen looks like. You build it on a canvas the size of the screen, with a background, text, images and widgets such as a clock, a table of fixtures or a menu. The canvas can be split into areas, so one screen can show the menu on the left and today's special on the right.

Layouts have a draft and a published version, and screens only play the published one. You can fiddle with changes all afternoon without anything half-finished appearing over the bar. The help page on designing a layout walks through building one.

Playlists: things that take turns

A playlist is a list of media items that play one after another, like a slideshow, and you can use one in two ways. Put it inside a layout and that area of the screen rotates, which is the usual way to run specials in a corner of a menu screen while the menu stays put. Or schedule it on its own and it plays full screen with no layout at all, which suits a set of finished posters someone made in another app.

A playlist in a layout stays linked to it. Add a new offer to the playlist next week or take an old one out, and every layout using it shows the change without being edited or published again. One promotions playlist can sit in the corner of every screen in the building.

Dynamic playlists fill themselves. Tell one to take every file tagged "promo" and any new file you upload with that tag joins it, up to a maximum number of items you set. Playlists can also sit inside other playlists, with settings to control how often each one plays. The help page on building a playlist covers both.

Campaigns: whole layouts in turn

A campaign does for layouts what a playlist does for pictures. You choose the layouts, put them in order and schedule the campaign once, then each layout takes its turn on the screen. The Duration column shows how long one pass through all of them takes.

In the Casty demo, Fitzroy Gym has a weekend campaign for its reception screen. Rotating the class timetable with a membership offer is a typical job for one: each is a complete design with its own text and widgets, so they go into a campaign as layouts. Change the campaign later and every scheduled event that uses it plays the new list, with nothing to change in the schedule.

There's one setting to know about. With cycle based playback switched on, the screen plays only one layout from the campaign each time the schedule comes round to it. For an ordinary rotation, leave it off. Play several layouts in turn with a campaign has the details.

Where menus and data come in

Menu boards and datasets sit behind layouts. A menu board holds your products and prices, a dataset holds a table such as fixtures or class times, and a widget in the layout shows them. Change a price or add a fixture and the layout follows, with no redesign. Use them whenever the design stays the same and only the information changes. Showing live data with datasets explains how they work.

The schedule ties it together

None of this reaches a screen until it's in the schedule. Each event says what plays (a layout, a campaign, a playlist or a single image or video), on which screens or display groups, and when. Events can repeat every day or week, use dayparts like breakfast and lunch, and take priority over each other for something like a big match.

When nothing is scheduled, a screen plays its default layout, so give every screen a sensible one, such as your logo and opening hours. Scheduling screen content goes into events in more depth.

Which one to use

A quick way to decide:

• One design with pictures rotating in part of it: a layout with a playlist inside.
• A slideshow of finished posters, full screen: a playlist on its own.
• Several complete designs taking turns: a campaign.
• A single picture or video, full screen, for a set time: schedule the media item itself.
• The same design with prices or times that change: a layout with a menu board or dataset.

If you're not sure, start with a layout and a playlist. That covers a lot of pub and cafe screens, and you can move to a campaign later without redoing your designs.