ASCTech Digital Signage Quick Start Guide 1. Log In Once your account has been set up you can log into the Xibo content management system (CMS) through a web browser by going to the following web address: https://xibo.asc.ohio-state.edu You will then log in using your name.# and the password that you were provided by ASCTech. 2. The Dashboard The login takes you to the dashboard. You will see on the dashboard that you have an icon screen which is like a launcher screen to get to other areas of the system for and a menu containing many choices on the left land side of your screen
3. Displays Displays represent the actual hardware connected to the TV panel that will be displaying your content. Each display is given a unique name so it can be identified in the Xibo content management system (CMS) each can have its own layout, content and schedule set to it. Displays manage when and how content is shown on the screen. You can perform several actions on a particular display by selecting from the drop down menu located to the far right in the last cell. There are many options to choose from when you edit the display screen The key settings here are this is where you to set the name of the display, provide a description and verify the default content that is set for the display. 4. Creating Layouts To start designing the layout of how you want the display screen to look and what content you want to appear on it, go to the layouts section in Xibo. You can use either the layout icon or the link on the left hand navigation to get there. You ll see a list of layouts that have been developed by other users. To make your own layout, go to the upper right hand corner of the screen and click on Add Layout.
This will open up a window in which you can specify a name for your layout, assign any tags to the layout to assists in searching and provide a description for it. You will then see an empty layout. But, before you can insert content such as images, text, video etc You ll need to create what are called regions on your screen where you want your content to appear. Think of regions as containers that hold the content. You can replace content in a region with new content as many times as you like. To create a region go to the upper left hand corner of the screen and click on Options then Add Region.
A small box will appear on you layout screen which you can resize to the dimensions that you want by dragging to corner. When your region is at your desired size and position on the screen be sure to click the Save Position button, above right, or it will reset itself. Just repeat the process to add more regions to your screen.
5. Adding Media to Regions Once content regions are set up on your layout you can add the media that you want to display in them. To add media, hover your mouse over the region that want your media to display and double click. This will bring up the Add Media menu for you to select the type of media that you want to add to the region. Select the media type. A window will open and you can select media from your hard drive to upload to the media library Once you have selected the media file you want to upload you will be given the options to name it and set a duration that the media should appear on screen. The name will be for you to identify the video on the layout and will appear on the region timeline. If you don t enter a name, the system will assign its file name by default. Be sure to enter the duration that you would like the media to stay on the display screen, if nothing is entered, the media will not show up on screen. Durations are entered in seconds. Then select start and you will see a progress bar as the media uploads. Once the upload is complete, click on the Assign to Layout button.
You will be taken to the region s timeline and the uploaded media is indicated the screen with the name that you have assigned it or the default file name. Back on the layout screen you see the media, or an icon representing the media now appears in that region. Repeat the process to add media to other regions or additional media to any region. You will see the all media added to a region on the region s timeline. You can drag and drop to change the order that the media appears, just be sure to click Save Order otherwise it will revert back to the original order.
6. Campaigns and Scheduling You can group layouts together into an ordered list called a Campaign. Then schedule the campaign and the layouts will play in sequence. To create a Campaign, click on the Campaign link in the left-hand navigation menu to open the Campaign window. Then click on the Add Campaign button in the upper right hand corner. This opens the Add Campaign window where you assign a name to your campaign then save it. Your new campaign will be added to the list of campaigns in the campaign window. Click on the down arrow in the far right cell in your campaign row and select Layouts. Select the layouts that you want to include in your campaign, then Save.
To schedule your campaign on a display screen. Select the schedule icon from the icon dashboard to go to the scheduling calendar. The go to the dropdown menu and select the display you want the campaign to play on. Then click on the Add Event button to the left of the dropdown menu which opens the Schedule Event window where you can select the date and time that you want your event to start and end. Then select your campaign name. If there are more than one campaign or layouts scheduled on the display, you can indicate the display order.
You will see a blue icon on the dates your campaign is scheduled in the calendar. If you hover your mouse over the icon a pop up window appears with the details of what has been scheduled.