Websites and embeds on your screen

You show a web page with the Website app. Embedded content from a service, such as a dashboard or map with its own embed link, goes through Embed. You add both through Files > New > New app, and after that they work like any other item: add them to playlists and schedules, or send them straight to a screen.

Add a website

Go to Files and click New.
Choose New app, then Website.
Paste the address of the page, starting with https://.
Set the zoom, refresh and preload time if you need to. A live preview shows on the right.
Click Save, or click Send to screen to send the page to a screen right away.

Screenbird automatically converts links from Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Canva into a view that works on a screen.

Settings

Zoom (%): 50 to 200 percent. A higher value makes text and images larger; a lower value shows more of the page.
Auto refresh: reloads the page at the interval set in Refresh (min), from 1 to 60 minutes. The screen keeps showing the old version until the new one is ready, so there is never a blank moment. If the page is in a playlist, it reloads anyway every time the playlist comes back around to it. Refreshing is mostly useful when the page stays on screen for a long time.
Preload (sec): 0 to 30 seconds. This is how long the page gets to finish rendering after it loads, before it appears on screen. Handy for dashboards that take a few seconds to show their numbers.

Embed has Zoom (%) and Refresh (min); the refresh interval is 5 minutes by default.

Why does a website stay blank?

A screen shows a website inside a frame, the same way one site embeds a video from another. Some websites don't allow that. They send along a setting (X-Frame-Options or Content-Security-Policy) that stops the browser from showing the page in a frame. The frame then stays blank, both on the screen and in the preview. That is the website's choice, not a fault in Screenbird.

The app form checks the link as soon as you enter it, and tells you below the address if a page is going to stay blank on a screen. The form also flags these other causes:

The page asks you to log in. Nobody is logged in on a screen.
The page no longer exists.
The site doesn't respond.

What can you do?

Look for an embed version. Many services offer a separate embed or share link that does work in a frame. Use that link with Embed.
If you manage the site yourself, allow https://player.screenbird.app to embed it, and for Embed also https://integrations.screenbird.app.
Show your data in a design made in the Designer, or add a screenshot to your files as an image.
Documents from Google or Microsoft are best shown through a connection rather than a link. See Connect Google Workspace and Connect Microsoft 365.

Frequently asked questions

Can a website scroll automatically on the screen?

No. The browser won't let another website be scrolled from the outside. To show more of a long page, set Zoom (%) lower or pick a shorter page.

What is the difference between Website and Embed?

Website is for an ordinary web page and also has a preload time setting. Embed is for an embed link that a service gives you so you can show its content on another page.

Does a page work with plain http://?

Not reliably. Always use an address that starts with https://. Many screens refuse pages that aren't secure.