Community-Bulletin-TV

Community Bulletin Board TV

A retro-style, JSON-driven community bulletin board inspired by classic cable-access TV.

A lightweight, retro-inspired Community Bulletin Board system that recreates the look and feel of classic 1990s cable-access TV displays — blinking text, stacked bands, and scrolling tickers — all editable through a web browser.

Built with plain HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. No frameworks. No database.

📺 Screenshots

Community Bulletin TV is designed to feel like a classic cable-access bulletin board — bold text, simple layouts, and continuous rotation.

Welcome Screen

Programming / Announcements

Upcoming Features

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📺 What This Is

This project displays rotating “screens,” each made up of horizontal text bands and an optional scrolling ticker. It’s designed for:

• Community centers
• Local cable channels
• Lobby or signage displays
• Art projects and installations
• Retro / lo-fi broadcast systems

Everything is edited visually via a browser-based editor and saved to a simple JSON file.

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✨ Features

• Authentic CRT-style bulletin board layout
• Multiple rotating screens
• Configurable screen duration
• Stacked text bands with:
  • Color, size, alignment
  • Optional blinking
• Smooth scrolling ticker
• Live date & time macros
• Web-based editor with live preview
• JSON storage (no database required)
• Runs well on low-power or older hardware

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🗂 Project Structure

community-bulletin/
├── play.html # Public display page
├── editor.html # Editor interface
├── save.php # Saves bulletin data
├── data/
│ └── bulletin.json # All content & settings
├── js/
│ ├── bulletin.js # Display logic
│ └── editor.js # Editor logic
├── css/
│ └── bulletin.css # Shared styles
└── README.md

🚀 Getting Started

Requirements

• Web server (Apache or NGINX)
• PHP enabled
• No database

Installation

1. Copy or clone the project into your web root: ```bash /var/www/html/community-bulletin/
2. Ensure PHP can write to the data directory:

    chown -R www-data:www-data data
    chmod 664 data/bulletin.json
   

3. Open in your browser:

• Display:

  /community-bulletin/play.html
  

• Editor:

  /community-bulletin/editor.html
  

🧪 Demo Configuration

This repository includes a fully-featured example configuration:

The demo file showcases:

• Multiple rotating screens
• Band alignment (left / center / right)
• Font sizes and colors
• Blinking text
• Spacing macros ({space}, {tab}, {linef})
• Date & time macros
• Global ticker
• Screen rotation timing

If you want to experiment, start by editing bulletin.json and reload the play page.

🕒 Macros

Macros are placeholders in band or ticker text that update automatically.

Date & Time Macros

Defined in bulletin.json:

"macros": {
  "date": "%Y-%m-%d",
  "time": "%H:%M:%S",
  "datetime": "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
}

Usage:

Date: {date}   Time: {time}

Macros update live on the display page.

Spacing Macros (Built-In)

These do not need to be configured: | Macro | Result | | ——— | ———— | | {space} | Single space | | {tab} | 3 spaces | | {linef} | Line break |

Example:

Date:{tab}{date}{linef}Time:{tab}{time}

⏱ Screen Rotation

Screen timing is controlled globally:

"settings": {
  "screenDuration": 10
}

• Duration is in seconds

• Screens rotate automatically on the display page

  📜 Ticker

Ticker settings:

"ticker": {
  "speed": 40,
  "text": "COMMUNITY EVENTS • LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS • WEATHER ALERTS"
}

• Speed is pixels per second

• Ticker text supports macros

  🛠 Editor Notes

• Editor includes a live preview
• Changes are saved to bulletin.json
• Preview resolves macros for readability
• Display page updates macros in real time

🔐 Security Notes

This project assumes a trusted environment.

If exposed publicly:

• Restrict access to editor.html
• Protect save.php
• Consider HTTP authentication or IP filtering

🧠 Design Philosophy

• Simple over clever
• Files instead of databases
• Predictable rendering
• Hardware-friendly
• Nostalgia with purpose

🧭 Roadmap Ideas

• Per-screen ticker overrides
• Custom macro definitions
• Transition effects
• Editor UI enhancements
• Authentication
• Preset import/export

📄 License

GPL2 License Free to use, modify, and redistribute.

If you run this on a cable channel in 1996, that’s on you 😉

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