|
This is our take on creating an animated digital retro flapper board.
These electro-mechanical information boards were often found at main railway stations and airports displaying travel information.
They earned their nickname "flapper boards" because of the noise they made when information was being updated. Each character consisted of a split-flap with the letter embossed on it.
As the information updated, the split-flap would rotate until the required character was displayed.
The flapper boards were replaced in many airports with television displays which in turn gave way to LED displays. The railways also eventually replaced their flapper boards with LED displays. We're going back in time with our version.
If you have a chromecast device and you use a Chrome browser you can cast the browser tab with the flapper board displayed to a TV making a very effective message board, this also allows the device to be used unimpeded, just remember not to close the tab. Ideal in reception areas for welcoming visitors, or announcing special events or occassions.
You can type in your message in the form below. There are 10 rows and each row can display up to 20 characters. The cursor will advance to the next position when you type a character. You can move to the next line or anywhere in the form using the Tab key or by using your mouse to reposition the cursor.
The message will be displayed on your device as a flapper board when you press the submit button. All the code executes on your device, we do not see any of the messages nor does anyone else, so you can be as creative as you like.
Please enter your message as you would like it to appear. Valid characters are A to Z, 0 to 9, ! £ $ % & * ( ) - + = @ : / . '
You can leave lines and characters blank if you wish. Invalid characters are displayed as a space.
| 
