Screenfeed Debuts No-Code Calendars App For Workplaces And Events-Driven Venues

Screenfeed has launched a new app that enables its users to reflect meetings and events calendars on screens around a venue, without taking on a full meeting room signs software and/or hardware platform, or enabling that functionality in a digital signage CMS.

The new Screenfeed Calendars app syncs with other calendars and uses selected elements to then display on screens, either just doing that or as part of a playlist.

Digital meeting room sign platforms have been around for at least a decade now – both as pure-play solutions and as extensions to the capabilities of digital signage CMS software platforms. So I was curious what took Screenfeed down what seemed like an already well-established and populated path.

CEO Jeremy Gavin says when his company first launched the no-code Screenfeed Connect HTML content creation tool, one of the pre-baked widgets it developed enabled the display of calendar information.

“To our surprise,” says Gavin, “calendar apps were the most popular type of app our users were creating.  They were creating a variety of types of calendars. Some were ‘room schedule’ based, but there were a lot more that served a variety of purposes.  We found that they really valued all of the options we provided them for how to display the information based on different use-cases. They also valued the design.”

“We decided that if someone just wanted to create a calendar, and that is all – Screenfeed Connect may provide them more power than they need. So why not try offering a straight-forward calendar offering, where you simply connect your calendar, pick your display layout and colors, and you are done.”

“While building it, we discovered there are MANY design challenges faced with displaying calendar/schedule information beautifully. We spent a couple months just on the design-thinking through exactly how to solve these challenges!  For example, depending on what your need is a list view makes sense, while others need a timeline-based view. Other design challenges were how to handle overlapping events and fit them on the screen, optionally showing or not showing past events, how to handle all-day and multi-day events, and uploading your logo and choosing fonts and colors.”

Gavin says many customers who have a CMS solution that has templates and functionality for things like weather or menus still choose to subscribe to Screenfeed because they like the design. “We expect this to be the case with Screenfeed Calendar customers once they see they are able to get a better-looking calendar view with exactly the information they want.”

Gavin says he also expects to see business from solutions providers and end-users who have screens that are only up for one well-defined reason: “We also expect users who have a single-purpose screen for a calendar may use a Brightsign box or SmartTV and display the calendar from a URL.”

Customers of Screenfeed’s Infotainment Pass, which includes most of the subscription content available, can use the Screenfeed Calendars app at no additional cost.  Other users will be able to try it out at no cost.