Glossary
Digital signage, term by term
Plain-English definitions for every term you'll meet while buying, deploying or running digital signage, written to be quoted, linked and understood.
4
- 4K Signage
- Digital signage on Ultra HD screens, 3840×2160 pixels, four times the detail of Full HD. 4K matters most on large screens viewed up close, where 1080p pixels become visible: lobby feature walls, flagship retail displays, close-range menu boards. It also demands more of the player: 4K video needs hardware decoding, and larger files need more storage and bandwidth. Related: aspect ratio , commercial display , video wall
8
- 86ing (Eighty-Sixing)
- Restaurant slang for pulling an item off the menu, 'we're 86 on the salmon', usually because it has sold out. On digital menu boards, 86ing is instant instead of a strike-through: mark the item out of stock in the POS or hide it in the menu editor and it drops off every screen, then returns when it is back. DigiMenu supports both routes, POS-driven auto-hide and a manual per-item Hide toggle. Related: menu board , pos integration , menu feed
A
- Android Signage Player
- An Android device, a commercial signage box, tablet or Android TV unit, running a signage player app. Android is the most common signage platform because hardware spans budget sticks to rugged commercial players, apps install as a simple APK, and devices can run locked in kiosk mode. Pair the player with the CMS and content downloads to the device for smooth playback. Related: media player , kiosk mode , device pairing
- Aspect Ratio
- The proportional relationship between a screen's width and height, written as two numbers, 16:9 for standard TVs and signage displays, 9:16 for portrait screens, 32:9 for stretched shelf-edge displays. Content that does not match the screen's ratio gets letterboxed, cropped or distorted, so signage layouts are designed at the target ratio from the start. Related: portrait mode , landscape mode , 4k signage
- Attract Loop
- The content an interactive screen plays while nobody is using it, full-screen visuals that invite passers-by to touch. When someone interacts, the attract loop yields to the interface; after a period of inactivity it returns, resetting the kiosk for the next visitor. A good attract loop demonstrates what the kiosk is for, not just a screensaver. Related: interactive kiosk , kiosk mode , content loop
C
- CMS (Content Management System)
- The cloud dashboard where signage content is created, scheduled and published. A signage CMS manages screens, media libraries, playlists and schedules, and reports what actually played on each screen. Digisigns is a cloud CMS with players for ten platforms. Related: digital signage , proof of play
- Commercial Display (vs Consumer TV)
- A screen built for signage duty: rated for all-day operation (often 16 or 24 hours), brighter panels, portrait or landscape mounting, and remote-management hooks, many with signage platforms such as Samsung Tizen or LG webOS built in. A consumer TV is the living-room alternative: cheaper and fine for light indoor use, but with lower brightness, shorter duty ratings, and retail firmware that can interrupt playback. Many businesses start on consumer TVs and move to commercial displays as the fleet grows. Related: nits , tizen , webos , media player
- Content Loop
- The repeating cycle of content a screen plays when nothing else is scheduled, a playlist that starts again the moment it ends. Loop length should roughly match how long viewers stay near the screen, so most people see everything once without sitting through repeats: a lift lobby loop might run half a minute, a waiting-room loop several minutes. Related: playlist , dwell time , attract loop
D
- Dayparting
- Scheduling different content for different times of day, breakfast menus until 11:30, lunch after, evening promotions from 17:00. Borrowed from broadcast TV, dayparting in digital signage is handled by the CMS scheduler: each playlist gets a time slot and a recurrence rule, and the screens switch themselves on time. Related: scheduling , playlist , menu board
- Device Pairing
- Linking a physical screen to a CMS account, usually by typing a short code shown on the display into the dashboard. Pairing means no credentials live on the device: install the player app, read the code off the screen, and claim it from anywhere. In Digisigns, the player shows a pairing code and entering it in the dashboard attaches that screen to your account, groups and content. Related: media player , cms , heartbeat
- Digital Directory
- A screen listing a building's tenants, departments or shops, the modern version of the letter-board in an office lobby. Digital directories update from a dashboard instead of plastic letters, stay searchable as the tenant mix changes, and often pair with wayfinding so a visitor can tap a name and see the route. Related: wayfinding , touch signage , digital signage
- Digital Notice Board
- A screen replacing the corkboard: announcements, schedules, birthdays, policies and event posters, updated from a dashboard instead of a printer and pins. Digital notice boards suit schools, offices, factories and residential buildings, anywhere a static board goes stale within a week. Content is typically a rotating playlist plus a ticker for urgent one-liners. Related: employee communication screens , playlist , ticker
- Digital Signage
- Screens, TVs, tablets, kiosks, LED walls, controlled by software to display scheduled content such as menus, promotions, dashboards and announcements. A digital signage system combines display hardware, a media player, and a content management system (CMS) that lets teams update any screen remotely. Related: cms , media player
- DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home)
- Digital advertising on screens in public spaces, billboards, transit displays, mall screens and venue networks. DOOH differs from static out-of-home by being scheduled, dynamic and measurable via proof-of-play. Related: proof of play , digital signage
- Dwell Time
- How long a viewer stays within sight of a screen. Dwell time drives signage content decisions: short-dwell locations like corridors and drive-thru lanes need messages that land in seconds, while long-dwell locations like waiting rooms and gyms can carry longer stories and more items per loop. In DOOH advertising, dwell time also shapes what an impression is worth. Related: content loop , dooh
E
- Emergency Messaging
- Overriding normal signage content with urgent alerts, evacuation instructions, severe weather, lockdown or safety notices, across every screen at once. Because signage screens already sit where people look, they are an effective alert channel alongside alarms and PA systems. Emergency content should be pre-approved and one action away, not designed during the incident. Related: digital notice board , employee communication screens , digital signage
- Employee Communication Screens
- Signage aimed at staff rather than customers: KPIs on the office floor, safety metrics in the plant, shift schedules in the break room, recognition and announcements everywhere. Screens reach deskless workers that email never does, and they work best fed by live sources, BI dashboards, calendars and tickers, rather than static posters that age in place. Related: digital notice board , ticker , digital signage
G
- Gapless Playback
- Playing one item after another with no black frame, flicker or loading pause between them. Gaps that would pass unnoticed on a phone are glaring on a public screen that loops all day. Digisigns offers a per-screen Gapless setting, and for low-power devices can stitch a playlist into one continuous video so transitions disappear entirely. Related: stitching , playlist , sync playback
H
- HDMI Input
- A port that lets a display or signage player show a live external source, a cable box, camera feed or PC, inside signage content. Screen zones can mix an HDMI feed with scheduled media, a common ask in sports bars and control rooms. Support depends on hardware: most smart displays play signage from their own system instead, and windowing an HDMI source into a layout needs dedicated capture hardware. Related: screen zoning , commercial display , media player
- Heartbeat
- A small status signal a signage player sends to the cloud at regular intervals, proof the device is on, online and playing. Heartbeats power the fleet view: last-seen times, online/offline status, and alerts when a screen goes quiet. If the heartbeat stops, the platform can flag the screen or email the team before a customer ever notices a dark display. Related: media player , device pairing , proof of play
I
- Interactive Kiosk
- A freestanding touchscreen unit, usually display, enclosure and player in one, where visitors serve themselves: finding a shop, checking in, placing an order. Kiosks run locked in kiosk mode, show an attract loop while idle, and reset between users. Common in malls, cinemas, hospitals and quick-service restaurants. Related: kiosk mode , self service kiosk , attract loop , touch signage
K
- KDS (Kitchen Display System)
- A screen in the kitchen that replaces paper order tickets: orders appear the moment they are placed and move through statuses until served. A KDS keeps the kitchen and the front of house looking at the same live queue. In Digisigns' DigiEats, kiosk and seat-QR orders land on the KDS instantly and advance from Paid to Accepted, Preparing and Ready. Related: self service kiosk , pos integration , menu board
- Kiosk Mode
- A locked-down mode where a device runs a single app full-time and blocks access to everything else, no home screen, no settings, no notifications. Signage players and interactive kiosks rely on kiosk mode so a public display keeps showing its assigned content through reboots, power cuts and curious taps. Related: interactive kiosk , media player , attract loop
L
- Landscape Mode
- The default horizontal screen orientation, wider than tall, 1920×1080 on a Full HD display. Landscape is what TVs ship in and what most signage assumes: menu boards over counters, dashboards, video walls and anything built around video. Content designed for landscape letterboxes or crops on a portrait screen, so design for the orientation the display is actually mounted in. Related: portrait mode , aspect ratio
- LG webOS
- LG's operating system for its smart TVs and commercial signage displays. Like Samsung's Tizen, webOS signage models run player apps on the display's built-in system-on-chip, cutting out external boxes and their cabling. Signage vendors ship a webOS app that installs on the panel and pairs with the cloud dashboard. Related: tizen , sssp , media player , commercial display
M
- Media Player
- The device or app that renders content on a screen, either built into a smart display (Samsung Tizen, LG webOS) or an external box or stick (Android, Windows, Linux). The player pairs with the CMS, downloads content, and reports its status. Related: digital signage , cms
N
- Nits (Brightness)
- The unit of screen brightness, one nit is one candela per square metre. Indoor signage typically runs a few hundred nits, while screens facing shop windows or direct sunlight need high-brightness panels well past a thousand to stay readable. Brightness is the biggest spec gap between consumer TVs and commercial displays, and some platforms can adjust it remotely on a schedule. Related: commercial display , pixel pitch
O
- On-Premise vs Cloud Signage
- Two ways to run signage software. Cloud signage is hosted by the vendor: screens are managed from a browser, updates arrive continuously, and screens in any location pair to one dashboard. On-premise signage runs on servers the customer controls, chosen for strict data-residency or air-gapped environments at the cost of maintaining the infrastructure. Most businesses choose cloud; some regulated and government buyers still require on-premise. Related: cms , digital signage , white label signage
P
- Pixel Pitch (LED Pitch)
- The distance in millimetres between the centres of adjacent LEDs on an LED display, P2.5 means 2.5 mm. Smaller pitch means higher resolution and a closer comfortable viewing distance; larger pitch costs less and suits screens viewed from afar. A rough rule of thumb: the minimum viewing distance in metres is about the same number as the pitch in millimetres. Related: video wall , commercial display
- Playlist
- An ordered sequence of content, images, videos, web pages, widgets, that plays on a screen in a loop. Playlists are the basic publishing unit in most signage systems: build one once, assign it to any number of screens, and control per-item durations and visibility rules rather than managing screens file by file. Related: content loop , scheduling , cms
- Portrait Mode
- A screen rotated 90 degrees to stand taller than wide, the orientation of posters, single-column menus and welcome screens. Portrait signage needs content designed at rotated resolutions such as 1080×1920, a display rated for vertical mounting, and a player or CMS that can rotate output so nothing plays sideways. Related: landscape mode , aspect ratio , commercial display
- POS Integration
- A live connection between the point-of-sale system and signage software, so screens reflect what the till already knows: current prices, current items, current stock. With POS integration, a price changed once at the counter updates every menu board, and items marked sold out disappear on their own, no ladder, no USB stick, no stale menu at the worst moment. Related: menu board , menu feed , 86ing
Q
- QR Code Signage
- Putting a scannable QR code on screen so viewers can continue on their phones, open a menu, claim an offer, download an app, leave a review. QR codes make passive screens measurable: scans can be tracked per screen and per campaign, turning signage into an attributable channel rather than a one-way broadcast. Related: digital signage , dooh , touch signage
R
- RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)
- Granting permissions by role rather than per person, a designer can edit media, an outlet manager can publish to their own screens, a viewer can only look. RBAC keeps a growing signage team from becoming a security risk. Digisigns supports custom roles with per-module create, view, edit and delete permissions, plus sub-users scoped to specific screen, media and playlist groups. Related: sso , cms
S
- Samsung Tizen
- The operating system on Samsung smart displays and commercial signage screens. Tizen displays run signage player apps natively on the panel's own system-on-chip, so there is no external device behind the screen. Player apps install from Samsung's app channel or via URL launcher, then pair with a cloud CMS like any other player. Related: sssp , webos , media player , commercial display
- Scheduling
- Deciding when content appears on which screens, by time slot, day of week, date range or recurrence, so displays change themselves without manual intervention. Digisigns schedules run once, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, can be paused and resumed, and pair with per-item visibility rules inside playlists for finer control. Related: dayparting , playlist , cms
- Screen Zoning (Multi-Zone Layout)
- Splitting one screen into regions that each play their own content, a main video area, a side menu, a ticker along the bottom. Zoning turns one display into several: a playlist can run in one zone while a clock, weather feed or live web page fills another. Digisigns builds zoned screens in Studio, whose Screen Parting tool offers two-way, three-column, four-grid, L-shape and fully custom splits, and a whole playlist can play inside a single zone. Related: ticker , playlist , video wall
- Self-Service Kiosk
- An interactive kiosk that completes a transaction without staff, ordering food, checking in, printing a ticket, settling a bill. Self-service kiosks shorten queues and free staff by letting customers browse and choose at their own pace. In food service they pair naturally with a kitchen display system, so a confirmed order lands straight in the kitchen queue. Related: interactive kiosk , kds , kiosk mode
- SSO (Single Sign-On)
- Signing in to many applications with one corporate identity, log in once through a provider such as Okta, Microsoft Entra or Google Workspace, and every connected app trusts it. For signage, SSO matters to IT teams rolling a CMS out to a large staff: joiners get access automatically, leavers lose it everywhere at once, and no shared password ends up taped to a desk. Related: rbac , cms
- SSSP (Samsung Smart Signage Platform)
- Samsung's system-on-chip platform inside its commercial displays, which runs signage apps directly on the screen, no external media player to mount, power or maintain. SSSP evolved into Samsung's Tizen-based signage models; a CMS player app installs on the display itself, pairs with the cloud and plays content natively. Related: tizen , commercial display , media player
- Stitching
- Pre-rendering a playlist into a single continuous video file, so a screen plays one file instead of switching between many. Stitching trades flexibility for reliability: a low-power player that stutters between items will play one long video smoothly. Digisigns stitches playlists server-side and re-stitches automatically when the playlist changes. Related: gapless playback , playlist , media player
- Sync Playback
- Multiple screens playing content in exact lockstep, the same frame at the same moment, so a bank of menu boards or a row of window displays behaves as one choreographed set. Digisigns does this with Sync Play rooms, which keep playback synchronised across a screen group; Split Screen mode extends the idea to video walls by giving each screen its own slice of the canvas. Related: video wall , gapless playback , menu board
T
- Ticker
- A strip of scrolling text along the edge of a screen, headlines, offers, announcements, running over whatever else is playing. Tickers deliver a second message without giving up the whole display, which makes them a staple in offices, banks and broadcast-style signage. Speed, direction, font and position are usually configurable per screen or per playlist. Related: screen zoning , playlist , digital notice board
- Touch Signage
- Displays with a touch layer that let viewers interact, browse a catalogue, search a directory, tap through a menu. Touch turns signage from broadcast into self-service and suits directories, product finders and check-in flows. It needs touch-capable hardware plus content designed for fingers: large targets, clear navigation, and an idle state that resets for the next person. Related: interactive kiosk , kiosk mode , attract loop
V
- Video Wall
- A group of screens tiled together to act as one large display, with content split so each screen renders its share of the picture. Signage software drives a video wall by mapping a region of the canvas to each screen and keeping playback in lockstep. Digisigns builds video walls with Sync Play rooms and Split Screen mode, which assigns a coordinate range to each screen; NovaStar LED controllers are supported for larger walls. Related: sync playback , pixel pitch , digital signage
W
- Wayfinding
- Helping visitors navigate a venue, malls, hospitals, airports, campuses, with maps and directions on kiosks, the web and mobile. Digital wayfinding shows an interactive map, finds a destination and draws a route from where the visitor stands. Digisigns' DigiMaps adds 3D venue maps, step-free accessible routing, multilingual search and a QR handoff that sends the route from kiosk to phone. Related: digital directory , interactive kiosk , kiosk mode
- White-Label Signage
- A signage platform rebranded and resold as someone else's product, an AV integrator or managed-service provider puts its own name, logo and domain on the CMS its clients use. White-labelling lets resellers own the customer relationship while the platform vendor supplies the software underneath. Terms vary widely: some vendors offer full rebranding, others only a logo swap. Related: cms , on premise vs cloud signage
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