News Board Screensaver
The News Board screensaver shows real news headlines on a mechanical-style split-flap board. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the News Board screensaver works
The saver reads the same background-pipeline news feed used by the News Today screensaver.
Each row shows one real headline, riffling into place as the board refreshes.
The whole board updates every few minutes, so headlines stay current.
Board size (rows and columns) is adjustable, and a click sound can be switched on in settings.
Why a split-flap board for headlines
Split-flap displays were widely used from the 1960s to the 1990s for airport and railway timetables. Each character position holds a set of flaps printed with characters, and the display flips through them to reach the one it needs. They were often called Solari boards, after the Italian maker Solari di Udine, and in Central Europe Pragotron boards, after a Czech manufacturer.
This board borrows that look for news. Each row shows one headline, and the characters cycle through intermediate glyphs before settling, because a mechanical display may have to pass through many flaps to reach its target. That is also why real split-flap updates were sequential and slower than digital signs. Headlines are shortened or wrapped to fit the fixed grid of cells.
The constraint changes how the text reads. Long headlines get truncated, punctuation and casing are limited by what the board can show, and there is no room for a standfirst or context. Treat it as a ticker of what outlets are saying, not a summary of the news, and follow the source article for the actual details.
A worked example
A real headline clatters into place letter by letter, row after row, until the board is full — then it holds until the next refresh brings a fresh set.
Settings & tips
- Board width/height resize the grid.
- Flap click sound adds the mechanical clatter (off by default).
- Headlines come from the same feed as the News Today screensaver.
Frequently asked questions
- Are these real headlines?
- Yes — the same real, pipeline-gathered headlines used by the News Today screensaver.
- How often does it update?
- The board refreshes every few minutes.
- Is a key needed?
- No.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- Why do the letters spin before they settle?
- A mechanical split-flap display may need to cycle through many flaps to reach the target character, so updates are sequential. The animation reproduces that behaviour.
- Why are some headlines cut short?
- The board has a fixed number of columns, so longer headlines must be trimmed or wrapped to fit. The full wording is only available at the original source.
- Does a headline show whether a story is verified?
- No. It only displays the headline text a publisher has used, with no indication of how well sourced or confirmed the story is.