TABLE OF CONTENTS


When using a non-DAKboard OS device, like a Tablet, a Smartphone, a Smart TV, etc. your Screens will look different from device to device. This is because there are limitations of the built-in browser on these devices. Knowing these limitations will help you to be able to design your Screen to fit your display of choice. Here are some helpful tools and suggestions to get this to work for you.


NOTE: These steps will also work with DAKboard OS devices when you need to use smaller resolutions. Check out the section Using Font Size to Make Your Screen Fit Your Display: below to see how to make your Screen fit smaller resolutions.



Browser Size:


When using a non-DAKboard OS device you will be limited to the Maximum resolution their browser will support. For example, the Amazon Fire TV and Firestick limit their browsers, both built-in and downloaded, to a maximum resolution of 960x540. Our article Use DAKboard on a Fire TV or Firestick explains this fully and shows you how to get the best performance out of such a device.


To find out what the maximum size of the browser is on your device, you can go to http://howbigismybrowser.com/ in the browser on your device and it will display the maximum browser size. See the example below from my computer:


Once you know this you can set your Custom Screen's resolution to match this and design your it around this limitation. The Predefined Screen cannot set a resolution. To resize a Predefined Screen, go to your Defaults tab and reduce the font size until your Screen fits the Display.


Setting the Custom Screen Resolution:

From your Custom Screen, click the Gear Icon in the upper right-hand corner. This will open the Custom Screen settings page as seen below:



From this window, you can set options for your Screen including its resolutions. All of these options are available for both DAKboard OS and non-DAKboard OS devices. These options are detailed below for you:


  • Screen Name: Set a custom name to identify the screen
  • Aspect Ratio: This will allow you to choose one of the preset or custom ratios to help it fit your Screen

  • Resolution: This allows you to select one of the preset resolutions for your selected Aspect Ratio, or allows you to enter a custom Resolution if you select the Custom Aspect Ratio.
  • Orientation: This will allow you to change the Orientation from Landscape to Portrait. NOTE: This change will not control your Display, it will only affect the way your Orientation appears in the editor. For DAKboard OS devices you will also need to change the orientation in the Device settings (see our article Rotate a Display to Portrait or Landscape to learn how to do this) while with non-DAKboard OS devices, you will need to use Custom CSS to trick the browser into displaying it in Portrait mode (see our article Screen Rotation for non-DAKboard OS Devices to see how to do this).
  • Font: This can be used to set the Default font for the entire Screen. Each block can have its font changed as well and will override this entry for that block.
  • Language: This will allow you to set the Default language for your DAKboard Screen. 

NOTE: This will not change the language of the Linked accounts, only those items generated by the DAKboard Screen itself. For example, you will need to change the language of your Google Calendar to get it to use the language you want on your Display.

  • Timezone: This will set the timezone for your Screen and all its related blocks. Some blocks will override this (like your Datetime block) and some services may override this as well (like ICS/iCal calendar links). For the blocks that override this, you will have the option to set timezones in their Editor under the Settings or Format tabs. For services overriding this, you may need to set the timezone on your Display or in the service itself to get the correct time. See our article How to Set the Timezone for more details on this.
  • Time Format: This will set the time format for the Screen. As with the timezone, some blocks and services may override this. Setting this in these blocks or services should correct this if you experience it.


To Set a Custom Resolution, click the Aspect Ratio dropdown and select Custom. This will allow you to enter the resolution you found for your browser in the previous section as seen below:



Once your changes are made, click Save to apply them to your Screen. From here it is now simply designing your Screen and changing Font Sizes to make it work on your Display.


Using Font Size to Make Your Screen Fit Your Display:


With a little work and using Custom Font sizes, you can make any size screen smaller to fit any size browser. For example, below we have one screen set at 1080p (1920x1080), and the other is set at 960x540 (the resolution for a Fire TV.





Can you tell which is which? Here is a hint, the one on the Bottom is the Custom Screen. The only difference is the Font size for each of the blocks. 


NOTE: Some custom Font sizes may not be recognized by the Display you are using. You may have to stick with one of the preset Fonts or it may not work at all. For Example. The Firestick will not recognize font sizes smaller than 5 px.


For the Screen on the Bottom, we set the fonts in each block, in the Block Editor, under the Formatting tab. Here you will have some preselected common font sizes but you can also type in a custom font if you prefer. Just click on the Font Size dropdown to see the options or type the font size you want to use into the space provided. See below:



Experimenting with the Fonts and their sizes will help with any DAKboard Screen to get it to fit your Display. Make sure to save your changes and refresh your Display to apply them.