Enable on-screen captions

AccessKit-registered BrightSigns have the ability to display captions on-screen automatically, in addition to providing synchronized captions on visitors' mobile devices via the AccessKit web application.

On-screen captions are generally a better experience than using mobile devices as it keeps the guest's focus on the projection/monitor, rather than looking back and forth between the projection and their mobile device. As such, we recommend using on-screen captions whenever possible.

Requirements

Requirement	Description
AccessKit Work with captions	You should have already created a Work and added captions in the AccessKit Admin Dashboard.
AccessKit BrightSign Mediaplayer	The BrightSign mediaplayer should already have been registered with AccessKit and assigned to the Work.

Enabling On-Screen Captions

There are two methods for enabling on-screen captions:

Manual Control

To enable on-screen captions manually, navigate to the [controls] page for the Work you want to enable captions for, and click the Enable on-screen captions button. To disable on-screen captions, click the Disable on-screen captions button.

Achtung

On-screen captions are not persisted through power cycles. If the BrightSign reboots, the captions will need to be re-enabled.

Persistent on-screen captions are coming soon (ETA: summer 2025).

Scheduled Control

You can also control the on-screen captions via a scheduled UDP message sent over the local network to the BrightSign, or through the AccessKit HTTP API.

To learn how to send a UDP message to the BrightSign, see the UDP Communication Guide.

To use the AccessKit HTTP API, contact us with subject line HTTP API Access Request and we will enable API access for your account.

Caption styling

On-screen captions are styled using basic CSS.

Place a file on the BrightSign's SD card called subtitles.css with the following contents, upated to your desired preferences:

#subtitle-text {
  font-size: 70;
  color: white;
  text-shadow: black 2px 0px 15px;
  text-align: center;
  -webkit-text-stroke: 1px black;
  white-space: pre-line;
}

Next Steps

To learn about more realtime-controls, check out the Realtime Controls Guide.