Skip to content

Uploading slides

One of Awesign's main features is allowing anybody to display their promotional slides in the hallways. This may include departmental events, club events, research results, or even memes. When uploading a slide, you'll select a gallery, which determines what type of content is expected and where it will be shown. The purpose of each public gallery is explained below in Galleries.

There are also private galleries that you may be invited to if appropriate. Private galleries are often used by smaller groups that want to display signage in a less public space, such as a lab. Some of them are listed below.

Filling the form

From the Awesign home page, navigate to Common Actions > Upload Slides. This page presents a form where you can upload your slides. Each slide needs to be approved by a content manager before it will be displayed, so be sure to make your request in advance for anything time-sensitive. You'll be able to set the slide's start date and time to ensure your slide isn't shown too early.

Upload your slide

First, upload your slide. See Creating good slides below for tips when creating your slide. You can click "Upload slide" or drag and drop the file onto the upload field or the preview rectangle. It must be in one of the file formats listed under the field and smaller than the specified maximum file size. You should see a preview of your slide in the preview rectangle once the slide is selected.

If your slide is particularly low or high resolution, you'll see a relevant warning, but this won't prevent uploading. Low resolution slides may appear blurry on signage displays, and high resolution slides may take a few seconds to process while uploading.

Next, select which gallery this slide should be added to. The purpose of each public gallery is explained below in Galleries. You'll also see private galleries you're a member of in the list.

Give it a title

You need to give your slide a brief recognizable title. If you're representing a research lab or club, include the name of your group. There isn't a strictly required format; just ensure it's understandable. E.g., "MakeOpenSource First Meeting Spring 2025"

Add a description (optional)

You can optionally add a description if you feel more information is necessary. The content manager will read this when considering your request. You can provide more information about your group or why you're requesting to promote this slide, or ask for changes outside your control to be made, such as increasing the duration beyond what's allowed.

Set the dates and times

Next, you'll specify the start and end dates and times for your slide.

Dates and times:

  • Need to be formatted as: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM E.g., "2025-12-31 12:34"
  • Use "wall time"—they aren't in a specific timezone like UTC; they go by what the "clock on the wall" says
  • Can be set visually by clicking the calendar or clock icon in the field

The precise dates and times with timezones will be displayed below the fields, so you can verify your inputs.

There are two restrictions on which dates and times you can choose. Both the "latest start date" and "longest duration" you're allowed to choose are shown at the top of the dates and times box. If you select a date or time that violates this restriction, an error will be shown. Content managers can bypass these restrictions.

(Your slide may be shown for a few minutes after your end time if it's already queued up.)

Immediate approval

If you're a content manager for the gallery you selected, you can approve the request immediately by checking "Approve request immediately."

Submit

Once everything looks good, click "Submit request" to upload your slide. A content manager will review it and hopefully approve it soon.

You'll be given the option to submit another slide or view your slides.

Galleries

CSE General

The CSE General gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for departmental events and general promotion.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

CSE Research Highlights

The CSE Research Highlights gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for showcasing departmental research and other publications. This gallery has a reduced weight, so the slides will be shown less frequently.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

CSE Club Events

The CSE Club Events gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for promoting upcoming events for officially recognized clubs relevant to computer science students.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

CSE Meet the Faculty (Private)

The CSE Meet the Faculty gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for sharing facts about faculty members to provide students some background on them. This gallery has a reduced weight , so the slides will be shown less frequently.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

CSE CARA Lab

The CSE CARA Lab gallery is displayed on the TV in the CARA lab. It's appropriate for anything the members of that lab want to display.

These displays have a status bar along the bottom, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

UB General

The UB General gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for promoting university-wide events. This gallery has a reduced weight, so the slides will be shown less frequently.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

SEAS General

The SEAS General gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for promoting School of Engineering and Applied Sciences events. This gallery has a reduced weight, so the slides will be shown less frequently.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

IAD Announcements

The IAD Announcements gallery is displayed on the three TVs on the third floor of Davis Hall. It's appropriate for sharing upcoming events for the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. This gallery has a reduced weight, so the slides will be shown less frequently.

These displays have a status bar along the top, so the ideal aspect ratio is 160:81, which is virtually indistinguishable from 2:1 if that's easier for you. Anything else will have black borders added. Standard 16:9 content still looks reasonably good. The recommended slide dimensions are 3840x1944 ("4K" at 160:81).

Creating good slides

Both graphic design and graphics software are outside the scope of this documentation, but I'll provide some general tips to help make your slides look their best.

Before you begin creating a slide, you should consider which gallery it belongs in and where it will appear. This will determine the ideal aspect ratio and resolution for the slide.

The aspect ratio is the ratio between the slide's width and the height. Try to use the recommended aspect ratio listed for the gallery above. If a slide's aspect ratio doesn't match the frame, it will have black borders.

The resolution refers to the dimensions of the slide in pixels. For example, "1080p" is 1920x1080, and "4K" is typically 3840x2160. Both of these have a 16:9 aspect ratio. You should aim for around 3840x2160 to ensure your slides look sharp. Low resolution slides will appear blurry. On the other hand, making the slide too large will result in a large file size, which Awesign may reject.

You should export your final image as a PNG file, which is a "lossless" image format that preserves all the details.