Working with Elements

Welcome to the Elements section of the HipDeck guide. Elements are the heart of every display you create — they are the individual building blocks you place, arrange, and configure to bring your screens to life. Whether you want to show a live weather forecast, stream a YouTube video, or display a scrolling news feed, every piece of content on a HipDeck display is an Element.

What Is an Element?

An Element is any item that can be placed on a HipDeck display. Think of your display as a canvas and Elements as everything you can put on it. Each Element has its own settings, sizing options, and behavior — but they all share the same drag-and-drop workflow, making it easy to build complex layouts without any technical knowledge.

HipDeck currently supports the following Element types:

• Text — headings, body copy, labels, and any custom text content
• Images — static photos, logos, and graphics
• Videos — locally uploaded video files played directly on your display
• YouTube Videos — embedded YouTube content streamed in real time
• PDFs — document viewers for menus, schedules, and presentations
• Weather — live weather conditions and forecasts for any location
• Clocks — digital or analogue clocks showing the current time
• Timers — countdown or count-up timers for events and promotions
• News RSS Feeds — live headlines pulled from any RSS-compatible news source
• And more — HipDeck continues to grow with new Element types added regularly

Why Elements Matter

Elements give you the flexibility to design displays that are truly tailored to your audience and environment. A lobby screen might combine a Clock, a Weather widget, and a scrolling News Feed. A retail display might feature a looping Video alongside a promotional Text banner. A conference room screen might show a PDF agenda next to a live Timer.

Because every Element is independently configurable, you can mix and match content types on a single display without any limitations. Resize, reposition, and layer Elements freely to achieve exactly the layout you have in mind.

How This Section Is Organized

The guides in this section walk you through each Element type individually. Each guide covers:

• What the Element does and when to use it
• How to add it to a display
• All available configuration options and settings
• Tips and best practices for getting the most out of that Element

New to HipDeck?

If you haven't already, we recommend reading the Getting Started guides before diving into Elements. They'll walk you through creating your first display and introduce the core concepts you'll build on here.

Ready to Explore?

Use the navigation tabs above to jump to any Element type. Each guide is self-contained, so feel free to start with the Element most relevant to your current project.

Related Resources

New to HipDeck? Begin with our Getting Started guide to set up your first display before exploring Elements.