# A digital timeline wall for the lobby, without repainting the corridor

> Put a digital timeline wall in your lobby or corridor: a wall-mounted touchscreen that holds your whole history and changes when you edit it.

Source: https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/digital-timeline-wall · HistoryShowcase · Updated 2026-11-07

Mount a touchscreen where the timeline should be and put your history on it, era by era. When a date turns out to be wrong or a new chapter begins, you change it from your desk instead of calling the sign shop.

## What is a digital timeline wall?

A digital timeline wall is a touchscreen mounted in a lobby or corridor that shows an organization’s history as a timeline visitors can tap through. HistoryShowcase runs it in a web browser on your own touchscreen, full screen or as an installed app, and saves the live site so the wall keeps showing it if the network drops.

- Made for: facilities managers, communications staff and administrators
- Where it goes: Main lobby, A long corridor, Outside a meeting room
- Layouts: Timeline, Photo gallery, Portrait gallery
- Visitors can filter by: Era, Year
- Cost: Free to use. No payment details required.

## Lettering on a wall can’t keep up

Vinyl timelines look sharp on the day they go up. Then a new wing opens, a founder’s birth year turns out to be wrong, or a department is renamed, and the wall stays as it was because changing it means a vendor, a ladder and a quote. A few years later the most recent panel is out of date and nobody wants to touch it.

A digital timeline wall puts the same history on a touchscreen in the same spot. Each era becomes a set of stories with years, photos and short write-ups, and the next chapter is one more story at the end. If you like your lettering, keep it for the headline dates and let the screen beside it carry everything else.

## How does a digital timeline wall compare with a vinyl lettering timeline?

| What matters | Vinyl wall lettering timeline | HistoryShowcase |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reading from down the hall | Large, bold and visible from a distance | Best read up close at the screen |
| Space needed | A long stretch of wall | One screen-sized spot |
| Room for detail | As much text as the wall allows | Each event opens into a story with photos |
| Adding the next chapter | New letters, or a crowded final panel | Add a story at the end of the timeline |
| When the network drops | Not a concern | Keeps showing the saved live site |

## What to put on a digital timeline wall

- **The founding.** Who started it, where, and the first photo you have of the place.
- **Every move and expansion.** New buildings, wings and locations, each dated, with before and after photos.
- **Name changes.** What the organization was called in each era, so older visitors recognize the name they knew.
- **Leaders and long-serving staff.** Directors, presidents and people who gave decades, placed on the year they started.
- **Community moments.** The storm, the fundraising drive, the anniversary dinner: the events people bring up when they see the wall.
- **This year.** Recent milestones at the end of the line, so the wall reads as current, not as a plaque.

## How to organize a timeline wall

A wall screen is read by people passing through, so keep the home screen to a few eras that each open into stories.

Site: Since 1912

- **Our timeline** (Timeline): Every milestone in order, with an era sub-collection for each period.
- **Buildings then and now** (Photo gallery): Old and new photos of the same places, captioned with the year.
- **Leaders** (Portrait gallery): Directors and presidents in order, each with a profile.

Visitors can filter by: Era, Year.

## How do you put up a digital timeline wall?

1. **Choose the spot on the wall.** Pick a place with an outlet and a network signal, out of direct sunlight, and mount the screen low enough for visitors to reach comfortably.
2. **Build the timeline from your desk.** Start at /start in any browser, add your eras and milestones, and check each one in Preview.
3. **Pair the screen.** On the touchscreen, enter the pairing code from the editor, two words and four digits used once within ten minutes, then save the start address in the browser’s start-page setting.

## Where should a digital timeline wall hang?

- **Main lobby.** The first wall visitors face while they wait.
- **A long corridor.** Where a lettered timeline would normally run, with the screen at one end.
- **Outside a meeting room.** People waiting for a meeting have a few minutes to browse.

## Digital timeline wall questions

### Can we keep our existing lettering timeline?

Yes. Many walls work best with both: the lettering gives the headline dates at a glance, and the screen next to it holds the stories, photos and corrections.

### What happens after a power cut or restart?

Save the site’s start address in the kiosk browser’s start-page setting so it opens your timeline again after a restart. Running full screen or as an installed app, the screen also keeps a saved copy for offline use.

### Who can update the wall?

Add colleagues by email as owners, editors or viewers. Changes save as you type and appear on the live site, so mark a new story Private until it’s ready.

### Is this only for schools?

HistoryShowcase was built for schools, and setup asks for a school name and colors. A hospital, company or club enters its own name and uses the same timeline layout and touchscreen setup.

## Related

- [Interactive Timeline Display](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/interactive-timeline-display): A touchscreen timeline where any year opens into the full story, with the photos and documents behind it.
- [Company History Wall](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/company-history-wall): Founders, milestones, products and people on a lobby touchscreen that grows with the company, unlike a printed graphic.
- [Digital History Wall](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/digital-history-wall): History wall ideas that go past one fixed graphic: people, places and eras on a touchscreen you can keep adding to.
- [Touchscreen Display That Works Offline](https://history-showcase.com/use-cases/offline-touchscreen-display): When the network drops, the kiosk keeps showing your published site instead of an error page.

Put your whole timeline on one wall Free to use. No payment details required. Start building, no account needed: https://history-showcase.com/start