Live News Headlines Screensaver
The News Today screensaver shows the day's headlines on an idle screen, either as a calm card carousel or a scrolling ticker. It reads stories from a content file that an included automation pipeline refreshes from real RSS feeds, so when the page is hosted online the headlines stay current. It needs internet to pull live news and degrades gracefully to a friendly notice when offline; it is free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the News Today screensaver works
On start the saver fetches content/news.json, a small file the bundled Python pipeline fills from real RSS feeds (BBC, NPR, The Guardian, Al Jazeera). Each story carries a title, summary, source and time. You choose how many stories to show and can filter to specific sources.
The Card carousel layout shows one headline at a time in large type with its summary and source, fading to the next every few seconds and tracking progress with a row of dots. The Scrolling ticker layout lays every headline end to end and slides the strip continuously, like a broadcast lower-third.
The page is date-stamped and, because the feed updates on disk, the saver re-reads it without a reload when the pipeline runs. If content/news.json cannot be loaded — for example offline or opened from a file — it shows a single “News feed unavailable” card instead of failing.
A worked example
With the defaults — Card carousel layout, 6 seconds per item, 8 stories drawn from BBC, NPR, The Guardian and Al Jazeera, summaries on, and a cyan accent (#6ee7ff) — the saver shows one headline at a time in big type with a short summary beneath, fading to the next story every six seconds while the dots mark your place through eight stories.
Settings & tips
- Switch Layout to “Scrolling ticker” for a broadcast-style strip, or keep “Card carousel” for one readable headline at a time.
- Use the Sources checkboxes to narrow the feed to just the outlets you trust, and raise Stories up to 30 for a longer cycle.
- Turn off Show summaries for a cleaner, headline-only look, and set the Accent color to match your desktop.
Frequently asked questions
- Where do the news headlines come from?
- They come from content/news.json, which an included Python pipeline fills from real RSS feeds like BBC, NPR, The Guardian and Al Jazeera. The saver re-reads the file as it refreshes.
- Does the news screensaver work offline?
- It needs internet to load fresh headlines. When the feed cannot be reached it shows a friendly News feed unavailable card instead of breaking.
- How often do the headlines update?
- They update whenever the automation pipeline rewrites content/news.json on the server. The saver re-reads that file without needing a page reload.
- Can I choose which news sources appear?
- Yes. Use the Sources checkboxes to filter the feed to BBC, NPR, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, or any combination you prefer.
- Is this news screensaver free and how do I exit it?
- Yes, it is free and runs entirely in your browser. Press ESC at any time to exit the full-screen view.