Bigwords.page turns any screen into a sign using just a link

Bigwords.page is a free web tool that turns any screen into a big sign. You type a message, and the text grows to fill the display.

The idea is simple. The link itself holds the whole sign. You can share it, bookmark it, or open it on a phone, tablet, laptop or smart TV. The site says there is no app to install, no account to make, and nothing stored on a server.

The page suggests a few everyday uses. You can hold up a phone at an arrivals gate, put a countdown on a TV, or show the Wi-Fi password at a front desk. Other examples on the site include an "On air" sign, a gate or room sign, a quiz timer, a birthday message and a scrolling news ticker.

The built-in editor is the easiest way to make a sign. But you can also write the link by hand. You type your message after the # in the address, for example bigwords.page/#Hello World. Settings are added with &key=value, such as bg for background colour, fg for text colour and font for the font choice.

A few small codes control the layout. %0A starts a new line. A # at the start of a line makes a heading, though in the link it has to be written as %23. Two vertical bars, ||, split the message into slides, and an interval setting decides how fast they rotate.

The site lists several other features. Text auto-fits the screen, from a phone to a large board. It supports basic Markdown, which is a simple way to mark text as bold, italic or a heading. You can put {countdown} anywhere in a message, then set a date with &until= or a length of time with &timer=.

It can also make QR codes for links, Wi-Fi, calls, texts and email. The site says these are generated in your browser, with no third-party services. The message sits in the URL fragment, the part after the #, which browsers do not send to a server. That is the basis for the site's privacy claim.

One limit is worth knowing. The displays and the editor need JavaScript turned on. The site also has documentation that explains how the URLs work.