Pages 2.0 | Scrolling Text Widget

🎯 Who this article is for: Anyone with edit access to the page group or page they want to add the widget to.

💼 Availability: The Scrolling Text Widget is available to Starter, Growth, and Enterprise.

🔒 Permissions: Edit access to the page group or page is required to add or configure the widget.

1. Overview

Not every update needs its own page, but it still deserves to be seen. The Scrolling Text Widget adds a line of text that moves continuously across the page, carrying deadlines, announcements, or links so people notice them without you creating a new page or post.

Readers stay in control: hovering pauses the scroll so they can read every word, and moving away lets it continue. It's a lightweight way to keep what matters visible right on the pages people already check, whatever that happens to be for your organization.

2. Use Cases

• Keep a deadline impossible to miss: When open enrollment or an expense report deadline is approaching, add the date directly to the widget on your HR or finance page so it stays visible above the fold, instead of waiting for someone to scroll down to a notice.
• Turn a homepage into a live update board: Ops teams can combine company milestones, all-hands reminders, and new hire announcements into a single scrolling line on the homepage, giving leadership a visible, always-current answer to "what's happening this week" without creating a separate post.
• Drive traffic to a specific page or event: Link the widget's text to a sign-up page, event page, or external resource so anyone reading it can click straight through, instead of hunting for the link elsewhere on the page.

3. Before You Begin

• You need admin, page group owner, or page group editor access to add or configure the widget on a page.
• An admin must install the Scrolling Text Widget from the Apps Marketplace before it appears in the widget menu. See section 4.
• Have your text ready, along with any link you want to attach. If you're combining more than one message, decide where you want a break between them.

4. How to Install the Scrolling Text Widget

1. Click your avatar in the navigation.
2. Go to Admin Settings → Apps.
3. Search for Scrolling Text Widget.
4. Click the Install button at the top right.
5. Accept the terms and conditions to complete installation.

The Scrolling Text Widget will now appear in the widget menu whenever you are editing a page in Pages 2.0.

5. How to Add the Scrolling Text Widget to a Page

1. Navigate to the page where you want to add the widget.
2. Click the pencil icon (top right) to enter the page editor.
3. Go to Widgets and select the Scrolling Text Widget to place it in a section on the page. 
   1. 🔎 For general guidance on adding widgets to a page, see the Add and Manage Widgets article.
4. Hover over the widget and click the gear icon to open the configuration settings.
5. Configure the widget (see section 6), then publish the page to make it visible to everyone with access (editing and viewing permission).

6. How to configure and style the Scrolling Text Widget

Every setting here takes seconds to change, so it's easy to get the widget looking and behaving exactly how you want. To configure the widget, hover over it and click the gear icon to open the settings panel.

Configure tab

• Widget header: Toggle on to display a header above the widget content.
• Scrolling text items — separate with |: Enter your text as a single continuous line that scrolls and then loops back to the start. Use the pipe (|) to add a break between separate sentences or messages within that line, for example: "Open enrollment closes Friday | New hire spotlight: meet Alex | Q3 town hall: Thursday at 2pm." Without a pipe, everything you type reads as one uninterrupted sentence.
• Separator symbol: Enter a character or emoji to set the icon shown between each looping item, such as a star or dot.
• Target URL: Add a link starting with http:// or https:// to make the text clickable. Toggle Open link in new tab if you want the link to open in a separate tab.
• Scroll direction: Choose right to left (default), left to right, top to bottom, or bottom to top.
• Scroll speed: Choose slow, normal, fast, or very fast.
• Height: Use the slider to set the widget's height, from 24px (positions the text at the top) to 600px (centers it).
• Font size: Choose small, medium, large, or extra large.
• Font weight: Choose regular or bold.
• Background color: Select a background color from your applied Brand Style’s color palette. 
• Text color: Choose a text color from your applied Brand Style’s color palette.

Style tab

The Style tab controls the visual appearance of this widget instance, the same controls used across Happeo's other page widgets.

🗒️ Note: Customizing the widget's styling is only available if the page group's Brand Style is unlocked.

• Style option: Select a preset style, or choose (Customize) to set individual values.
• Padding: Control the spacing inside the widget using the slider (0px to 32px). Toggle Custom padding on to set each side independently.
• Border: Toggle on to add a border around the widget.
• Round corners: Use the slider to set the corner radius.
• Shadow: Toggle on to add a drop shadow to the widget.
• Background colour: Choose a background colour or keep the system default.
• Background image: Select an image source to display as the widget background.
• Colour theme: Set the text and contrast theme. Automatic (light, with dark text) is the default.

7. Best practices

• Don't overload the line: Since everything scrolls past as a single continuous line, packing in too many messages means readers have to sit through the whole scroll just to reach the one they actually need. Keep it to a handful of items and leave the rest for a full page or post.
• Reserve it for messages that expire: Deadlines, events, and countdowns suit the widget's fast-moving format better than reference material someone needs to read slowly, which belongs on a Text Widget instead.
• Link high-value messages back to the full story: The widget can only say so much in one line, so attach a link when a message needs more context, sending readers straight to the resource behind it.

8. Frequently asked questions

Can I link the widget to a page within my platform, not just an external site? 

Yes. The Target URL field supports any link, including internal destinations like a specific page, page group, or channel post, not just external websites.

Is there a limit to how many items I can add? 

No, there's no set limit. Since it all scrolls as a single continuous line, though, adding too many messages means readers have to sit through the whole scroll to catch each one. See section 7 for tips on keeping it concise.

9. Troubleshooting

My scrolling text isn't clickable 

Check that the Target URL field is filled in and starts with http:// or https://. Without the prefix, the link may not register correctly.

My messages run together with no space between them 

This happens when a pipe (|) wasn't added between messages in the scrolling text items. Add a | between each one so they read as separate messages within the line instead of one continuous sentence.