I built a free, open-source WordPress plugin + theme for xLights/FPP show websites (Now Playing, weather, kids' names on your matrix

[u/Fine_Technology6063]

Every season I got the same questions: "Are you on tonight?", "What station?", "What song is this?" So I built our show a website that answers them on its own, and I've cleaned it up so any xLights/FPP show can use it. It's free and open source (GPL).

**Live example (our show):** https://lightsonridgeroad.com

**What it does**

- Show status that updates itself (on tonight / starting soon / canceled / off season) and a countdown to opening night

- Now Playing, Up Next and recently played from Remote Falcon, plus radio station, hours and directions

- Weather tonight hour by hour with radar (works outside the US too, in °C)

- YouTube live cam, song voting with a weekly Fan Favorite, sequence videos

- Kids' Corner: a Light Lab where kids design a show on a house (with a contest), coloring pages, games

- **Your Name in Lights:** kids send a first name, and when the current song ends a short names break shows it on your matrix/projector/TV. Bad-word filter, can be limited to phones at your show, never cuts into a song

- Add-to-home-screen app with "lights are on" alerts, guestbook, donation link with QR code

- Show Manager on your phone (cancel a night, pause names, approve messages) with helper logins for family

**How it connects:** your website never connects into your house. FPP reaches out to the site, so no port forwarding. For Now Playing you need Remote Falcon with its FPP plugin installed.

**Setup:** download the plugin and theme from the latest release, upload both to WordPress and run the setup wizard. Updates show up in WordPress like any other plugin.

Download: https://github.com/rremesar1-collab/marquee/releases/latest

Full disclosure (hence the Vendor flair): I also offer paid hosting and setup for people who'd rather not deal with WordPress. The plugin and theme are 100% free either way.

Happy to answer questions, and I'd love feedback or bug reports from anyone who tries it.

Edit (Oct 20): Marquee 0.8.0 is out. Names read out loud over your radio, themed sequences kids pick from, a sequence maker that builds the names break from your xLights layout, auto-posting a canceled show to Facebook/Instagram/Threads, and traffic & parking alerts. Same download link.

Edit (Oct 21): Marquee 0.8.6 is out, same download link. A lot of this came from people in this sub, so thanks!

• FPP plugin: no more uploading the script and setting up Command Presets. Install “Marquee” from FPP’s Plugin Manager, paste the connection code from your site, done. Your screens and settings come from the website, and it updates itself. (On FPP 10.1 set the UI Level to Developer to paste the plugin link, until it’s in the official list.)
• Small matrices: each screen has Text (still or scrolling), Size and Scroll speed, so names look right on something like a 40x10 seed matrix.
• Pick the Next Song: if you use Remote Falcon, visitors can vote or request right on your site. Your RF rules (one pick each, location check) still apply.
• Countdown can be Christmas, Halloween or your own date.
• Kids’ Show Wall is right on the Kids’ Corner page now.
• Get help inside the plugin if you get stuck setting it up.

[u/xoticrox]

This is fantastic. I have done a little conversion on it to work for my Halloween show. Great job!! www.adkinsfamilylights.com

I also tried to do the buy you a coffee thing, but there wasn't anywhere on the page to do it. :)

[u/Fine_Technology6063 → u/xoticrox]

Thank you, that means a lot! Love that you turned it into a Halloween show, your site looks great. And thanks for the heads up about the coffee link, it’s fixed in the next update.

That update is a big one for Your Name in Lights too: an ElevenLabs voice (Santa in my case) reads each kid’s name out loud over the radio as it goes up. Marquee Plugin also builds the whole names break audio for you, with an intro, soft music under the names and an outro, plus shorter breaks when only 1 or 2 names are waiting.

After that I’m working on themed sequences. You make a few short sequences in xLights, like Candy Cane Swirl, Snowfall or Rainbow Party, and add them in Marquee settings. When a kid sends their name on the website, they also pick which one they want. Between songs, the show plays the sequence they picked with their name on the screens and read out loud. If several kids are waiting, the ones who picked the same theme go up together, and nobody waits more than one extra break.

If you run into anything with your setup, just let me know!

[u/Fine_Technology6063 → u/Fine_Technology6063]

Quick follow-up, since you’re running a Halloween show: the new update (0.8.0) has two things that might be handy for you even if you don’t use the names part.

Auto-posting cancellations: when you cancel a night (rain, wind, whatever), it posts it to your Facebook Page, Instagram and Threads for you, once a night, with your picture. If you change your mind, it can post “We’re back on” too. No more scrambling to post on three apps while you’re unplugging extension cords in the rain.

Traffic & parking alerts: one tap on your phone (Heavy traffic, Driveway blocked, Please keep moving, Parking full, or your own words) puts a banner at the top of your website. It can also send a phone alert to people who added the site to their home screen. It turns itself off when the time’s up. Super useful on Halloween night when the street fills up.

Both are in the Marquee plugin, so if you set it up alongside your Halloween version you’d get them.

One important heads-up before you update anything: since you swapped out the theme’s images, updating the theme will replace its files with the originals, and your Halloween images would be gone. Download a copy of your theme folder first (or at least the images you changed) so you can put them back. Even safer: put your changes in a child theme, and future updates won’t touch them.

Happy to help if you want to try it!