/tableaunoir

An online blackboard with fridge magnets

Primary LanguageTypeScriptGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

tableaunoir

Tableaunoir is an online blackboard tool. It can be used as a traditional blackboard but you can also create interactive animations via the use of "fridge magnets". "Tableau noir" means blackboard in french. The online version is available here: [https://tableaunoir.github.io/] (another one)

Video

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6_lhqiPBow] (in French) Showing the first image of the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6_lhqiPBow

Examples of use

Give a lecture

Tableaunoir is used for teaching at ENS Rennes. The main advantage is that the screen is fully black: there are no buttons that annoy or distract the students (in my personal use, I simply hide the toolbar). Tableaunoir is controlled by a graphic tablet and by the keyboard of the computer (7 keys!). It makes it very interactive compared to fixed slides.

A photo showcasing the use of tableaunoir in a real course taught in an amphitheater (1/3) A photo showcasing the use of tableaunoir in a real course taught in an amphitheater (2/3) A photo showcasing the use of tableaunoir in a real course taught in an amphitheater (3/3)

A small gif video showcasing the use of tableaunoir in a course on breadth-first search

Share ideas

An idea to explain and share? Tableaunoir enables to write together on shared collaborative boards.

Draw pictures

Tableaunoir can simply be used to draw pictures: [https://team.inria.fr/erable/en/marie-france-sagot/blog/silly-things/]

Features

  • Of course, you can draw and erase, with your mouse or a graphic tablet.
  • You can also use kind of predefined fridge magnets that you can move on the board, to make animation e.g. for illustrating sorting algorithms, graphs algorithms etc (and even playing Go!).
  • Create your own customized "fridge magnets" for interactive courses, by importing any image.
  • Color palette for chalk (c, 7 colors black/white #000000, yellow #FFFF00, orange #FFA500, blue #64ACFF, red #DC143C, pink #DDA0DD, green #32CD32),
  • Change the color of magnets' background,
  • Load/Save the current board,
  • Add texts (Enter and type), and move texts. Supports LaTeX (using MathJax)!
  • Switch to a whiteboard instead of a blackboard,
  • Collaborate and edit the same board at the same time (need a server for that),
  • Change from right-handed (default) to left-handed cursor,
  • Add as many new half-board as you need, going right with → and then left/right with ←/→ keyboard arrows,

You can teach online by sharing the screen with Discord, Zoom, Teams, etc, or by sharing a link (need a server for that).

Screenshots

Screenshot of tableaunoir showcasing magnets to illustrate sorting algorithms Screenshot of tableaunoir showcasing magnets to illustrate graph algorithms Screenshot of tableaunoir showcasing magnets to illustrate B-tree algorithms Screenshot of tableaunoir showcasing magnets to illustrate large graph algorithms, using Sim City icons for nodes Screenshot of tableaunoir showcasing a course using colors etc Screenshot of tableaunoir showcasing the latest toolbar, magnets, texts etc

Commands for the Tableaunoir project

remove all node_modules and install back again

npm ci

Build everything to dist

npm run build

See linter warning/errors

npm run lint

Starts a local node server

npm run serve

Offline version

If you prefer to use an offline version, it is possible. You have to install Electron and then the application can be launched as follows (from the main directory):

$ electron mainElectron.js

Create your own tableaunoir server

In order to share blackboards, you need a server. In the server, first git clone (and then later git pull) the project. Modify the variable SERVERADDRESS in js/share.js to be the address of your server (eg 1.2.3.4). Install Apache HTTPD to deploy index.html (other web servers might work too, but have not been tested). Install the dependencies for the server, see server/README.md. Then server/run.sh.

License

This software is open-source under the GPLv3.0 license.

Credits