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Browser Screensaver

Glitch Text Screen

Type a word and it comes back broken — a colour split you choose, blocks of the screen sliding sideways, characters corrupting, and the word snapping to a larger size for a few frames. The late-nineties broken-monitor look, with your text and your colours in it.

Press F for fullscreen, Esc to exit.

What the glitch text screen is

Whatever you type goes in the middle of the screen and gets wrecked. The effect is several things layered: the same text drawn three times at slightly different offsets — your first colour to the left, a white core, your second colour to the right; horizontal bands of the canvas copied back onto itself at a displacement; characters swapped for block glyphs mid-burst; and scanlines over the top of everything.

The one that people notice is the punch — the text snapping to a bigger size, often stretched more in one axis than the other, then dropping back. It is a hard cut rather than a smooth zoom, because a glitch that eases in is not a glitch.

Restraint is what makes it work. The screen is stable most of the time, and the glitches arrive in short bursts. Constant corruption stops reading as a glitch and starts reading as noise.

  • A name, a handle or a band name as a full-screen title card
  • A Y2K or vaporwave aesthetic for a stream or a party
  • A "system is broken" screen for a set or a game
  • A striking full-screen effect that is genuinely eye-catching

Custom glitch text, colour split and scale punch, fullscreen

The text field takes up to twenty-four characters, and the type sizes itself to fit — a short word fills the screen, a longer phrase scales down to stay on one line. Your text is written into the address bar as you type, so a particular word in particular colours is a link you can bookmark or send.

The two colour fields are the split itself. The defaults are the classic red and blue of a misaligned monitor, but any two hex values work: cyan and magenta for a print-registration look, two neighbouring hues for something subtle, or a hot pair for maximum vaporwave. The letters keep a white core whatever you choose, so the text stays readable and your colours read as the fringes either side.

The intensity control changes both how often bursts happen and how violent they are: how far the colour channels separate, how many bands displace, how many characters corrupt, and how hard the size punch hits. At the low end it is an occasional twitch; at the top it barely settles.

This one flashes and jumps. If that is a problem, Pause holds it on a stable frame.

How to run the glitch text screen full screen

Press the fullscreen button on the player, or the F key. Escape brings you back to the page. On a desktop browser F11 does the same job and hides the browser’s own toolbars as well, which is what you want on a display that is going to be left running.

Everything you change in the settings is written into the address bar as you change it, so the version you have set up is a link. Bookmark it, or send it to whoever is running the screen. Space pauses and resumes at any time.

Questions

Can I use my own text?

Yes. Type anything up to twenty-four characters into the text field and it replaces the word on screen straight away. The text is kept in the URL, so your version is a link you can share.

Can I change the glitch colours?

Yes. The two hex fields set the left and right halves of the colour split — red and blue by default. Both are kept in the URL alongside your text, so a colour scheme you like is a link.

Why does the text stay white in the middle?

The three copies are composited additively, so where they all overlap they blow out to white and your two colours survive as the fringes either side. That is what a real misaligned display does, and it is also what keeps the word legible at any colour choice.

Why does the text jump to a bigger size?

That is the scale punch, and it is deliberate. During a burst the word snaps to a larger size — usually stretched by a different amount horizontally and vertically — holds for a few frames, then snaps back. It is what makes the burst land rather than just shimmer.

Why do some letters turn into blocks?

Characters are swapped for block and symbol glyphs while a burst is running, then restored. It is the same idea as the colour split: the word has to be legible in between for the corruption to read as corruption.

Is this safe for photosensitivity?

It is the most abrupt page in this set: bursts arrive without warning and involve sudden displacement, size changes and colour changes. Turn intensity down, or use Pause, if that is a concern.

Why does it look calm between glitches?

On purpose. A screen that glitches constantly reads as static; the bursts only land as glitches because the screen is stable in between.

Is the glitch text screen free?

Yes — free, with no account, no download, no watermark and no time limit. It is a web page, so it runs on anything with a modern browser.

How do I stop it or exit fullscreen?

Press Escape to leave fullscreen, or F to toggle it. Space pauses the animation without leaving the page. If you used F11 to hide the browser toolbars, press F11 to bring them back.