Quick Reference: Design Skills for Alexa-Enabled Devices With a Screen
The following resources help you create skills that support Alexa-enabled devices with a screen, such as the Echo Show.
Concepts and procedures
- Create Skills for Alexa-Enabled Devices With a Screen – The technical documentation for creating skills with screen-based interaction, which includes an overview, best practices, display specifications, and common image-related reasons that skills fail certification.
- Include a Card in Your Skill's Response – A topic that describes how to enhance your skill with graphical cards that users see in the Alexa App, desktop web browsers, and Alexa-enabled devices with a screen.
- Steps to Create a Video Skill – The steps to build a skill that enables you to provide video content such as TV shows and movies.
API reference
- Display Interface Reference – The API reference that describes how to use display templates in your skill code to achieve the look and feel that you want for your skill.
- Display Template Reference – The API reference that provides specific information about display templates that you may want to include in your skill responses to create screen displays for your skill.
- Standard Built-In Intents for Alexa-Enabled Devices With a Screen – The built-in intents that are meant specifically for screen display, which include built-in intents that are handled on the skill's behalf, as well as built-in intents that are forwarded to the skill to handle.
- VideoApp Interface Reference – The API reference for the
VideoAppinterface, which enables you to stream native video files on Alexa devices with a screen.
Sample code
- Berry Bash – A sample skill that uses the Alexa Skills Kit SDK for Node.js to demonstrate how to use body templates, list templates, font manipulation, action text, screen interaction, and voice interaction with on-screen elements.
- Airplane Facts – A sample skill that demonstrates how to write skills for Echo Show and Echo Spot using the Alexa Skills Kit SDK for Java v2.
Blog posts
- 7 Tips for Creating Great Multimodal Experiences for Echo Show – Some tips for building skills for Echo Show and Echo Spot.
- Designing Skills for Echo Show: Choosing the Right Display Template – A discussion of how to choose the appropriate body template for welcome screens, multi-turn dialogs, and displaying details.
- Designing Skills for Echo Show: Choosing the Right List Template – A discussion of how to show options on Echo Show using a list template.
- Enhance Your Audio Skill Visuals for Echo Show and Echo Spot – The metadata within the
AudioPlayer.Playdirective, which enables your audio skill to display album artwork, an audio title, subtitle, and a background image for the track that is currently playing. - How to Build Skills for Echo Show – A blog post that walks you through how to build a skill using the core capabilities of the Echo Show.
- How to Build Skills for Echo Show and Echo Spot Using the ASK SDK for Java – A deep dive into building voice-first skills for Echo Show and Echo Spot using the Alexa Skills Kit for Java.
- Code Deep Dive: Using the Display Directives in the ASK SDK for Node.js – A step-by-step walkthrough for providing a screen experience for your skill.
- How to Control Your Content with the Video Skill API – An overview of how to create video skills for Alexa so that users can find and watch video content without invoking a specific skill.
- Best Practices for Building Alexa Skills for Fire TV Cube – Some tips for building a skill for Fire TV Cube, using core best practices for creating voice-first experiences for devices with screens.
- How to Handle Touch-Screen Controls for Audio Skills on Echo Show and Echo Spot – A description of how to add touch control support for your audio skills on Echo Show and Echo Spot.
- Building Skills for Echo Spot Customers in India – A discussion of how you can build engaging voice-first skills for Echo Spot.
Videos, podcasts, and webinars
- Building Multimodal Skills for Alexa – A webinar about how to add images, video, and formatted text to your skills.
- Building for Voice vs. Screens – A webinar about how to reimagine the multimodal skill experience from a voice-first perspective.
- Creating Visual Alexa Skills for Echo Show with Jen Rapp – A chat with Jen Rapp, an Alexa Skills Kit product manager, about developing the interfaces that Alexa skill developers use with Echo Show.