[Wylug-discuss] Anything Happening in FLOSS Presentation Software?

[Simon Brown]

At Thu, 23 Sep 2010 01:57:16 +0100,
Dave Fisher wrote:
> 
> I'm in the process of writing and re-writing several training courses.
> 
> Since compositing the content is going to be a time-consuming process
> (whatever method I use) I thought I better look around to see if there
> were any better alternatives to my current methods of generating
> HTML/PDF slides and accompanying printed manuals (TOC, indexes,
> hands-on exercises, extra background, follow-up materials, etc) from a
> single markup/markdown source.
> 
> Unfortunately, I'm finding it practically impossible to generate
> search results which aren't full of irrelevant noise, or don't focus
> on 5 to 6-year old tools like Eric Meyer's S5.
> 
> So I figure I've a better chance of finding something useful if I ask
> around to see if anyone has been keeping an eye on developments in
> this field.
> 
> At present half of my course materials are generated by an old tool
> which generates HTML+CSS slides and PDF manuals from XML sources using
> a GBdirect-specific DTD (for which I still thank Aaron Crane, Smylers
> and Geoff Richards).
> 
> The other half are written in S5-compatible HTML (generating S5
> slideshows directly) and then filtered through OpenOffice to generate
> PDF manuals (more thanks Geoff).
> 
> Sadly, both are proving a bit clunky and limiting.
> 
> This is partly, because hardware and browser developments have
> outdated some of the assumptions behind the HTML/CSS/Javascript slide
> presentations in both systems; and partly because I want to do a lot
> more with my students and (hence) with the presentation of slides and
> manuals.
> 
> Given more time than I have available, I could probably roll my own
> upgrade to the S5-based system, but anything more than trivial coding
> is out of the question.
> 
> So here are my parameters:
> 
> * Sources should be easily writeable in a plain text editor (UTF-8)
> * The mark-up (or markdown) should support most HTML metadata,
> including micro-formats
> * Screen presentation should be easy on any common OS with a default
> PDF viewer or Browser (preferably both)
> * It should be possible to drive the slide show entirely by keyboard
> on all platforms
> * Screen output should be fully scaleable at 4:3 aspect on screen
> widths from 800 px to 2500 px, i.e. all page components should scale
> proportionally in 3 dimensions (including layers) and the aspect
> retained.
> * Printed output should have the kind of metadata and typesetting
> capabilities associated with LaTeX, e.g. automatic TOCs, Indexes,
> Footnotes, End-notes, Cross-referencing, Bibliographies, Appendices,
> etc.
> * Page Layout, including graphics and tables should be easier, richer
> and more flexible than it was traditionally in LaTeX, e.g. SVG,
> overlays, flowing text around irregular polygons and curves, text that
> scales with the graphics it's embedded in or overlaid on. (I'm really
> out of date on TeX-based developments, so I'd be willing to consider
> any suggestions of newer stuff, given some guidance).
> 
> I am not remotely interested in PPT-style mouse-driven presentation
> packages like the OO Presenter, Google Docs, and clones. I just can't
> stand the way they screw up entire slide shows and style-sheets,
> merely because you inadvertently place an insertion or selection point
> on the wrong side of a control character that you can't actually see.
> 
> Any ideas?

Have you heard of emacs org mode? It's pretty amazing in general, I
use it for all of my project planning. Other people use its LaTeX
export functionality to create presentations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho6nMWGtepY

Simon