Frequently Asked Questions
How can I send my slipshow to someone
The compiled file is a standalone html file! Just send that, no dependencies.
That is, unless you’ve made some special things, such as including a video. In this case, put all dependencies in an archive.
How can I insert an image in my presentation?
Use the markdown syntax! . The supported image types are those supported on the web.
If using a local image does not work (as in the online sliphub editor), a workaround when available is to use a link to the image on the web.
How can I add math to my presentation?
Use the markdown syntax!
To add inline formulas, use $ as in Latex. To add “display” mathematics, use a block block with math language. Here is an example:
let $m$ be the mass, $E$ be the energy and $c$ be the light celerity. The we have:
```math
E = mc^2
```
Is there a Markdown syntax for slipshow?
Yes! Slipshow started just as an engine, and you had to write html by hand. But this had some drawbacks, the biggest of which I think is that HTML is hard to read, and not so easy to write.
For reference and fun, here is the old answer to this question:
No, because markdown is not well-suited for that. Indeed, it does not allow
to add enought meta-information, such that all the slip attributes. This
lack of meta-information is what makes it beautiful, but you cannot make
presentations without extra information.
There are many enrichment to the markdown syntax, each trying to fill a
hole in the amount of "meta-information" you can give. I think that it is
bad for a language to have too many slightly different variation of it. It
shows its limitations: there is no better way to increase its expressivity.
You can define a slip-enhancement to markdown, call it MarkSlip, and a
compiler from MarkSlip to html. But MarkSlip will lose all the benefits of
Markdown. I think you should stick to HTML or maybe Pug.
Do I really have to write plain HTML?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Many people complain about the cumbersome of writing html. However, I don't
think the complaints are really justified. It is true that the html is not
the less verbose language, with opening and closing tags, even for inline
elements.
I think the more important thing is to use a good editor. My personnal
taste is emacs, but I am sure there are tons of great editors to write
html. Do not write everything by hand, but in a more "high-level" way: use
shortcuts to add elements, attributes, move your cursor according to the
tree an html file defines...
You can have a look at `pug <https://pugjs.org>`_. It is a language that
can be compiled to html, using `pug-cli
<https://www.npmjs.com/package/pug-cli>`_. The language has the same
expressivity as html, but follows different precepts: no closing tags, the
range of an element is defined using indentation. It makes it often more
readable, you can find an example `here
<https://github.com/pugjs/pug#syntax>`_. I plan to add a version of the
tutorial in pug.
Can I export to PDF?
Yes! Slipshow’s syntax is mostly compatible with pandoc’s markdown, so you can export a presentation to latex and compile the produced latex. It is useful to send as notes, rather than sending the slipshow presentation!
Will it look the same on all screens?
Mostly yes. Browser do what they can to render exactly the same. A low resolution might make your presentation blurry, but things will be at the same place.
Can I see my presentation on a smartphone or similar device?
Yes, but you won’t be able to navigate (unless you have a way to force the keyboard to appear). I just need to integrate the gestures, which is not difficult but takes some time. You can make a pull request if you want!
I don’t like your system, what can I do?
There are other great HTML5 presentation system such as reveal.js, impress.js, eagle.js, Flides. There are great way to write pdf based presentation such as Beamer. You can also use Libreoffice (I have never tried).