Screen Presentation Tools

Tools for Creating Screen or Online Presentations

Michael Wiedmann

Revision History
Revision 0.0.54 2004-01-31
Revision 0.0.1 2001-03-10
Initial release.

Abstract

Preparing a presentation usually means creating some sort of slides. The more LCD projectors get common in working environments, the more comes to mind creating such presentation material as a screen version, which can be viewed using a LCD projector or at least a computer screen. As a side effect such presentations can usually easily be presented on a website.

This document tries to show some possible solutions for creating screen based presentations. Most of the listed solutions are (La)TeX-based because I personally prefer (La)TeX - and derived tools - over other documentation systems. So called Office Solutions are not listed.

This list for sure is far from being complete. If you know of any other solution please let me know so that I can include it in this document. Contributions are very welcome.

The presented solutions are divided in three groups: PDF Based Solutions, HTML Based Solutions, and Other Solutions. In case a specific solution would fit in more than one group, I tried to choose the most appropriate one. An additional chapter Todo lists all the tools which I haven't had time yet to look at. The chapter Hints and Tricks will list interesting hints and tricks for creating presentations.

Please treat the expressed opinions about the different solutions strictly as my private opinion. Other people might come to different judgements.

Legal Notice

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no invariant sections, with no Front-Cover texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.


Table of Contents
1. PDF Based Solutions
1.1. AxPoint
1.1.1. General Description
1.1.2. Requirements
1.1.3. Pros and Cons
1.1.4. Homepage
1.1.5. Copyright and License
1.2. beamer
1.2.1. General Description
1.2.2. Requirements
1.2.3. Pros and Cons
1.2.4. Homepage
1.2.5. Copyright and License
1.3. foiltex
1.3.1. General Description
1.3.2. Requirements
1.3.3. Pros and Cons
1.3.4. Homepage
1.3.5. Copyright and License
1.4. ifmslide
1.4.1. General Description
1.4.2. Requirements
1.4.3. Pros and Cons
1.4.4. Homepage
1.4.5. Copyright and License
1.5. pdfscreen.sty
1.5.1. General Description
1.5.2. Requirements
1.5.3. Pros and Cons
1.5.4. Homepage
1.5.5. Copyright and License
1.5.6. Special Notes
1.6. PPower4 – P^4, PDF Presentation Post Processor
1.6.1. General Description
1.6.2. Requirements
1.6.3. Pros and Cons
1.6.4. Homepage
1.6.5. Copyright and License
1.7. Prosper
1.7.1. General Description
1.7.2. Requirements
1.7.3. Pros and Cons
1.7.4. Homepage
1.7.5. Copyright and License
1.8. rayslides.sty
1.8.1. General Description
1.8.2. Requirements
1.8.3. Pros and Cons
1.8.4. Homepage
1.8.5. Copyright and License
1.9. ReportLab / PythonPoint
1.9.1. General Description
1.9.2. Requirements
1.9.3. Pros and Cons
1.9.4. Homepage
1.9.5. Copyright and License
1.10. seminar.sty
1.10.1. General Description
1.10.2. Requirements
1.10.3. Pros and Cons
1.10.4. Homepage
1.10.5. Copyright and License
1.11. slidenotes
1.11.1. General Description
1.11.2. Requirements
1.11.3. Pros and Cons
1.11.4. Homepage
1.11.5. Copyright and License
1.12. slideshow
1.12.1. General Description
1.12.2. Requirements
1.12.3. Pros and Cons
1.12.4. Homepage
1.12.5. Copyright and License
1.13. TeXPower
1.13.1. General Description
1.13.2. Requirements
1.13.3. Pros and Cons
1.13.4. Homepage
1.13.5. Copyright and License
1.14. web.sty
1.14.1. General Description
1.14.2. Requirements
1.14.3. Pros and Cons
1.14.4. Homepage
1.14.5. Copyright and License
2. HTML Based Solutions
2.1. DocBook dbslide
2.1.1. General Description
2.1.2. Requirements
2.1.3. Pros and Cons
2.1.4. Homepage
2.1.5. Copyright and License
2.2. DocBook slides
2.2.1. General Description
2.2.2. Requirements
2.2.3. Pros and Cons
2.2.4. Homepage
2.2.5. Copyright and License
2.3. latex2slides
2.3.1. General Description
2.3.2. Requirements
2.3.3. Pros and Cons
2.3.4. Homepage
2.3.5. Copyright and License
3. Other Solutions
3.1. DFBPoint
3.1.1. General Description
3.1.2. Requirements
3.1.3. Pros and Cons
3.1.4. Homepage
3.1.5. Copyright and License
3.2. mechapoint
3.2.1. General Description
3.2.2. Requirements
3.2.3. Pros and Cons
3.2.4. Homepage
3.2.5. Copyright and License
3.3. mgp - MagicPoint
3.3.1. General Description
3.3.2. Requirements
3.3.3. Pros and Cons
3.3.4. Homepage
3.3.5. Copyright and License
3.3.6. Special Notes
4. Todo
4.1. Active-DVI
4.1.1. General Description
4.1.2. Requirements
4.1.3. Pros and Cons
4.1.4. Homepage
4.1.5. Copyright and License
4.2. ConTeXt
4.2.1. General Description
4.2.2. Requirements
4.2.3. Pros and Cons
4.2.4. Homepage
4.2.5. Copyright and License
4.3. gpresent
4.3.1. General Description
4.3.2. Requirements
4.3.3. Pros and Cons
4.3.4. Homepage
4.3.5. Copyright and License
4.4. HavenPoint
4.4.1. General Description
4.4.2. Requirements
4.4.3. Pros and Cons
4.4.4. Homepage
4.4.5. Copyright and License
4.5. ImPress
4.5.1. General Description
4.5.2. Requirements
4.5.3. Pros and Cons
4.5.4. Homepage
4.5.5. Copyright and License
4.6. Java Power Presenter - JPP
4.6.1. General Description
4.6.2. Requirements
4.6.3. Pros and Cons
4.6.4. Homepage
4.6.5. Copyright and License
4.7. JackSVG
4.7.1. General Description
4.7.2. Requirements
4.7.3. Pros and Cons
4.7.4. Homepage
4.7.5. Copyright and License
4.8. LyX
4.8.1. General Description
4.8.2. Requirements
4.8.3. Pros and Cons
4.8.4. Homepage
4.8.5. Copyright and License
4.9. marSLIDE
4.9.1. General Description
4.9.2. Requirements
4.9.3. Pros and Cons
4.9.4. Homepage
4.9.5. Copyright and License
4.10. pdfwin
4.10.1. General Description
4.10.2. Requirements
4.10.3. Pros and Cons
4.10.4. Homepage
4.10.5. Copyright and License
4.11. Pointless
4.11.1. General Description
4.11.2. Requirements
4.11.3. Pros and Cons
4.11.4. Homepage
4.11.5. Copyright and License
4.12. PPPSlides
4.12.1. General Description
4.12.2. Requirements
4.12.3. Pros and Cons
4.12.4. Homepage
4.12.5. Copyright and License
4.13. Prestimel
4.13.1. General Description
4.13.2. Requirements
4.13.3. Pros and Cons
4.13.4. Homepage
4.13.5. Copyright and License
4.14. slides
4.14.1. General Description
4.14.2. Requirements
4.14.3. Pros and Cons
4.14.4. Homepage
4.14.5. Copyright and License
4.14.6. Special Notes
4.15. slides.sh
4.15.1. General Description
4.15.2. Requirements
4.15.3. Pros and Cons
4.15.4. Homepage
4.15.5. Copyright and License
4.16. TeX4ht: LaTeX and TeX for Hypertext
4.16.1. General Description
4.16.2. Requirements
4.16.3. Pros and Cons
4.16.4. Homepage
4.16.5. Copyright and License
4.17. Utopia PDF Presentations Bundle
4.17.1. General Description
4.17.2. Requirements
4.17.3. Pros and Cons
4.17.4. Homepage
4.17.5. Copyright and License
4.18. WML - Website META Language
4.18.1. General Description
4.18.2. Requirements
4.18.3. Pros and Cons
4.18.4. Homepage
4.18.5. Copyright and License
4.19. xdvipresent
4.19.1. General Description
4.19.2. Requirements
4.19.3. Pros and Cons
4.19.4. Homepage
4.19.5. Copyright and License
4.20. XSLies
4.20.1. General Description
4.20.2. Requirements
4.20.3. Pros and Cons
4.20.4. Homepage
4.20.5. Copyright and License
5. Hints and Tricks
5.1. PDF
5.1.1. Start other programs from within a PDF presentation
A. History, Credits, Remarks, and License
A.1. History
A.2. Credits
A.3. About this Document
A.3.1. Contributions
A.4. GNU Free Documentation License
Index
List of Figures
1-1. AxPoint example
1-2. beamer example: title page in Acrobat Reader
1-3. foiltex example: title page in Acrobat Reader
1-4. ifmslide example: title page in Acrobat Reader
1-5. pdfscreen example: title page in Acrobat Reader
1-6. prosper example: page in Acrobat Reader
1-7. rayslides example: title page
1-8. rayslides example: second page
1-9. PythonPoint example: page in Acrobat Reader
1-10. slidenotes example: sample page
1-11. slidenotes example: sample page with notes
1-12. slideshow example
1-13. TexPower example: title page in Acrobat Reader
1-14. TexPower example: partial displayed page 2
1-15. web.sty example: title page in Acrobat Reader
1-16. web.sty example: page in Acrobat Reader
2-1. slides example: title page in Netscape
2-2. slides example: first page in Netscape
3-1. mgp example in Acrobat Reader
List of Examples
1-1. DFBPoint Example
1-2. beamer example
1-3. foiltex Example
1-4. ifmslide Example
1-5. pdfscreen Example
1-6. PPower4 Example
1-7. prosper Example
1-8. RaySlides Example
1-9. PythonPoint Example
1-10. slidenotes Example
1-11. slideshow Example
1-12. TexPower Example
1-13. web.sty Example
2-1. DocBook dbslide Example
2-2. DocBook slides Example
3-1. DFBPoint Example
3-2. mechapoint Example
3-3. mgp Example

Chapter 1. PDF Based Solutions

This chapter lists tools which generate PDF as their main output format. Some of them might be able to generate other output formats too (like PS).


1.1. AxPoint


1.1.1. General Description

"AxPoint is a presentation making tool from the makers of Apache AxKit. It allows you to build beautiful presentations using a simple XML description format. "


1.1.1.1. Example

Example 1-1. DFBPoint Example

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<slideshow>

  <title>AxKit</title>
  <metadata>
     <speaker>Matt Sergeant</speaker>
     <email>matt@axkit.com</email>
     <organisation>AxKit.com Ltd</organisation>
     <link>http://axkit.com/</link>
     <logo scale="0.4">ax_logo.png</logo>
     <background>redbg.png</background>
  </metadata>

  <slide transition="dissolve">
    <title href="http://www.xml.com/">Introduction</title>
    <point level="1" href="http://xmlperl.com">Perl's XML Capabilities</point>
    <point level="1">A long bullet point line for testing the line
              wrapping capabilities which should make this look OK</point>
    <point level="1">AxKit static sites</point>
    <point level="1">AxKit dynamic sites (XSP)</point>
    <point level="1">Advanced <colour name="red">AxKit</colour></point>
    <source_code>
<color name="blue">Foo!</color>
    </source_code>
  </slide>

  <slide default-transition="replace">
    <title>Table Example</title>
    <table>
        <row>
            <col width="40%">
                <source-code>
Some code;
in the

++ first; # column

that {
  maybe we
  want to comment();
  on...
}
                </source-code>
                <point>and a point here...</point>
                <source-code>followed by more code</source-code>
                <point>and another point</point>
            </col>
            <col width="60%">
                <point>Notice how we did this...</point>
                <point>And how we can add stuff over here!</point>
                <source-code>include &lt;ing.h> //code</source-code>
            </col>
        </row>
    </table>
    <!-- Now some SVG! -->
    <rect x="100" y="100" width="50" height="100" style="stroke: black"/>
    <circle cx="50" cy="50" r="240"/>
    <ellipse cx="100" cy="50" rx="30" ry="60" style="fill: aqua; 
              stroke: red; stroke-width: 5"/>
    <text x="200" y="200" style="stroke: black; fill: none; 
              font: italic 24pt serif">A Cat</text>
  </slide>

  <slideset>
     <title>XML with Perl Introduction</title>

     <slide>
        <title>A very long <i>title that</i> should show how word
              <i>wrapping in the title</i> tag hopefully works 
              properly today</title>
        <point level="1">SAX-like API</point>
        <point level="1">register callback handler methods</point>
        <point level="2">start tag</point>
        <point level="2">end tag</point>
        <point level="2">characters</point>
        <point level="2">comments</point>
        <point level="2">processing instructions</point>
        <source_code>
&lt;?pi here?>
        </source_code>
        <point level="2">... and more</point>
        <point level="1">Non validating XML parser</point>
        <point level="1">dies (throws an exception) on bad XML</point>
     </slide>
     
     <slide>
        <title>XML::Parser code</title>
        <source_code>
my $p = XML::Parser->new(
<i>    Handlers => { 
        Start => \&amp;start_tag, 
        End => \&amp;end_tag,
        # add more handlers here
        });
    </i>
$p->parsefile("foo.xml");

<color name="green">exit(0);</color>

sub start_tag {
  my ($expat, $tag, %attribs) = @_;
  print "Start tag: $tag\n";
}

sub end_tag {
  my ($expat, $tag) = @_;
  print "End tag: $tag\n";
}
        </source_code>
     </slide>
     
     <slide>
     <title>XML::XPath Implementation</title>
     <point level="1">XML::Parser and SAX parsers build an 
              in-memory tree</point>
     <point level="1">Hand-built parser for XPath syntax 
              (rather than YACC based parser)</point>
     <point level="1">Garbage Collection yet still has
              circular references (and works on Perl 5.005)</point>
     <image>pointers.png</image>
     </slide>
     
  </slideset>
  
  <slide>
  <title>Conclusions</title>
  <point level="1" transition="dissolve">Perl and XML are a
              powerful combination</point>
  <point level="1" transition="replace">XPath and XSLT add
              to the mix...</point>
  <point level="1" transition="glitter">AxKit can reduce your
              long term costs</point>
  <point level="2" transition="dissolve">In site re-design</point>
  <point level="2" transition="box">and in content re-purposing</point>
  <point level="1" transition="wipe">Open Source equal to
              commercial alternatives</point>
  <image transition="dissolve">world_map-960.png</image>
  </slide>
  
  <slide>
  <title>Resources and contact</title>
  <point level="1">AxKit: http://axkit.org/</point>
  <point level="1">CPAN: http://search.cpan.org</point>
  <point level="1">libxml and libxslt: http://www.xmlsoft.org</point>
  <point level="1">Sablotron: http://www.gingerall.com</point>
  <point level="1">XPath and XSLT Tutorials: http://zvon.org</point>
  </slide>
  
</slideshow>
                      


Figure 1-1. AxPoint example


1.1.2. Requirements

1.1.2.1. Mandatory

  • XML::SAX (Perl module)

  • XML::SAX::Writer (Perl module)

  • pdflib version 4 (C library and Perl module)

  • PDFLib (Perl module)


1.1.3. Pros and Cons

Pros

    Cons

    • demanding requirements

    • no DTD provided (to ease editing XML file)



    1.1.5. Copyright and License

    Copyright (c) 2001 Matt Sergeant

    Artistic License or GPL


    1.2. beamer


    1.2.1. General Description

    "beamer -- A LaTeX class to produce beamer presentations"


    1.2.1.1. Example

    Example 1-2. beamer example

    \documentclass{beamer}
    
    \usepackage{beamerthemesplit}
    
    \title{Example Presentation Created with the Beamer Package}
    \author{Till Tantau}
    \date{\today}
    
    \begin{document}
    
    \frame{\titlepage}
    
    \section[Outline]{}
    \frame{\tableofcontents}
    
    \section{Introduction}
    \subsection{Overview of the Beamer Class}
    \frame
    {
      \frametitle{Features of the Beamer Class}
    
      \begin{itemize}
      \item<1-> Normal LaTeX class.
      \item<2-> Easy overlays.
      \item<3-> No external programs needed.      
      \end{itemize}
    }
    \end{document}
                          


    Figure 1-2. beamer example: title page in Acrobat Reader


    1.2.2. Requirements

    1.2.2.1. Mandatory

    Working (La)TeX installation.

    pgf LaTeX Portable Graphics Format


    1.2.3. Pros and Cons

    Pros

    • does not need any external program to create overlays

    • works with pdflatex and dvips

    • slide themes (or part of it) easy to change

    • create handouts, transparencies, and notes easily

    Cons



      1.2.5. Copyright and License

      Copyright 2003 by Till Tantau <tantau@cs.tu-berlin.de>

      LPPL


      1.3. foiltex


      1.3.1. General Description

      foiltex is a LaTeX document class which lets you create foils using most of the available LaTeX commands and environments.

      Different options let you specify head and/or foot rules, title pages, etc. The macro \MyLogo together with the graphics or graphicx package let's you put some graphic as the logo on every page (placed at the left part of the footline).

      Processing a foiltex sourcefile using LaTeX creates DVI output in the usual way, using pdfTeX (pdflatex) allows you to create high quality PDF output. With latex2html and the FoilHTML package (look for it at your nearest CTAN mirror) you can create HTML output from your foiltex source files.


      1.3.1.1. Example

      Example 1-3. foiltex Example

      \documentclass[a4paper,landscape,headrule]{foils}
      \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
      \usepackage{graphicx}
      
      \title{Some Title}
      
      \author{Some User \texttt{<some.user@some.net>}}
      
      \date{Apr 01, 2001}
      
      \MyLogo{}
      \rightfooter{}
      
      \leftheader{Project Presentation}
      \rightheader{Project Title\quad\textsf{\tiny[\thepage]}}
      
      \begin{document}
      
      \maketitle
      
      \begin{abstract}
      foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo 
      foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo 
      \end{abstract}
      
      \foilhead{Introduction}
      
      \begin{itemize}
      \item Topic 1
      \item Topic 2
      \item ...
      \end{itemize}
      
      \foilhead{Overview}
      
      \begin{center}
      \includegraphics{overview.eps}
      \end{center}
      
      \end{document}
                            


      Figure 1-3. foiltex example: title page in Acrobat Reader


      1.3.2. Requirements

      1.3.2.1. Mandatory

      Working (La)TeX installation.


      1.3.2.2. Optional

      pdfTeX for PDF output.

      latex2html and FoilHTML for HTML output.


      1.3.3. Pros and Cons

      Pros

      • works like any other LaTeX package

      Cons

      • restricted license



      1.3.5. Copyright and License

      Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1995; All rights reserved

      Use is governed by explicit restrictions. These can be found in the header of the foiltex.ins file.


      1.4. ifmslide


      1.4.1. General Description

      "ifmslide provides both: getting a presentation with PDFLaTeX and printouts with LaTeX and - as a side effect - simple production of your slides using your favourite DVI-viewer. You don't need PPower4 to get all these nice effects with page-transitions and stepwise building of the pages. All you need is TeXPower and hyperref.sty for the links and buttons etc. ifmslide makes use of the special features of the classes seminar and powersem (part of TeXPower). "


      1.4.1.1. Example

      Example 1-4. ifmslide Example

      \documentclass[a4paper,KOMA,landscape]{powersem}
      \usepackage[button]{ifmslide}
      
      \begin{document}
      \sffamily
      
      \orgname{}
      
      \title{\begin{minipage}[t]{0.98\textwidth}\begin{center}
            {\mdseries ifmslide Example}\\[1ex]
            Enhanced presentations with (PDF)\LaTeX{}\\
            combining the TeXPower, hyperref and seminar-packages\\
          \end{center}\end{minipage}}
      
      \author{\scalebox{1}[1.3]{Michael Wiedmann}}
      
      \address{\href{mailto:mw@miwie.in-berlin.de}%
        {mw@miwie.in-berlin.de}}
      
      \begin{slide}
        \maketitle
      \end{slide}
      
      \end{document}
                            


      Figure 1-4. ifmslide example: title page in Acrobat Reader


      1.4.3. Pros and Cons

      Pros

      • generates DVI for printouts (with extra margins) and PDF

      • panel position: right, left, bottom, top and outside of the slide

      • free positioning of the buttons and the logo

      • free choice of button-design, background of panel and frame

      Cons

      • uses special keywords: \begin{slide} ... \end{slide}



      1.4.5. Copyright and License

      Copyright (c) 2000 by Thomas Emmel

      LPPL

      The bundle is placed under the LaTeX Project 
      Public License (macros/latex/base/lppl.txt on CTAN). 
      

      1.5. pdfscreen.sty


      1.5.1. General Description

      "pdfscreen package helps to redesign the pdf output of your normal documents fit to be read in a computer monitor while retaining the freedom to format it for conventional printing. This has been brought about by redefining the margins and page height/width and related dimensions to fit into that of the computer screen. By changing the options to print you can switch the package to format the document in the conventional way as your class file dictates. "

      Users familiar with (La)TeX will not have any difficulties in using this package.


      1.5.1.1. Example

      Example 1-5. pdfscreen Example

      \documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}
      \usepackage{xspace,colortbl}                                          
      
      \usepackage[screen,panelleft,gray,paneltoc]{pdfscreen}
      \margins{.75in}{.75in}{.75in}{.75in}                     
      \screensize{6.25in}{8in}
      
      \begin{document}
      
      \begin{screen}
      \title{\color{section0}\Huge Some Title}
      \end{screen}
      
      \begin{print}
      \title{\HugeSome Title}
      \end{print}
      
      \author{\color{section1}\Large Michael Wiedmann\\
              {\small\href{mailto:mw@miwie.in-berlin.de}
              {\color{section1}\texttt{mw@miwie.in-berlin.de}}}}
      \maketitle
      \begin{screen}
      \vfill
      \end{screen}
      
      \begin{abstract}
      \noindent
      foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo 
      foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo 
      foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo 
      \end{abstract}
                                                                        
      \begin{print}
      \tableofcontents
      \end{print}
      \begin{screen}
      \vfill                                                                  
      \end{screen}
      
      \begin{slide}
      
      \begin{itemize}
      \item item 1
      \item item 2
      \item item 3
      \end{itemize}
      
      \end{slide}
      
      
      \begin{slide}
      
      \begin{itemize}
      \item  item 1
      \item  item 2
      \item  item 3
      \end{itemize}
      
      \end{slide}
      
      \end{document}
                            


      Figure 1-5. pdfscreen example: title page in Acrobat Reader


      1.5.2. Requirements

      1.5.2.1. Mandatory

      Working (La)TeX installation.

      hyperref.sty


      1.5.2.2. Optional

      pdfTeX for PDF output.

      latex2html for HTML output.


      1.5.3. Pros and Cons

      Pros

      • option for creating print output

      • optional navigation panel

      • colour schemes

      • background can be overlayed with a graphic file

      • foreign language support

      • supports PDF page transitions

      • one can optionally start new slides on structuring keywords (\section, \subsection, etc.)

      Cons



        1.5.5. Copyright and License

        Copyright (c) 1999, 2000 C. V. Radhakrishnan

        LPPL

        This package may be distributed under the terms of 
        the LaTeX Project Public License, as described in lppl.txt 
        in the base LaTeX distribution. Either version 1.0 or, at 
        your option, any later version.
                          


        1.5.6. Special Notes

        There is also a version which can be used with LyX. See http://www.math.tau.ac.il/~dekelts/lyx/pdfscreen.tar.gz (based on an outdated version of pdfscreen.sty).


        1.6. PPower4 – P^4, PDF Presentation Post Processor


        1.6.1. General Description

        PPower4 is a post processor for (La)TeX files to build pages step by step.

        PPower4 provides a small LaTeX package (pause.sty) which let's the user insert small coloured spots (using the command \pause) in the PDF file where a break should be make during display. During postprocessing PPower4 removes these coloured chunks and adjusts the page number. This leads to the impression that the same page is displayed step by step.

        Additional packages are provided for setting background colours (background.sty) and page transitions (pagetrans.tex) - this actually is a feature of hyperref.sty and can be used with any (La)TeX based solution.


        1.6.1.1. Example

        Example 1-6. PPower4 Example

        ...
        % example for PDF pagetransition
        \Dissolve
        
        ...
        
        \begin{itemize}
        \item item 1\pause
        \item item 2\pause
        \item item 3\pause
        \end{itemize}
        
        ...
        
                              

        1.6.2. Requirements

        1.6.2.1. Mandatory

        JVM or JRE (Java 1.1.6, 1.2; Kaffe >= 1.0.5)


        1.6.2.2. Optional

        hyperref.sty


        1.6.3. Pros and Cons

        Pros

        • can be used with any (La)TeX based solution

        • enhances your presentation with some effects known from full-blown presentation software

        Cons

        • needs a separate step in the build process (using a Makefile is highly recommended)



        1.7. Prosper


        1.7.1. General Description

        "Prosper is a LaTeX class for writing transparencies. It is written on top of the seminar class by Timothy Van Zandt. It aims at offering an environment for easily creating slides for both presentations with an overhead projector and a video projector. Slides prepared for a presentation with a computer and a video projector may integrate animation effects, incremental display, and such. "


        1.7.1.1. Example

        Example 1-7. prosper Example

        \documentclass[slideColor,colorBG,pdf,azure]{prosper}
        
        \usepackage{textcomp}
        
        \title{The \texttt{Prosper} Class}
        \subtitle{Producing Slides with \LaTeX}
        \author{John Doe}
        \email{jd@eval.com}
        \institution{The Evaluation Company}
        \slideCaption{Slides with \texttt{Prosper}/\LaTeX}
        
        \begin{document}
        
        \maketitle
        
        \overlays{3}{
          \begin{slide}{Introduction}
        
            The \texttt{Prosper} class translates into two different formats:
            \begin{itemize}
            \item Adobe\textregistered\ \it{Postscript}\texttrademark
            \item Adobe\textregistered\ \it{Portable Document Format}
                  \texttrademark\ (PDF)
            \end{itemize}
        
            The compilation process:\\
            \fromSlide*{1}{\fbox{\LaTeX}}%
            \fromSlide*{2}{$\rightarrow$ \fbox{DVI}}%
            \fromSlide*{3}{$\rightarrow$ \fbox{PostScript} or \fbox{PDF}}%
          \end{slide}
        }
        
        \end{document}
                              


        Figure 1-6. prosper example: page in Acrobat Reader


        1.7.2. Requirements

        1.7.2.1. Mandatory

        • graphicx.sty, seminar.sty, hyperref.sty

        • Slide styles need PSTricks and AMSLaTeX (amssymb)

        • Recent version of Ghostscript (version >= 6.0) to produce PDF



        1.7.2.2. Additionals

        • HA-Prosper The HA-prosper package for LaTeX provides a way to make nice looking slides using LaTeX. This gives you the opportunity to copy and paste formulas from your papers directly into the presentation. The package has been based on the prosper class but offers a lot of new possibilities and some bug fixes.

        • Prosper-make allows you to easily generate your Prosper presentation in the most common formats.

        • ppr-prv stands for "Prosper Preview". The aim of this class is to produce a printable version of the slides written with Prosper, with two slides per page.

        • DTU-style for prosper compatible with the DTU (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technical university of Denmark) Powerpoint style.

        • Wiki Prosper is a WikiWikiWeb dedicated to the use of the Latex Prosper style.


        1.7.3. Pros and Cons

        Pros

        • both transparencies (PostScript) and on-screen display (with Acrobat Reader)

        • ships with some nice pre-made slide styles

        • enhanced title page

        • overlay functionality easy to use

        Cons

        • different slide styles may require adjustment in positioning

        • creating own slide styles requires knowledge in TeX/LaTeX programming and the PSTricks package

        • usage of PSTricks makes using clickable links difficult



        1.7.5. Copyright and License

        Copyright (c) 2000 Frederic Goualard, all rights reserved.

        Permission is hereby granted, without 
        written agreement and without license or royalty fees, 
        to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and 
        its documentation for any purpose, provided that the
        above copyright notice and the following two paragraphs 
        appear in all copies of this software.
        
        IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY
        FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
        DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE AND ITS 
        DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE 
        POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
        
         
        THE AUTHOR SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES,
        INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
        MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  
        THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED HEREUNDER IS ON AN ``AS IS'' BASIS, 
        AND THE AUTHOR HAS NO OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, 
        SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.
        

        1.8. rayslides.sty


        1.8.1. General Description

        "RaySlides macros provide LaTeX2e commands for making overhead slides (transparencies) within the article style. The underlying philosophy for these commands recognizes both the resources of the article style for slide preparation as well as the practical inconvenience of accesing these resources for overhead slides. Consequently, RaySlides simply supplements the article style with macros specialized for designing and formatting slides. This approach retains the commands and familiarity of the article style while providing an interface for slides."


        1.8.1.1. Example

        Example 1-8. RaySlides Example

        \documentclass{article}
        \usepackage{rayslides}
        
        \ezmakehead{0.6in}
           {}
           {}
           {\LARGE\emph{\rayslides\ Macros: \\ Summary}}
        
        \ezmakefoot{1cm}
           {\smallskip
            \textrm{\copyright}\ R.A. McKendall 1994,1998\\ University of Pennsylvania}
           {\textbf{\thepage}/\pageref{lastpage}}
           {\jobname.tex\\ rayslides.sty}
        
        \writelpfile
        \slideframe
        
        \newcommand  {\cs}  [1] {\textmd{\texttt{\string#1}}}
        \renewcommand{\arg} [1] {\textmd{\texttt{\{#1\}}}} % required  argument
        
        \begin {document}
        
        %--- Slide 1 ---
        
        \titlepageslide
           {\rayslides \\ \LaTeXe{} Macros for Overhead Slides \\
            \texttt{rayslides.sty (2.0)}}
           {Raymond A McKendall}
           {Computer and Information Science \\ University of Pennsylvania \\ 
            Philadelphia, PA}
           {Summary Manual \\ June 1998}
        
        %--- Slide 2 ---
        
        \newslide{Overview}
        
        \begin{point}{Purpose}
           Use \rayslides\ package to make overhead slides 
           (transparencies) within \LaTeXe's article class:
           \subdetail{\cs{\documentclass}\arg{article}}
           \subdetail{\cs{\usepackage}\arg{rayslides}}
        
           Read this manual\footnote{%
           \texttt{/pkg/doc/tex/RaySlidesSummary.tex}}
           for a summary of the main macros.
           Read the \LaTeX\ source for examples.
        
           Read the user's guide\footnote{%
           \texttt{/pkg/doc/tex/RaySlidesGuide.ps}}
           for a complete description of the macros.
        \end{point}
        
        %--- Slide 3 ---
        
        \newslide{Page Layout}
        
        \begin{point}{Horizontal layout}
            Left margin. Body. Right margin.
        \end{point}
        
        \begin{pointNlist}{Vertical layout}
           \item Top margin -- empty space along top of page
           \item Head -- runner along top of page
           \item Top separation -- space between head and body
           \item Body -- main contents of slide 
           \item Bottom separation -- space between body and foot
           \item Foot -- runner along bottom of  page
           \item Bottom margin -- empty space along bottom of page
        \end{pointNlist}
        
        \end{document}
                              


        Figure 1-7. rayslides example: title page

        Figure 1-8. rayslides example: second page


        1.8.3. Pros and Cons

        Pros

        • extensive and detailled users guide

        • package contains Emacs minor mode RaySlides

        Cons



          1.8.5. Copyright and License

          Copyright 1998 by Raymond A. McKendall


          1.9. ReportLab / PythonPoint


          1.9.1. General Description

          PythonPoint is a demo application of the ReportLab toolkit, a Python library for creating PDF documents. It uses an XML source format which gets converted directly to PDF output.

          An experimental DTD (Document Type Definition) is available from the author of this document. It can be used to validate your source file using an XML parser.


          1.9.1.1. Example

          Example 1-9. PythonPoint Example

          \documentclass[a4paper,landscape,headrule]{foils}
          <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" standalone="no" ?> 
          <!DOCTYPE presentation SYSTEM "pythonpoint.dtd"> 
          
          <presentation filename='reportlab.pdf'>
           <title>PythonPoint Example</title>
           <author>Michael Wiedmann</author>
           <subject>Reportlab Pythonpoint Example</subject>
          
           <section name = 'Main'>
            <rectangle x="20" y="20" width="96" height="555" fill="(0,0,0.8)"/>
            <fixedimage  x="20" y="510" width="96" height="64" 
                         filename="leftlogo.gif"/>
            <infostring align="right" x="800" y= "36" size="14" >
             &#187;%(title)s, page %(page)s&#171;
            </infostring>
                  
            <slide id="Slide001" title="Introduction" effectname='Wipe'>
             <frame x="120" y="72" width="700" height="468" 
                    leftmargin="36" rightmargin="36">
              <para style='Heading1'>Welcome to PythonPoint</para>
              <para style='BodyText'>...a library for creating presentation 
               slides.
              </para>
              <para style='BodyText'>
               <i>PythonPoint</i> lets you create attractive and consistent 
               presentation slides on any platform.  It is a demo app built 
               on top of the PDFgen PDF library and the PLATYPUS Page Layout
               library. Essentially, it converts slides in an XML format to PDF.
              </para>
              <para style='BodyText'>It can be used right now to create 
               slide shows, but will undoubtedly change and evolve. Read on 
               for a tutorial...
              </para>
             </frame>
            </slide>
           </section>
          </presentation>
                                


          Figure 1-9. PythonPoint example: page in Acrobat Reader


          1.9.3. Pros and Cons

          Pros

          • sophisticated support for including graphics and common presentation effects like (coloured) frames, page transitions, etc.

          • XML source file can be validated

          • speaker notes

          Cons

          • no HTML output



          1.9.5. Copyright and License

          Copyright ReportLab Inc. 2000

          ReportLab Public License Version 1.0

          Except for the change of names the spirit and intention 
          of this license is the same as that of Python.
                            

          1.10. seminar.sty


          1.10.2. Requirements

          1.10.2.1. Mandatory

          Working (La)TeX installation.


          1.10.2.2. Optional

          pdfTeX for PDF output.

          latex2html for HTML output.


          1.10.2.3. Additionals

          PDF Seminar is a simple style file designed for seminar presentations. It provides pop-up menus for page selections and for basic navigation (such as next page, previous page etc.). All of the menus are built on PDF forms and thus the package is suitable for use only with PDF viewers than can handle PDF forms (such as Adobe Acrobat Reader).



          1.10.5. Copyright and License

          COPYRIGHT 1993, by Timothy Van Zandt, tvz@Princeton.EDU

          Copying of part or all of any file in the seminar.sty 
          package is allowed under the following conditions only:
          (1) You may freely distribute unchanged copies of the
              files. Please include the documentation when you do so.
          (2) You may modify a renamed copy of any file, but only
              for personal use or use within an organization.
          (3) You may copy fragments from the files, for personal
              use or for use in a macro package for distribution, 
              as long as credit is given where credit is due.
                            

          1.11. slidenotes


          1.11.1. General Description

          "This is a short introduction to the slidenotes packes. This LaTeX class generates either slides, slides and notes, or collection of notes. Slides may be in landscape or portrait layout, or both. Various frame types are supported... "


          1.11.1.1. Example

          Example 1-10. slidenotes Example

          \documentclass[notes,portrait,rules]{slidenotes}
          
          \title{Introduction to the \textsf{slidenotes} class}
          \author{John Doe}
          \date{26.7.2001}
          
          \begin{document}
          
          \maketitle
          
          \begin{slide}[Introduction]
          
            The \textsf{slidenotes} class provides the following main features:
          
            \begin{itemize}
            \item choosing between slides, slides+notes, collection of slides
            \item landscape or portrait layout (also mixed)
            \item various slide frames
            \end{itemize}
          
            \slidesubtitle{Other features}
          
            \begin{itemize}
            \item notes in smaller font than slides (optional)
            \item vertical centering of slides
            \end{itemize}
          
          \end{slide}
          
          \begin{note}
          
            \cue{Main Feature}
          
            This is a short introduction to the \textsf{slidenotes} packes.  
            This \LaTeX class generates either slides, slides and notes, 
            or collection of notes. Slides may be in landscape or portrait 
            layout, or both.  Various frame types are supported\ldots
          
            \cue{Other Features}
          
            Notes may be typeset in a smaller font than the slides' font.  
            Various option exist for the vertical side position\ldots
          
          \end{note}
          
          \end{document}
                                

          Figure 1-10. slidenotes example: sample page

          Figure 1-11. slidenotes example: sample page with notes


          1.11.2. Requirements

          1.11.2.1. Mandatory

          report.cls, verbatim.sty, graphics.sty or graphicx.sty


          1.11.3. Pros and Cons

          Pros

          • combination of slides and notes, collection of slides (minis)

          • landscape, portrait and/or mixed layout

          • various slide frame types

          • vertical centering of the contents

          Cons

          • no special commands for title page (\maketitle works only for slides+notes), slide caption determined by \title



          1.11.5. Copyright and License

          Copyright (C) 1993-1996 Hans van der Meer


          1.12. slideshow


          1.12.1. General Description

          "slideshow is a small macro package which simplifies the process of creating slide-show style presentations using plain metapost and ghostscript. The package assists in producing slides with dimensions 6.4 inches wide by 4.8 inches high, which the user is then expected to convert into a pdf file using ghostscript as a PS distiller. "


          1.12.1.1. Example

          Example 1-11. slideshow Example

          input pathalong;
          input slideshow;
          
          author("Patrick TJ McPhee");
          title("Introducing slide-show macros");
          keywords("presentations metapost");
          copyright("Copyright 2001 Patrick TJ McPhee. You may redistribute and 
            modify for any purpose, but must acknowledge significant quotation.");
          
          continue;
          
          nextfig;
            defaultscale := 2;
            draw textunder((0,.5in){up}..{right}(2in,1in), "Introducing")
              shifted (1in,3in) withcolor textcolour;
          endfig;
          
          nextfig;
            blabel.rt("Slide Show Macros", (2in,2in));
          endfig;
          
          defaultscale := 1;
          
          nextfig;
            draw pathalong((0,.5in){up}..{right}(2in,1in), "by Patrick TJ McPhee") 
              shifted (1in,3in) withcolor textcolour;
            hyperdest("Start");
          endfig;
          
          discontinue;
          
          header("Rationale");
          
          bpoint("Primarily an intellectual exercise");
          bpoint("But may be useful for graphics-intensive presentations 
                 which don't use much text");
          bpoint("Slideshow provides support for this irritating style 
                 of bullet presentation");
          bpoint("And writes out some pdfmarks, which you would otherwise 
                 have to look up yourself");
          
          ...
          
          picture lt, mp, dvi, gs, postp, vres, pres, fpres;
          
          lt := procbox("laTeX") shifted (.05 lawidth, .2laheight);
          mp := procbox("metapost") shifted (.05 lawidth, .1laheight);
          dvi := procbox("DVI processor") shifted (.2 lawidth, .15laheight);
          vres := resultbox("viewable result") shifted (.4 lawidth, .15 laheight);
          gs := procbox("distiller") shifted (.65 lawidth, .15laheight);
          pres := resultbox("presentation") shifted (.8 lawidth, .15laheight);
          postp := procbox("post-processor") shifted (.7 lawidth, .3laheight);
          fpres := resultbox("final presentation") shifted (.45 lawidth, .3laheight);
          
          nextfig;
            bullet.in("text prepared with laTeX");
            draw lt withcolor white;
          endfig;
          
          nextfig;
            bullet.in("graphics prepared with metapost (okay, 2 components)");
            draw mp withcolor red;
          endfig;
          
          nextfig;
            bullet.in("which are combined with dvi processing software");
            pickup thin nib;
            drawarrow (.5[lrcorner mp,urcorner mp]){right}..{right}
              (.5[llcorner dvi,ulcorner dvi]) withcolor .25[red,white];
            drawarrow (.5[lrcorner lt,urcorner lt]){right}..{right}
              (.5[llcorner dvi,ulcorner dvi]) withcolor .25[white,red];
          
            draw dvi withcolor .5[white,red];
          endfig;
          
          nextfig;
            bullet.in("the resulting postscript is viewable, but must 
              be distilled into the presentation");
            pickup thin nib;
            drawarrow (.5[lrcorner dvi,urcorner dvi])..(.5[llcorner vres,ulcorner vres])
                      withcolor .1[.5[red,white],green];
            draw vres withcolor .5[.5[white,red],green];
          endfig;
          
          ...
          
          nextfig;
            pickup thin nib;
            drawarrow (.5[llcorner postp,ulcorner postp])..(.5[lrcorner fpres,urcorner fpres])
                      withcolor .95[green,white];
            draw fpres withcolor white;
          endfig;
          
          discontinue;
          ...
          discontinue;
          header("Limitations");
          
          bpoint("Metapost doesn't handle text very well");
          bpoint("It's difficult to include non-metapost graphics (e.g., bit-maps)");
          bpoint("There's no provision for producing print-only versions of the information");
          bpoint("There's no concept of presentation styles");
          bpoint("It generally requires some configuration of ghostscript and metapost, especially if you use math");
          bpoint("The other methods for producing presentations using TeX-family tools aren't as complicated as I suggested");
          bpoint.in("I personally use my own plain-TeX style with just TeX, metapost, and dvipdfm");
          
          ...
          nextfig;
            hyperlabel(breaktowidth("Thanks for sticking to the end. Click on this text to start over.", .5lawidth)(ignore), (.5lawidth, .5laheight), "Start");
          endfig;
          
          end
                                


          Figure 1-12. slideshow example



          1.12.5. Copyright and License

          Copyright 2001 Patrick McPhee

          ?


          1.13. TeXPower


          1.13.1. General Description

          "The TeXPower bundle contains style and class files for creating dynamic online presentations with LaTeX. The heart of the bundle is the package texpower.sty which implements some commands for presentation effects. This includes page transitions, color highlighting and displaying pages incrementally. "


          1.13.1.1. Example

          Example 1-12. TexPower Example

          \documentclass[landscape]{foils}
          
          \usepackage{fixseminar}
          \usepackage[display]{texpower}
          
          \begin{document}
          
          \title{The \code{texpower} / {\normalfont \texttt{foils} Demo}}
          \author{Stephan Lehmke\\\code{mailto:Stephan.Lehmke@cs.uni-dortmund.de}}
          \maketitle
          
          \foilhead{A list environment}
          
          \pause
          
          \stepwise
          {
            \begin{description}
            \item[foo.] \step{bar.}
            \step{\item[baz.]} \step{qux.}
            \end{description}
            }
          
          \foilhead{An aligned equation}
          
          \pause
          
          \parstepwise
          {
          \begin{eqnarray}
          \sum_{i=1}^{n} i & \step{=} & \restep{1 + 2 + \cdots + (n-1) + n}\\
               & \step{=} & \restep{1 + n + 2 + (n-1) + \cdots}\\
               & \step{=} & \restep
               {
                \switch
                {
                 \vphantom{\underbrace{(1 + n) + 
                 \cdots + (1 + n)}_{\times\frac{n}{2}}}%
                 (1 + n) + \cdots + (1 + n)%
                }
                {\underbrace{(1 + n) + \cdots + (1 + n)}_{\times\frac{n}{2}}}%
                }
                \\
                & \step{=} & \restep{\frac{(1 + n)\step{{}\cdot n}}{\restep{2}}}
            \end{eqnarray}
          }
          
          \end{document}
                                


          Figure 1-13. TexPower example: title page in Acrobat Reader



          Figure 1-14. TexPower example: partial displayed page 2


          1.13.3. Pros and Cons

          Pros

          • can be used with any (La)TeX based solution

          • enhances your presentation with some effects known from full-blown presentation software

          • no postprocessing necessary

          Cons

          • dynamically built pages can show movements of parts of the text between subsequent frames



          1.13.5. Copyright and License

          Copyright (c) 1999-2002 by Stephan Lehmke

          GPL


          1.14. web.sty


          1.14.1. General Description

          "The purpose of the web package is to create a page layout for documents meant for screen presentation, whether over the WWW or classroom/conference presentations, in PDF. Such documents are not (necessarily) intended to be printed; consequently, the page layout is, in some sense, optimized for screen viewing. "


          1.14.1.1. Example

          Example 1-13. web.sty Example

          \documentclass{article}
          
          \usepackage[pdftex]{web}
          
          \title{Some Title}
          \author{\href{mailto:mw@miwie.in-berlin.de}{Michael Wiedmann}}
          
          \university{Private Organization}
          \email{mw@miwie.in-berlin.de}
          \version{1.0}
          \copyrightyears{2001}
          
          \begin{document}
          
          \maketitle
          \tableofcontents
          
          \section{First Section}
          \begin{description}
          \item [item1]description 1
          \item [item2]description 2
          \end{description}
          
          \section{Another Section}
          
          \begin{itemize}
          \item item 1
          \item item 2
          \item item 3
          \end{itemize}
          
          \end{document}
                                


          Figure 1-15. web.sty example: title page in Acrobat Reader



          Figure 1-16. web.sty example: page in Acrobat Reader


          1.14.2. Requirements

          1.14.2.1. Mandatory

          Working (La)TeX installation.


          1.14.3. Pros and Cons

          Pros

          • supports quite a few other languages besides English

          • optional navigation bar

          • options for resetting the screen size to printer friendly values

          Cons



            1.14.5. Copyright and License

            Copyright (C) 1999-2000 D. P. Story

            LPPL

            This program can redistributed and/or modified under
            the terms of the LaTeX Project Public License
            Distributed from CTAN archives in directory
            macros/latex/base/lppl.txt; either version 1 of the
            License, or (at your option) any later version.
                              

            Chapter 2. HTML Based Solutions

            This chapter lists tools which generate HTML as their main output format. Some of them might be able to generate other output formats too (like PS).


            2.1. DocBook dbslide


            2.1.1. General Description

            "dbslide is a package of files that allows you to create screen presentations, overheads, and handouts from a DocBook SGML document. "


            2.1.1.1. Example

            Example 2-1. DocBook dbslide Example

            <!DOCTYPE Book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN">
            <book>
             <bookinfo>
              <author>
               <firstname>Michael</firstname>
                <surname>Wiedmann</surname>
                <affiliation>
                 <address format="linespecific">mw@miwie.in-berlin.de</address>
                </affiliation>
               </author>
               <title>DocBook dbslide Example</title>
             </bookinfo>
             <chapter>
              <title>Abstract</title>
              <para>A very simple demonstration of dbslide</para>
              <itemizedlist>
               <listitem>
                <para>item 1</para>
               </listitem>
               <listitem>
                <para>item 2</para>
               </listitem>
              </itemizedlist>
             </chapter>
            
             <chapter>
              <title>Key features</title>
              <simplesect>
               <title>Features</title>
               <itemizedlist>
                <listitem>
                 <para>feature 1</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                 <para>feature 2</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                 <para>feature 3</para>
                </listitem>
               </itemizedlist>
              </simplesect>
             </chapter>
            </book>
                                  

            2.1.2. Requirements

            2.1.2.1. Mandatory

            Because this is a customization of the DocBook DSSSL stylesheets you need the DocBook DTD itself and Norman Walsh's DSSSL stylesheets. To create HTML output you need of course Jade or OpenJade.


            2.1.2.2. Optional

            The package contains also separate stylesheet files for creating print output. For this to work you need a working TeX installation including jadetex.


            2.1.3. Pros and Cons

            Pros

            • generates HTML

            • generates printable overheads

            • generates printable handouts

            Cons



              2.1.5. Copyright and License

              Copyright © Markus Hoenicka 2000

              This software may be distributed under the same terms as Jade.
                                

              2.2. DocBook slides


              2.2.1. General Description

              Norman Walsh created this DTD (Document Type Definition) as a customization of his "Simplified DocBook XML DTD" (see http://nwalsh.com/slides/). Included are XSL stylesheets for producing HTML output.


              2.2.1.1. Example

              Example 2-2. DocBook slides Example

              <!DOCTYPE slides PUBLIC "-//Norman Walsh//DTD Slides XML V2.0//EN"
                               "./slides.dtd">
              
              <slides>
              
                <slidesinfo>
                  <title>DocBook <emphasis>slides</emphasis> Example</title>
                  <author>
                    <firstname>Michael</firstname>
                    <surname>Wiedmann</surname>
                  </author>
                  <date>2001-06-20</date>
                  <copyright>
                    <year>2001</year>
                    <holder>Michael Wiedmann</holder>
                  </copyright>
                  <abstract>
                    <para>This is a very simple example for the use 
                      of the new DocBook slides DTD (V2.0a1) and 
                      accompanying XSL stylesheets.
                    </para>
                    <para>This is the <emphasis>frames</emphasis> 
                      version, but there is also an XSL stylesheet 
                      for a non-framed version.
                    </para>
                    <para>A very simple stylesheet for converting to
                      <emphasis>Formatting Objects</emphasis> for further
                      procession using a FO-Processor is also included.
                    </para>
                  </abstract>
                  <legalnotice>
                    <title>Legal Notice</title>
                    <para>Some legal notice</para>
                  </legalnotice>
                </slidesinfo>
              
                <foil>
                  <title>First Slide</title>
                  <itemizedlist>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>item 1</para>
                    </listitem>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>item 2</para>
                    </listitem>
                    <listitem>
                      <para>item 3</para>
                    </listitem>
                  </itemizedlist>
                </foil>
              
                <foil>
                  <title>Second Slide</title>
                  <variablelist>
                    <varlistentry>
                      <term>term 1</term>
                      <listitem>
                        <para>description 1</para>
                      </listitem>
                    </varlistentry>
                    <varlistentry>
                      <term>term 2</term>
                      <listitem>
                        <para>description 2</para>
                      </listitem>
                    </varlistentry>
                    <varlistentry>
                      <term>term 3</term>
                      <listitem>
                        <para>description 3</para>
                      </listitem>
                    </varlistentry>
                  </variablelist>
                </foil>
              
              </slides>
                                    


              Figure 2-1. slides example: title page in Netscape



              Figure 2-2. slides example: first page in Netscape


              2.2.2. Requirements

              2.2.2.1. Mandatory

              Because slides are a customization of the Simplified DocBook XML DTD you need to install this package too (not necessarily because the package contains a flattended version of the slides DTD).

              To process the XML slide files an XSLT processor like XT, Saxon, xsltproc etc. is necessary.


              2.2.3. Pros and Cons

              Pros

              • stylesheet for frame/non-frame version included

              • stylesheet for printed version included (experimental)

              Cons



                2.2.5. Copyright and License

                [DocBook is] Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999 HaL Computer Systems, Inc., O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., ArborText, Inc., Fujitsu Software Corporation, and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS).

                Same license as DocBook:

                Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute the DocBook
                DTD and its accompanying documentation for any purpose and
                without fee is hereby granted in perpetuity, provided that
                the above copyright notice and this paragraph appear in all
                copies.  The copyright holders make no representation about
                the suitability of the DTD for any purpose.  It is provided
                "as is" without expressed or implied warranty.
                                  

                2.3. latex2slides


                2.3.1. General Description

                "Latex2slides is a simple graphical program that produces a set of HTML/JPEG slides from a TeX or LaTeX source. Each Postscript page is converted to a JPEG image using ImageMagick's convert. The program then makes one HTML page for each JPEG (or slide), and an index.html page. As a result, each page in your slide presentation corresponds to one of the Postscript pages you would obtain from the LaTeX source. "


                2.3.1.1. Example

                Any LaTeX source may be used. The output is eventually converted into one JPEG image per page (within HTML wrapper): latex -> dvips -> convert. Actually this program just automates this process and creates appropriate HTML files including an index page.


                2.3.2. Requirements

                2.3.2.1. Mandatory

                • Python 1.5.2

                • ImageMagick 4.2.9

                • Tcl/Tk 8.0

                • Ghostscript 5.50


                2.3.3. Pros and Cons

                Pros

                • presentation simply by any web browser

                • any LaTeX source may be used

                Cons

                • pages converted into JPEG -> resolution dependend

                • static pages, i.e. no special effects known from presentation software



                2.3.5. Copyright and License

                Copyright (C) 2001 Leo Milano

                GPL


                Chapter 3. Other Solutions

                This chapter lists tools which generate output formats other than PDF and/or HTML.


                3.1. DFBPoint


                3.1.1. General Description

                "DFBPoint is a simple presentation viewer that uses the DirectFB graphics library to draw to the Linux framebuffer "

                "The presentation is defined in an XML file (as described below) and refers to external data (images, fonts) via relative or absolute filenames. Relative filenames are interpreted relative to the directory the XML file lives. "


                3.1.1.1. Example

                Example 3-1. DFBPoint Example

                <?xml version='1.0' encoding='iso-8859-1'?>
                
                <slides bgcolor="#222266" fgcolor="#9999FF"
                        bullet="bullet.png"
                        face="decker.ttf" size="42"
                        x="40" y="40"
                        screen_width="1024" screen_height="768">
                
                  <slide>
                    <header fgcolor="#ff00cc" size="96">DFBPoint</header>
                    <text></text>
                    <text>DFBPoint is a slide viewer for presentations</text>
                    <text></text>
                    <text>Slides are defined in a simple XML syntax</text>
                    <text>DirectFB is used for fast rendering</text>
                  </slide>
                
                   <slide bgcolor="#333333" fgcolor="#0033cc">
                    <header fgcolor="#ff00cc" size="80">DFBPoint</header>
                    <text>Foreground and background colors can be set</text>
                    <text fgcolor="#22FF22">per slide or per line</text>
                    <text></text>
                    <text>Various font encodings are supported.</text>
                    <text>Here are some strange letters: ÄÖÜäöüß</text>
                  </slide>
                
                  <slide bgimage="bg.png">
                    <header fgcolor="#ff00cc" size="80">DFBPoint</header>
                    <text>Supports background images</text>
                    <text>and arbitrarily placed images or videos</text>
                    <image x="20" y="300">wilber_stoned.png</image>
                    <image x="200" y="300" width="400">wilber_stoned.png</image>
                  </slide>
                
                  <slide effect="slide top" bgimage="bg.png">
                    <header fgcolor="#220066" size="80">Effects</header>
                    <text>Slides can slide in ...</text>
                  </slide>
                
                  <slide effect="slide bottom left" bgimage="bg.png">
                    <header fgcolor="#220066" size="80">Effects</header>
                    <text>... from all directions ...</text>
                  </slide>
                
                  <slide effect="blend" bgimage="bg.png">
                    <header fgcolor="#220066" size="80">Effects</header>
                    <text>... or fade in ...</text>
                  </slide>
                
                  <slide effect="slide top right, blend">
                    <header fgcolor="#ff00cc" size="80">Effects</header>
                    <text>... or both.</text>
                  </slide>
                
                  <slide bgimage="bg.png">
                    <header fgcolor="#ff00cc" size="80">Actions</header>
                    <text>Commands can be bound to function keys</text>
                    <listitem size="60">Press F1 to start df_neo</listitem>
                    <listitem size="60">Press F2 to start df_andi</listitem>
                    <action key="F1">df_neo</action>
                    <action key="F2">df_andi</action>
                  </slide>
                
                </slides>
                                      

                3.1.2. Requirements

                3.1.2.1. Mandatory

                • Linux with framebuffer device

                • DirectFB version 0.9.6 or newer

                • GLib version 1.3.9 or newer


                3.1.3. Pros and Cons

                Pros

                  Cons

                  • no DTD provided (to ease editing XML file)

                  • usage restricted to specific platform



                  3.1.5. Copyright and License

                  Copyright (C) 2001 convergence integrated media GmbH

                  GPL


                  3.2. mechapoint


                  3.2.1. General Description

                  "This is mechapoint, my simple presentation player written in C++. Mechapoint uses an XML file format, and displays it's graphics using Evas, the very funky, optionally OpenGL-accelerated canvas library from the Enlightenment project. "


                  3.2.1.1. Example

                  Example 3-2. mechapoint Example

                  <?xml version="1.0"?>
                  
                  <mechapoint width="400" height="300">
                    <page>
                      <rectangle>
                        <move x="0" y="0" />
                        <resize w="400" h="300" />
                        <color r="255" g="255" b="255" a="255" />
                      </rectangle> 
                      <image filename="flower.png">
                        <move x="100" y="50" />
                        <resize w="150" h="100" />
                        <imagefill w="150" h="100" />
                      </image>
                      <group>
                        <ellipse w="10">
                          <move x="52" y="82" />
                          <color r="0" g="0" b="0" a="100" />
                        </ellipse>
                        <ellipse w="10">
                          <move x="50" y="80" />
                          <color r="255" g="0" b="0" a="255" />
                        </ellipse>
                      </group>
                  
                      <group>
                        <text font="notepad" size="30" value="mechafoo!">
                          <move x="102" y="82" />
                          <color r="0" g="0" b="0" a="80" />
                        </text>
                        <text font="notepad" size="30" value="mechafoo!">
                          <move x="100" y="80" />
                          <color r="0" g="0" b="150" a="255" />
                        </text>
                      </group>
                    </page>
                    <page>
                      <gradient_box>
                        <move x="0" y="0" />
                        <resize w="400" h="300" />
                        <add_color r="100" g="100" b="255" a="255" />
                        <add_color r="255" g="255" b="255" a="255" />
                      </gradient_box>
                  
                      <rectangle>
                        <move x="50" y="50" />
                        <resize w="300" h="200" />
                        <color r="255" g="255" b="255" a="100" />
                      </rectangle> 
                          
                      <textbox font="notepad" size="15" x="50" y="50" width="300">
                        <para post_indent="100" first_indent="0" indent="100">
                          This is a paragraph of foo. It contains quite a lot of 
                          information about foo and bar.
                        </para>
                        <para align="centre">Para 2</para>
                        <para></para>
                        <para align="right">Another para :)</para>
                      </textbox>
                  
                    </page>
                    <page>
                      <gradient_box>
                        <move x="0" y="0" />
                        <resize w="400" h="300" />
                        <add_color r="100" g="100" b="255" a="255" />
                        <add_color r="255" g="255" b="255" a="255" />
                      </gradient_box>
                      <textbox font="notepad" size="20" x="20" y="20" width="360">
                        <para align="centre">Welcome to Mechapoint!</para>
                      </textbox>
                      <group>
                        <rectangle>
                          <move x="21" y="51" />
                          <resize w="360" h="2" />
                          <color a="100" />
                        </rectangle>
                        <rectangle>
                          <move x="20" y="50" />
                          <resize w="360" h="2" />
                          <color a="100" />
                          <color r="255" g="255" b="255" a="255" />
                        </rectangle>
                      </group>
                      <textbox font="Times_New_Roman" size="10" x="20" y="60" width="360">
                        <para>Welcome to Mechapoint, a simple presentation program
                          for Unix/Linux systems.
                        </para>
                        <para>Mechapoint reads presentation files, which are formatted 
                          in an XML format, and displays them using an Evas canvas. 
                          By harnessing the powerful display technology of Evas,
                          Mechapoint allows you to create impressive graphical 
                          presentations with ease. Also, using XML allows you to use
                          standard tools like XSLT to streamline your workload.
                        </para>
                        <para>normal bit<font color="#ff00007f">special bit</font>
                          more normal bits
                        </para>
                        <para><font face="Webdings">=</font> bullet 1</para>
                      </textbox>
                    </page>
                  </mechapoint>
                                        

                  3.2.3. Pros and Cons

                  Pros

                    Cons

                    • no DTD provided (to ease editing XML file)



                    3.2.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright 2002 lsd@linuxgamers.net

                    LGPL


                    3.3. mgp - MagicPoint

                    3.3.1. General Description

                    "Magic Point is an X11 based presentation tool. It is designed to make simple presentations easy while to make complicated presentations possible. Its presentation file (whose suffix is typically .mgp) is just text so that you can create presentation files quickly with your favorite editor (e.g. Emacs, vi). "


                    3.3.1.1. Example

                    Example 3-3. mgp Example

                    %include "default.mgp"
                    %deffont "standard" tfont "Apgabk.TTF"
                    %deffont "standard" tfont "trebuc.ttf"
                    %deffont "standard" tfont "Ressurec.ttf"
                    %page
                    %nodefault
                    %font "standard"
                    %back "white"
                    %center
                    
                    %image "openl2.ppm"
                    %size 2, fore "black"
                     
                    ...
                    
                    
                    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                    %page
                    %nodefault
                    %left
                    %font "standard"
                    
                    %size 5, fore "black"
                     Die Debian Geschichte:
                    %right
                    %image "logo-50.jpg", image "debian.jpg"
                    
                    %left, size 4, fore "black"
                        · Projektstart durch Ian Murdock und andere im August 1993
                          (Version 0.01...0.90)
                    
                        · in dieser Zeit gab es nur eine Handvoll Entwickler
                    
                        · Die offiziellen Versionen: 
                    %size 3
                    
                                - v1.1 ("buzz"): Juni 1996 (474 Pakete)
                    
                                - v1.2 ("rex"): Dezember 1996 (848 Pakete)
                    
                                - v1.3 ("bo"): Juli 1997 (974 Pakete)
                    
                                - v2.0 ("hamm"): Juli 1998 (>1500 Pakete)
                    
                                - v2.1 ("slink"): März 1999 (~2250 Pakete)
                    
                                - v2.2 ("potato"): August 2000 (>4000 Pakete)
                          
                                - v2.2 r2 ("potato"): Dezember 2000 (>4000 Pakete)
                    
                                - v2.3 ("woody"): ??? (bisher fast 6200 Pakete)
                    %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                                          


                    Figure 3-1. mgp example in Acrobat Reader


                    3.3.2. Requirements

                    Nothing special.


                    3.3.3. Pros and Cons

                    Pros

                    • fileformat ASCII, you can use your favorite editor

                    • supports TrueType fonts

                    • supports animated texts and colourful backgrounds

                    • paint on the screen during the presentation

                    • simple syntax

                    • supports asian multilingual presentations

                    Cons

                    • some problems when using different screen sizes

                    • somewhat minimal support for converting to other formats (offers HTML, PS)

                    • syntax rather awkward in some cases, making the source hard to read/type

                    • not platform independend because it requires X11



                    3.3.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 1997 and 1998 WIDE Project.

                    Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with 
                    or without modification, are permitted provided that the 
                    following conditions are met:
                    1. Redistributions of source code must retain the 
                       above copyright notice, this list of conditions 
                       and the following disclaimer.
                    2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the  
                       above copyright notice, this list of conditions 
                       and the following disclaimer in the documentation 
                       and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
                    3. Neither the name of the project nor the names of its 
                       contributors may be used to endorse or promote 
                       products derived from this software without specific
                       prior written permission.
                                      


                    3.3.6. Special Notes

                    See http://puchol.com/cpg/software/mgp/ for some examples of templates for mgp.


                    Chapter 4. Todo

                    This chapter lists tools which I haven't had time to evaluate yet. Feel free to email me your contribution!


                    4.1. Active-DVI


                    4.1.1. General Description

                    "Active-DVI is a DVI previewer and a programmable presenter for slides written in LaTeX. "


                    4.1.2. Requirements

                    Objective Caml 3.04 or higher needed to compile the sources.



                    4.1.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright 2001, 2002 INRIA all rights reserved.

                    GNU LGPL


                    4.3. gpresent


                    4.3.1. General Description

                    "gpresent consists of a macro package present.tmac for use with groff and a postprocessor presentps for manipulation of the PostScript output of groff."


                    4.3.2. Requirements

                    • groff (version 1.18.1 dated Oct 3, 2002 or higher/later) with the mm macros (included with groff) -- groff.ffii.org

                    • perl (version 5.x)

                    • ps2pdf




                    4.3.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright Bob Diertens

                    GPL


                    4.4. HavenPoint


                    4.4.1. General Description

                    "HavenPoint is an open source application that generates PDF slide presentations from XML source files. It is based on the PythonPoint demo application included with ReportLab, available from http://www.reportlab.com/."



                    4.4.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright 2001 Matt Gushee

                    GPL ?


                    4.5. ImPress


                    4.5.1. General Description

                    "ImPress ™ is a WYSIWYG layout program designed especially for Linux. It allows you to create presentations and Postscript documents using fully scalable graphics similar to programs like Macromedia Freehand, Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator and Visio. It is different from raster graphic packages like gimp, Adobe PhotoShop and Jasc's PaintShop Pro in that it deals with graphical objects which can be manipulated on a canvas rather than just layers of paint. "



                    4.5.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 1994-2000 Christopher J. Cox

                    tbd.


                    4.6. Java Power Presenter - JPP


                    4.6.1. General Description

                    "The Java Power Presenter enables you to define PowerPoint-like foils in LaTeX. It offers you a platformindependent way to build presentations and makes it possible to reuse all your previously written LaTeX code. You don't have to convert or rewrite the written text and formulas and can preserve all your layout. "


                    4.6.2. Requirements

                    Java 2 Version 1.3.0 or higher



                    4.6.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 1999 by T.Ehm

                    License ?


                    4.7. JackSVG


                    4.7.1. General Description

                    "JackSVG is a program which allows you to create SVG slide presentations. Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is an open technology from the W3C for describing vector graphics on the Web. JackSVG allows you to create presentations that you can publish on the Web and distribute freely - without requiring your audience to have proprietary presentation software to view it. "



                    4.7.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, DSTC Pty Ltd.

                    DSTC Public License (DPL)


                    4.10. pdfwin


                    4.10.1. General Description

                    "The pdfwin package can be used for presentations on conferences or seminars. The package provides three prefined windows (e.g. text window and navigation panel) which are widely customizable."



                    4.10.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 2001,02,03 Matthias Mühlich

                    LPPL


                    4.11. Pointless


                    4.11.1. General Description

                    " Pointless is a presentation tool primarily targeted at the un*x world. Presentations are made using a simple markup-language (best described as a mix between TeX and Pod, and affectionately known as "The Pointless Language"). The resulting slideshow is rendered using FreeType and OpenGL for optimal visual quality. Hardware accelerated OpenGL is highly recommended but not required in order to run pointless. The pointless tool is designed in an extensible way, allowing the user to make simple presentations with minimal effort, yet providing for more complicated presentations through the inclusion (or, if necessary, coding) of extension modules. "



                    4.11.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 2002 Peter Andreasen, Christian Tønsberg, Jacob Weismann

                    GNU GPL


                    4.13. Prestimel


                    4.13.1. General Description

                    "PresTiMeL is a tool to create presentations from a XML-file. For each slide, PresTiMeL will create one (or a set of) HTML file(s), which can be shown in a Web browser of your choice. Cascading Style Sheets are used to provide the minor details of text styling, font, and color. "



                    4.13.5. Copyright and License

                    Copyright (C) 1999-2000 Bernhard Trummer

                    GPL


                    4.14. slides


                    4.14.1. General Description

                    Slides use a bigger base font size, suitable for presentation material, and the slides class provides an easy way to make overlays -- a slide which can be laid on top of a previous slide to fill in certain gaps.


                    4.14.2. Requirements

                    Should be part of any TeX installation.



                    4.14.6. Special Notes

                    The LaTeX project announced in LaTeX News 11 on June 1999, that the class will be unsupported in the future.


                    4.15. slides.sh


                    4.15.1. General Description

                    "slides.sh is a shell script written with the intention of generate HTML slides simply with tools you can put on one floppy (for example a GNU/Linux Slackware rescue-like floppy). "


                    4.15.2. Requirements

                    4.15.2.1. Mandatory

                    sh, expr, grep, head, ln, mkdir, printf, sed, tail


                    4.15.2.2. Optional

                    tar, gzip


                    4.15.3. Pros and Cons

                    Pros

                    • source file is a text file with a simple format

                    • viewable with any browser

                    Cons



                      4.15.5. Copyright and License

                      Copyright © 2000,2001 Francois-Xavier Le Bail

                      GPL


                      4.16. TeX4ht: LaTeX and TeX for Hypertext


                      4.16.1. General Description

                      " TeX4ht is a highly configurable TeX-based authoring system for producing hypertext. It interacts with TeX-based applications through style files and postprocessors, leaving the processing of the source files to the native TeX compiler. Consequently, TeX4ht can handle the features of TeX-based systems in general, and of the LaTeX and AMS style files in particular. "



                      4.16.5. Copyright and License

                      Copyright © ? Eitan M. Gurari

                      LPPL (modified: it is allowed to modify the files without changing their names, if the signatures of the files are modified


                      4.17. Utopia PDF Presentations Bundle


                      4.17.1. General Description

                      "The Utopia PDF Presentations Bundle provides accessories which facilitate the production of stunning PowerPoint-like presentations from (La)TeX source. The process requires generation of PDF by way of PostScript, as some effects (notably "builds/incremental display") are implemented by post-processing the PostScript generated from TeX. "

                      "The heart of the Bundle is two LaTeX packages and the PostScript post-processor; the Bundle also contains documentation, examples and other support materials. (The plain TeX system which formed the foundation for the Bundle is being rewritten to match the new functionalities introduced during development of the LaTeX version; it will be added to the Bundle for the benefit of die-hard plain TeXers sometime in the future.) "


                      4.17.2. Requirements

                      (La)TeX installation


                      4.17.3. Pros and Cons

                      Pros

                        Cons

                        • Not free software



                        4.17.5. Copyright and License

                        Copyright 1999-2002 Utopia Precision Typesetting

                        Propiertary license


                        4.18. WML - Website META Language


                        4.18.1. General Description

                        "WML is a free HTML generation toolkit for Unix, internally consisting of 9 independent languages. The main idea of WML is a sequential filtering scheme where each language provides one of 9 processing passes. So WML reads an input file, applies passes 1-9 (or optionally only the passes specified) and finally produces one or more output files. "



                        4.18.5. Copyright and License

                        Copyright 1996-2000, Ralf S. Engelschall

                        Copyright 1999-2000, Denis Barbier

                        GPL


                        4.19. xdvipresent


                        4.19.1. General Description

                        "xdvipresent provides glue for developing slides for on-line presentation using LaTeX and xdvi, and a (portable) computer with a XGA (1024x768), SVGA (800x600), VGA (640x480), or SUN (1152x900) screen running Xwindows.The idea is that you prepare the slides in LaTeX with the enclosed style file(s) and you use the xdvipresent script (which simply calls xdvi with an appropriate set of options) to show the slides on the screen. The package also provides tips on preparing presentations with xdvi, for starting xdvipresent from emacs, etc."



                        4.19.5. Copyright and License

                        Copyright (C) Manuel Hermenegildo and The CLIP Group

                        License ?


                        4.20. XSLies


                        4.20.1. General Description

                        "XSLies [pronounced: "excess lies"] is a simple XSLT application for making Web-based presentations. It uses a simple XML input file to generate an HTML slideset. The resulting layout is completely customizable using XSL and CSS. "



                        4.20.5. Copyright and License

                        Copyright (C) 2001 Sami Lempinen

                        The Apache License


                        Chapter 5. Hints and Tricks

                        This chapter lists some hints and tricks which might be useful in creating online presentations.


                        5.1. PDF

                        5.1.1. Start other programs from within a PDF presentation

                        Herman Bruyninckx submitted the following macros to start up movies or other programs from within a PDF presentation made with LaTeX:

                        The key is to write a little shell-script and launch it from within pdflatex. In the shell-script you should simply call a standard unix tool for viewing video files, e.g.:

                        mpeg_play -controls off -dither color -position +128+96 video.mpg
                                          
                        Name this script for example videoscript.sh and make it executable. Defining the following two new commands in pdflatex,
                        \newcommand{\pdflaunch}[1] {\pdfpageattr{/AA << /O << /S /Launch /F (#1) >>>>}}
                        \newcommand{\pdflaunchlink}[2]{%
                              \pdfannotlink attr{/Border [0 0 0]} user{/Subtype /Link /A << %
                                /S /Launch /F (#1) >>}%
                              \pdfliteral{0 1 0 0 k}%  
                              {#2}\pdfliteral{0 0 0 1 k}\pdfendlink%
                              }
                                          
                        you have either the possibility to launch this script instantly with a new slide:
                        \pdflaunch{videoscript.sh}
                                          
                        or after pressing a special link defined by:
                        \pdflaunchlink{videoscript.sh}{Start video}
                                          
                        Don't forget to kill the video application when it is not needed anymore. For this purpose again define a little script e.g.:

                        killall mpeg_play
                                          
                        and call it as mentioned above.

                        Uwe Brauer submitted the following hint how to call shell scripts form within PDF using a recent version of hyperref:

                        \href{run:matlabcall2}{\fcolorbox{black}{mygrey}{Euler-estab}}
                                          
                        The magic is the string run: which is followed by the name of the script.

                        Appendix A. History, Credits, Remarks, and License

                        A.1. History

                        The idea for a document covering the topic of creating screen based or online presentations came to my mind around spring 2000. At that time I had a few interesting discussions with Werner Heuser, who was also planning such a documentation project. Unfortunately both of us didn't find the spare time to begin with this project until recently.

                        Quite a few of the listed tools are taken from Werner Heuser's "Linux on the Road; A Guide to Laptops and Mobile Devices". The printed version contains an additional chapter "Lectures, Presentations, Animations and Slideshows", which covers also most of the solutions presented in this documentation.

                        In March 2001 I had to prepare a talk again and began once more to look around for a possible tool chain. Finally this was the reason I started writing this documentation in the hope it will be useful for others in similar situations.

                        Please treat all statements in this document strictly as my private opinion.


                        A.2. Credits

                        The following people have contributed substantial parts to this document:

                        • Uwe Brauer

                        • Herman Bruyninckx

                        • Michael Ebner

                        • Victor Eijkhout

                        • Sven Guckes

                        • Werner Heuser

                        • Ludger Humbert

                        • Stephane Lentz

                        • Sebastian Leske

                        • Hannes Loeffler

                        • Rolf Niepraschk

                        • Frank Ronneburg



                        A.3. About this Document

                        The source format of this document is DocBook(SGML) V4.1.

                        Generation of the various output formats use the following toolchains controlled by a modified version of the FreeBSD Make Environment for Documentation (adapted by the author to Debian/GNU Linux):

                        HTML, TXT

                        openjade V1.3.1 with DocBook DSSSL stylesheets V1.77-cvs.2003.02.06 (customized)

                        PDF, PS

                        openjade V1.3.1 with DocBook DSSSL stylesheets V1.77-cvs.2003.02.06 (customized), jadetex V3.12




                        A.3.1. Contributions

                        Contributions are very welcome! If you know some tool which is not yet covered in this document or want to contribute additional information for an already listed solution please email me your contribution.

                        Take the following guidelines as hints only:

                        • Source format should be ASCII.

                        • General description should give a very short overview (max. 100 words).

                        • Include a simple example in source code if possible.

                        • Include a window shot of the example (PNG, approx. 400x400).

                        • Pros and Cons should list only the most important topics.

                        • Any special comments for the evaluated solution should go into a Special Notes section.


                        A.4. GNU Free Documentation License

                                       GNU Free Documentation License
                                           Version 1.1, March 2000
                        
                         Copyright (C) 2000  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
                             59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
                         Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
                         of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
                        
                        
                        0. PREAMBLE
                        
                        The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
                        written document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone
                        the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without
                        modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially.  Secondarily,
                        this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get
                        credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for
                        modifications made by others.
                        
                        This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative
                        works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense.  It
                        complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
                        license designed for free software.
                        
                        We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free
                        software, because free software needs free documentation: a free
                        program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the
                        software does.  But this License is not limited to software manuals;
                        it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or
                        whether it is published as a printed book.  We recommend this License
                        principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
                        
                        
                        1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
                        
                        This License applies to any manual or other work that contains a
                        notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed
                        under the terms of this License.  The "Document", below, refers to any
                        such manual or work.  Any member of the public is a licensee, and is
                        addressed as "you".
                        
                        A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the
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                        A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section of
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                        The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose titles
                        are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice
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                        The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are listed,
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                        the Document is released under this License.
                        
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                        2. VERBATIM COPYING
                        
                        You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either
                        commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the
                        copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies
                        to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other
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                        technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further
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                        compensation in exchange for copies.  If you distribute a large enough
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                        3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
                        
                        If you publish printed copies of the Document numbering more than 100,
                        and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose
                        the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover
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                        If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit
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                        If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering
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                        It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the
                        Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give
                        them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.
                        
                        
                        4. MODIFICATIONS
                        
                        You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under
                        the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release
                        the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified
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                        and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy
                        of it.  In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
                        
                        A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct
                           from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions
                           (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section
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                        B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities
                           responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified
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                           Document (all of its principal authors, if it has less than five).
                        C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the
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                        E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications
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                        G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections
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                        H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
                        I. Preserve the section entitled "History", and its title, and add to
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                           there is no section entitled "History" in the Document, create one
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                           You may omit a network location for a work that was published at
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                        K. In any section entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications",
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                           substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements
                           and/or dedications given therein.
                        L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document,
                           unaltered in their text and in their titles.  Section numbers
                           or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
                        M. Delete any section entitled "Endorsements".  Such a section
                           may not be included in the Modified Version.
                        N. Do not retitle any existing section as "Endorsements"
                           or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
                        
                        If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
                        appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material
                        copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all
                        of these sections as invariant.  To do this, add their titles to the
                        list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice.
                        These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
                        
                        You may add a section entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains
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                        You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a
                        passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list
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                        The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License
                        give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or
                        imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
                        
                        
                        5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
                        
                        You may combine the Document with other documents released under this
                        License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified
                        versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the
                        Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and
                        list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its
                        license notice.
                        
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                        multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single
                        copy.  If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but
                        different contents, make the title of each such section unique by
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                        Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of
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                        In the combination, you must combine any sections entitled "History"
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                        entitled "Endorsements."
                        
                        
                        6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
                        
                        You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents
                        released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this
                        License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in
                        the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for
                        verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.
                        
                        You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute
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                        7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
                        
                        A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate
                        and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or
                        distribution medium, does not as a whole count as a Modified Version
                        of the Document, provided no compilation copyright is claimed for the
                        compilation.  Such a compilation is called an "aggregate", and this
                        License does not apply to the other self-contained works thus compiled
                        with the Document, on account of their being thus compiled, if they
                        are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
                        
                        If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
                        copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one quarter
                        of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on
                        covers that surround only the Document within the aggregate.
                        Otherwise they must appear on covers around the whole aggregate.
                        
                        
                        8. TRANSLATION
                        
                        Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
                        distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4.
                        Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
                        permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
                        translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
                        original versions of these Invariant Sections.  You may include a
                        translation of this License provided that you also include the
                        original English version of this License.  In case of a disagreement
                        between the translation and the original English version of this
                        License, the original English version will prevail.
                        
                        
                        9. TERMINATION
                        
                        You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except
                        as expressly provided for under this License.  Any other attempt to
                        copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will
                        automatically terminate your rights under this License.  However,
                        parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this
                        License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
                        parties remain in full compliance.
                        
                        
                        10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
                        
                        The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions
                        of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time.  Such new
                        versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
                        differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See
                        http:///www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
                        
                        Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number.
                        If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this
                        License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of
                        following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or
                        of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the
                        Free Software Foundation.  If the Document does not specify a version
                        number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not
                        as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.
                        
                        
                        ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
                        
                        To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
                        the License in the document and put the following copyright and
                        license notices just after the title page:
                        
                              Copyright (c)  YEAR  YOUR NAME.
                              Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this docum
                        ent
                              under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
                              or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
                              with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the
                              Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being 
                        LIST.
                              A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
                              Free Documentation License".
                        
                        If you have no Invariant Sections, write "with no Invariant Sections"
                        instead of saying which ones are invariant.  If you have no
                        Front-Cover Texts, write "no Front-Cover Texts" instead of
                        "Front-Cover Texts being LIST"; likewise for Back-Cover Texts.
                        
                        If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
                        recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of
                        free software license, such as the GNU General Public License,
                        to permit their use in free software.
                        

                        Index

                        About, About this Document
                        Output formats, About this Document
                        Active-DVI, Active-DVI
                        AxPoint, AxPoint
                        beamer, beamer
                        ConTeXt, ConTeXt
                        Contributions, Contributions
                        Credits, Credits
                        DFBPoint, DFBPoint
                        DocBook
                        dbslide, DocBook dbslide
                        DSSSL, Mandatory
                        SGML, General Description
                        slides, DocBook slides
                        FoilHTML, Optional
                        foiltex, foiltex
                        gpresent, gpresent
                        HavenPoint, HavenPoint
                        Hints, Hints and Tricks
                        History, History
                        HTML Based, HTML Based Solutions
                        hyperref.sty, Mandatory, Mandatory, Optional, Optional
                        ifmslide, ifmslide
                        ImPress, ImPress
                        JackSVG, JackSVG
                        Java Power Presenter, Java Power Presenter - JPP
                        latex2html, Optional, Optional, Optional
                        latex2slides, latex2slides
                        License
                        Artistic License, Copyright and License
                        FDL, GNU Free Documentation License
                        GPL, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License
                        LGPL, Copyright and License, Copyright and License
                        LPPL, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License, Copyright and License
                        LyX, LyX
                        marSLIDE, marSLIDE
                        mechapoint, mechapoint
                        Other Solutions, Other Solutions
                        PDF, PDF Based Solutions
                        PDF Based, PDF Based Solutions
                        pdfscreen.sty, pdfscreen.sty
                        pdfTeX, Optional, Optional, Optional
                        pdfwin, pdfwin
                        People
                        Adriaens, Hendri, Additionals
                        Brauer, Uwe, Credits
                        Bruyninckx, Herman, Credits
                        Ebner, Michael, Credits
                        Eijkhout, Victor, Credits
                        Emmel, Thomas, Copyright and License
                        Goualard, Frederic, Copyright and License
                        Guckes, Sven, Credits
                        Heuser, Werner, Credits
                        Hoenicka, Markus, Copyright and License
                        Humbert, Ludger, Credits
                        Lehmke, Stephan, Copyright and License
                        Lenz, Stephane, Credits
                        Leske, Sebastian, Credits
                        Loeffler, Hannes, Credits
                        McKendall, Raymond A., Copyright and License
                        Milano, Leo, Copyright and License
                        Niepraschk, Rolf, Credits
                        Radhakrishnan, C. V., Copyright and License
                        Ronneburg, Frank, Credits
                        Sergeant, Matt, Copyright and License
                        Story, D. P., Copyright and License
                        van der Meer, Hans, Copyright and License
                        Van Zandt, Timothy, Copyright and License
                        Walsh, Norman, General Description
                        Pointless, Pointless
                        PPower4, PPower4 &#8211; P^4, PDF Presentation Post Processor
                        PPPSlides, PPPSlides
                        Prestimel, Prestimel
                        Prosper, Prosper
                        rayslides.sty, rayslides.sty
                        ReportLab, ReportLab / PythonPoint
                        seminar.sty, seminar.sty
                        slidenotes, slidenotes
                        slides, slides
                        slides.sh, slides.sh
                        slideshow, slideshow
                        TeX4ht, TeX4ht: LaTeX and TeX for Hypertext
                        TeXPower, Mandatory, TeXPower
                        Todo, Todo
                        Utopia PDF, Utopia PDF Presentations Bundle
                        web.sty, web.sty
                        WML, WML - Website META Language
                        xdvipresent, xdvipresent
                        XSLies, XSLies