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Showing posts from January, 2013

How to do math slides with LaTeX and Scribus – and not with Beamer

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Yeah, I keep (really) hating  LaTeX/Beamer. Thankfully, there is a better way to make slides with LaTeX on a WYSIWYG software. It is Scribus running LaTeX as a external tool. Here is how to get started. Yesterday I got a comment from wipeout on a remix of a math presentation I did in 2011. He asked if it could be done all in Beamer. I did research and ended writing this post. I have been using LaTeX for more than 10 years. It is a beautiful tool to typeset beautiful math. But LaTeX is neither a word processor, a desktop publishing tool, nor slideware. In words of its creator Producing good slides requires visual formatting, which means LaTeX is not well suited for the task.                                                                        – Leslie Lamport LaTeX/Beamer doesn't create the visuals you need , but rather the ones it can . It limits your control of at least 3 things: Positing, Alignment, and Color. Oh and add Imagery to it. Speaking of design elements, I get

Wanna rock an audience? Be you!

It is easy to get lost and think that pretty slides take for a better talk. They don't. What makes a good scientific talk, at least to me anyway, is that sense of awe – "Wow, it is really possible?!" – that a carefully crafted and rehearsed message (stories, explanations, open questions, problems, meaning, …) awakes in the audience. To create that awe one has to be honest, open, naked, true to oneself, or however you want to call it. Case in point, Supermodel Cameron Russell's TED talk. Enjoy!

Improve your slides now!

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There is one thing you can do right now that will boost your slides: reduce the number of words per slide. It is that simple. By reducing the number of words you make your audience happier because first, you'll naturally increase the font size of the text, and second you will stop reading your slides even start looking at your audience. The fastest way to reduce the number of words in a slide is by splitting its content into several slides. There is no country in the world with a slide tax, so don't worry if you end up with 3 or 4 times more slides. This might even be good, for it might help scoop the unnecessary detail. Split the content until you have one idea per slide, in other words make your slides atomic. After you have done this, use 6 or less words but no bullet points! Remember that you don't need full sentences, but just enough text to communicate that atomic idea.  Light Bulb designed by Shane David Kenna from The Noun Project

Animate SVG with the help of Inkscape

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Sources: wiki.inkscape.org upload.wikimedia.org  I feel guilty. I know, I shouldn't be writing about animations. But now again, knowing the available tools it is an integral part of making good presentations. After all, I know people who still draw their diagrams on PowerPoint. I'm going to pass that and assume you have opened Inkscape and know what SVG means. If you don't, google those two words "SVG" and "Inkscape". It will blow your mind, that is, if you're still using PowerPoint or alike to do your diagrams. Do you wish you could animate the diagrams you have made using SVG? I have news for you. You can, but it is painstaking. The keyword is SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language), and with the help of Inkscape , some inspiration and patience you can get nifty results. A couple comments. Some browsers, like Firefox, can display SVG. This is important because slideware will necessarily support this format. So you have at lea