[Tex/LaTex] should I be torn between Keynote and beamer

beamer

I have experience with both keynote and beamer (and as a matter of fact, powerpoint as well). I think they both have a very different set of features, which depending on how you look at them, can either pose an advantage or disadvantage.

For example, keynote is a WYSIWYG editor, so that it is highly customizable in a rather easy way. On the other hand, beamer is latex based, which means that it is relatively easy to write (or even "code") elegant presentations in it, but to get to a high degree of customizability you need to be an expert in latex.

So, really, I am wondering about a few things.

First, is there any way to enjoy the best of both worlds? Meaning, relatively easy graphical editing which is highly customizable in a flexible latex environment.
How hard is it to create my own style file for beamer? I have some ideas about spacing, colors, fonts (though using fonts in latex has been hell for me, but I won't get to that…) that I want to set up, but I am not sure where to start. I wish there was some tutorial that does not describe how to use beamer, but instead describes how to write a style file for beamer.
Still, even if I choose beamer, I will have easy time with any structured text – but what about things such as diagrams? Or simple things such as drawing arrows between various sections of text? All of these things become complicated because of the positioning in latex which is done almost automatically.

I wish I had some idea how to resolve this "conflict" – should I opt for beamer or for keynote? As an avid programmer, I tend to like beamer more, but WYSIWYG capabilities are sometimes very very useful.

Any opinions will be gladly accepted!

Best Answer

I also used beamer and Keynote, but never tried to combine them. But some times ago I found PDF to Keynote. So one could produce a PDF with beamer and present it with Keynote, e. g. to add Notes easily and access the presentation tool like countdown and multiple monitor support.

I’d say that the graphical options of beamer in combination with TikZ/PGF/pgfplotsare very powerful for creating diagrams/charts, math plots and even other graphics. Furthermore there’s no easy way to typeset equations with Keynote.

Q1 I never created an own style but I think beamer is very well documented so it should be possible to create one. You could start with adapting an existing style.

Q3 TikZ allows overlay that are calculation the positions of text automatically to set arrows and other stuff. At the moment I haven’t any time to create an example but have a look at TeXample (tag: beamer).

For me it depends on the content of my presentation, if I need just some simple keywords on a slide (or if I need to work together with nontex people) I prefer the more beautiful Keynote presentations, but if I need equations, code listings, complex graphics etc I’ll use beamer instead—and maybe try the PDF to Keynote tool the next time …

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[Tex/LaTex] Export beamer slides to powerpoint/openoffice-impress/keynote editable format

"beamer can export to PDF or PS", beamer doesn't export anything. It is a LaTeX class and LaTeX compiles the document to PDF (pdflatex) or DVI (latex) which then is mostly converted to PS. There is of course no powerpointlatex, so you will need to convert the PDF or PS somehow to a format PP can read, which would be RTF (Rich Text Format) or some Windows vector format like EMF or WMF. However, I would do it either with one or the other software. They do not mix well.

[Tex/LaTex] Reusing slides from Beamer presentations

I have a mountain of beamer slides that I combine in all sorts of ways for a number of different courses and presentations that I make. Here's what I do, slightly simplified:

I use beamer templates as containers for series of slides (sometimes a series is just a single slide, sometimes it is 40 slides):

\newcommand{\defsection}[3]{
 \setbeamertemplate{slide #1 #2}{{#3}}}

I.e. in my source I put everything in "sections" a la:

\defsection{intro}{string-to-describe-what-this-is}{
\begin{frame}...\end{frame}
...
\begin{frame}...\end{frame}
} % end of \defsection

I use the sections of slides with the macro \usesection:

\newcommand{\usesection}[2]{
  \ifbeamertemplateempty{slide #1 #2}
  {\errmessage empty section: {#1}{#2}}
  {\opt{texdebug}{\message{
        *** Using section: (#1)(#2) }}
    \usebeamertemplate{slide #1 #2}}}

I use the optional package to be allow conditional inclusion of stuff:

\usepackage[advanced,use-foo,dont-use-bar,do-xyz,do-frotz]{optional}

I include ALL stuff in a master file (main.tex):

\begin{document}
\include{stuff.tex}
\include{more-stuff.tex}
\include{even-more-stuff.tex}

\usesection{intro}{intro}

\opt{advanced}{
  \usesection{adv}{intro}
  \usesection{adv}{bla-bla-bla}
}

\opt{use-foo}{
  \usesection{adv}{foo}
}

\opt{use-bar}{
  \usesection{adv}{bar}
}

\opt{dont-use-bar}{
  \usesection{adv}{alternative-stuff-if-bar-skipped-over}
}
...
\end{document}

Now each "version" or "course" or "subset of stuff" (or whatever) is basically just a matter of defining the right options and then include main.tex.

I realise this may seem a bit complicated at first go, but the key idea is to separate definition of some slides (\defsection) from the use of them (\usesection). Once that separation is made, all sorts of reuse, different selections based on options, etc, etc, becomes quite trivial.

The one thing I'm missing is an enhancement to the optional package so that I could define things like "include this section if option bar is NOT defined. As it is I need to define EITHER use-bar OR dont-use-bar to be able to trigger on both positive and negative matches.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Export beamer slides to powerpoint/openoffice-impress/keynote editable format

[Tex/LaTex] Reusing slides from Beamer presentations

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