Builds¶
Complex slides can often benefit from being build up (revealed) step-by-step during a presentation. Slidie supports this by allowing Inkscape layers to be incrementally shown (or hidden) according to Beamer-inspired annotations added to layer names.
Build specifications are given in angle brackets (< and >) anywhere
within the layer name and consist of a comma separated list of step numbers
during which that layer is visible.
For example if you have a slide with four layers named like so:
A
B <1>
C <2>
D <1, 2>.
This describes a slide which builds in three steps (numbered 0, 1 and 2):
In step 0 (the initial state of the slide), only layer A is visible.
In step 1 (after the first click), layers A, B and D are visible.
In step 2 (after the second click), layers A, C and D are visible.
The Inkscape layer visibility setting for layers annotated with build specifications is is ignored in rendered outputs. Layer visibility is instead set according to the build steps specified. Non-annotated layers, however, will remain visible (or hidden) as usual.
Ranges¶
You can also specify ranges of steps, for example, given the following layers:
A <1>
B <2>
C <3>
D <0-2>
This slide will build in four steps like so:
In step 0 (the initial state of the slide), only layer D is visible.
In step 1 (after the first click), layers A, D are visible.
In step 2 (after the second click), layers B and D are visible.
In step 3 (after the third click), only layer C is visible.
Open-ended ranges¶
If the start or end of a range is omitted, this defines a range from the first
step or to last step respectively. For example <2-> means ‘from the second
click onward’.
Automatic step numbering¶
For the common case where consecutive layers are revealed in consecutive steps
the + shorthand means the step after the first step in the previous layer
with a specification. For example:
A
B <+>
C <+>
Here, layer A is always visible whilst layers B C appear (then disappear) after the first and second clicks respectively.
A ‘+’ can be used as part of a range specification. In addition the .
shorthand works like + but without incrementing the step number. Used
together this allows you to achieve things like the following where elements
are highlighted as they’re revealed:
Title
First bullet <+->
First bullet highlight <.>
Second bullet <+->
Second bullet highlight <.>
Third bullet <+->
Third bullet highlight <.>
This slide has four steps with (for example) a bullet being reveled after each click. The most recently shown bullet might be highlighted in some way in the ‘highlight’ layers.
Tags¶
For advanced (or fiddly) usecases, it is possible to add one or more tags to a
layer by adding @tag_name_here to the layer name. These tags may be
referenced in other layers’ build specifications to make layers appear in sync
with the tagged layer.
A typical use of this feature is for cases where graphics are split between foreground and background layers and the foreground and background parts need to be kept in sync. For example, consider the following layers:
- Foreground
Foreground A <+-> @a
Foreground B <+-> @b
Foreground C <+-> @c
- Background
Background A <@a>
Background B <@b>
Background C <@c>
This slide builds in four steps with foreground layers A, B and C being revealed after each click. The corresponding background layers are revealed in sync with their foreground counterparts.
See also
- Linking to build steps
Tag names are also used as named references in inter-slide hyperlinks. For example,
#10@footo link to the first build step on slide 10 with the tag ‘foo’.
Tag suffixes¶
When you use a tag in a build specification, all of the steps of all of the
layers tagged with that tag are copied into your specification. By adding a
.start, .end, .before, or .after suffix, however, you can
instead reference the first or last steps in that set, or the steps immediately
before or after them. For example, given the following layers:
Foo <1, 2, 3> @foo
A <@foo.before>
B <@foo.start>
C <@foo.end>
D <@foo.after>
This defines a slide with five build steps:
In step 0, just layer A is visible
In step 1, layers Foo and B are visible
In step 2, just layer Foo is visible
In step 3, layers Foo and C are visible
In step 4, just layer D is visible
Note
The astute reader may have noticed that @*.before syntax can lead to
implicitly referencing steps numbered below zero. Slidie will handle this scenario
(steps will start from -1, or -2, or whatever is necessary, on that slide)
but it is best avoided: there is no other way to directly specify a
negative step number.