Differences between revisions 1 and 2
Revision 1 as of 2009-05-25 17:06:35
Size: 3024
Comment:
Revision 2 as of 2009-05-25 17:10:19
Size: 3177
Comment:
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 3: Line 3:
downloads:   === downloads ===
Line 5: Line 5:
Line 6: Line 7:
[[attachment:style.css]] a style sheet to go with the template
[[attachment:style.css]] a style sheet to go with the template, instantiated as an image

[[attachment:list03]] example control file, piped as standard input into makeshow

=== description ... sorta ===

Makeshow

downloads

makeshow perl code

template.html an html template file, contains the javascript buttons

style.css a style sheet to go with the template, instantiated as an image

list03 example control file, piped as standard input into makeshow

description ... sorta

Makeshow is a cheap hack for making image-based slide presentations that can be shown with any web browser on any platform. Makeshow does not create content, it just arranges a series of html slides, each with a pointer to a browser-compatible image, with navigation javascript to link them all in a hierarchical way. The images ( PNG and SWF preferred, but GIF, JPG, and any other format a browser can render is acceptable) can be made with any image composition process, including ad-hoc programs driving LibGD, GnuPlot, Mathematica, the Gimp, Photoshop, digital camera output, screenshots, and so forth. Powerpoint and OpenOffice Impress can output single images as slides; these can be used, too.

Makeshow is written in Perl. It is uses an HTML template file, template.html, which may call a style sheet. There is more information about operation in the perlpod documentation inside makeshow, which Linux users can see with "perldoc ./makeshow".

The motivation for this is that all presentation programs suck, especially when they talk to each other. They are dependent on fonts, and what the presenter (and version) does with them. They use "slide sorters" for navigation, a metaphor made obsolete by hyperlinks. They present animation very badly. They scale badly to screen size. It is very difficult to rebuild a presentation, yet connect all the graphics together.

If the slide images are rendered down to full-screen pixel-based images, they cannot be mis-presented. Ditto for simple Flash movies. The same image can be used in multiple presentations, and with Linux hard links, updating an image will propagate to all the presentations.

Slides can be connected by hyperlinks, not just simple forward and back. Makeshow adds a third control, "enter", which is used to navigate up and down through hierarchy. With a few clicks on a wireless presenter control, or with keyboard buttons or mouse, the user can quickly navigate to any part of a presentation.

Makeshow builds from a simple text control file, described in the perlpod documentation. The control file can be built by other programs, though a text editor is good enough for composing most shows. Multiple control files use the same slide images to build different presentations. Since the composition is controlled with text files, the construction and maintenance of presentations can be controlled with "make", integrated design environments, and revision control systems.

This is most definitely alpha code, and needs the attentions of competent programmers (incompetent programmers, please contribute to other projects!). But it works OK for me. It was developed for Linux, it should be easy to port to Mac, and if you run Windows, then I must inform you that God hates your operating system.

wydiwys (last edited 2021-06-08 17:28:02 by KeithLofstrom)