Howto beamer with org-mode

by @ardumont on 22 Dec 2012

Pre-requisites

emacs
with org-mode

Install the other pre-requisites

Under a debian derivative O.S.:

sudo aptitude install latex latex-beamer \
  texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended ttf-marvosym

Note Your mileage may vary…

Example of org-mode file

Here is an example of org-code and the output frame beside it.

Note As I wrote in org-mode, I escaped the org-mode code with \. Real org-mode code is without the first \ character.

First, add some specific headers

Initialize an org file with the following headers:

\#+TITLE:     your-title
\#+AUTHOR:    your-name
\#+EMAIL:     your-email
\#+DATE:      bootstrap-date
\#+DESCRIPTION: some-description
\#+KEYWORDS: some-keywords
\#+LANGUAGE:  en
\#+OPTIONS:   H:3 num:t toc:t \n:nil @:t ::t |:t ^:t -:t f:t *:t <:t
\#+OPTIONS:   TeX:t LaTeX:t skip:nil d:nil todo:t pri:nil tags:not-in-toc
\#+INFOJS_OPT: view:nil toc:nil ltoc:t mouse:underline buttons:0 path:http://orgmode.org/org-info.js
\#+EXPORT_SELECT_TAGS: export
\#+EXPORT_EXCLUDE_TAGS: noexport
\#+LINK_UP:
\#+LINK_HOME:
\
\#+startup: beamer
\#+LaTeX_CLASS: beamer
\#+LaTeX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [bigger]
\
\#+BEAMER_FRAME_LEVEL: 2

There is automatically a front-page

The information comes from the previous headers block.

"frame-11 image"

Figure 1: First frame output example

And an outline page

This will come from the content of the other frames below.

"frame-outline image"

Figure 2: Outline frame example

Frame 1

\* Some group of frames
\** frame11
\*** some stuff
\*** to tell
\*** in list elements

"frame-11 image"

Figure 3: Frame 11 example

Frame 2

\** frame12
\*** what do you know!
\*** nice or what?

"frame-12 image"

Figure 4: Frame 12 example

A clojure frame in another group

\* Awesomeness!
\** Clojure
\*** code clojure
\#+BEGIN_SRC clj
\(fact (+ 1 1) => 2)
\#+END_SRC
\*** /Midje/, unit testing fwk is pretty awesome!

As we can see here, we can embedded some block of code from any language as org-mode usually permits.

"frame-clojure image"

Figure 5: Frame clojure example

About emacs frame

\** Emacs
\*** It's pretty cool too!

"frame-emacs image"

Figure 6: Frame emacs example

About Org frame

\** Org-mode with beamer
\*** rocks as we can present                                           :BMCOL:
\:PROPERTIES:
\:BEAMER_col: 0.5
\:END:
\*** in columns
\*** and as always
\:PROPERTIES:
\:BEAMER_col: 0.5
\:END:
\./clj-pink.png
\*** include images

"frame-org image"

Figure 7: Frame org example

Note Wait! What's with the syntax?

It's a binding that generates this for us. Selection the item that you want in columns then C-c C-b |, this will ask you for the size of the column (ratio between 0 and 1). Give, for example, 0.4 then hit enter. Do the same all the other columns.

Launch the export

C-c C-e will launch a buffer with the options for exporting in the format you want!

C-c C-e d

compile in latex, then export to pdf and open it.

And that's it.

Pros/Cons

Here's only what i think of, feel free to think otherwise.

Pros	Cons
Simple	Not editable in browser (as in google docs)
Portability - Plain text
Versionable (you choose your DVCS)
Share easy
Free as in free beer!

Note Whether, the `not editable in a browser` property is a negative point is debatable… For me, it's not but I try to stay unbiased here.