What is it?

another-org-info is an html-based presentation system, similar to reveal.js, but based on org-mode and intended for emacs users. Example presentation is available here.

It is probably not an ideal software for a heavy user of org-mode who wants to manage everything using org-mode, e.g., the entire schedules. another-org-info expects only a casual usage of org-mode, i.e., almost similar to how you would use markdown.

another-org-info is minimalist. It doesn’t have fancy transitions, vertical slides, or other fluffs available in reveal.js which tries to build “Stunning Presentations”. No, we don’t need “Stunning Presentations” — all we need are just “Straightforward Presentations” with minimal distractions.

Features

• HTML based export and one-line command deployment to gh-pages on github.
• pdf export through the browser (hit u to unfold the presentation and print the page)
• Style Customization through Scss (Sass variant)
• Single-file delivery (inline all js/css and embed images in Base64 encoding)

Usage

• Use this repository as a template
• Edit presen.org
• make
• make auto for automatic rebuild
• make deploy to publish the content to github pages in gh-pages branch
  • Edit Makefile for deployment customization, e.g., target repository
• make archive for a single-file delivery
• To export to a pdf, use the browser (hit u to unfold the presentation and print the page)

Motivation & History & Alternative

I work in academia (computer science) and present ideas & results from time to time. My work machines are Linux. Openoffice/Libreoffice are not good enough, and Powerpoint or Keynote are not options for me. Working directly in emacs org-mode gives me comfort, and its text-based representation provides easy compatibility with standard dev toolsets such as make, git, grep, symlink, etc.

Org-mode has its own presentation export, called org-info-js (Example here). However, I was not satisfied by its quality either, especially considering its lack of customization and the overall look & feel (the font size is too small!), compared to Powerpoint and Apple Keynote. As a side note: This project also initially started out as using the output of org-info-js by hacking the CSS.

Reveal.js must be directly written in html. Also, while it does a lot of cool stuff, those fancy visuals tend to distract the audience from the core presentations when explaining complex ideas that need attention and focus. An academic presentation does not need fancy background pictures or other eyecatchers. Its sole purpose is to communicate abstract ideas effectively.

LaTeX Beamer is minimalist, but it must be written in LaTeX. Importantly, it does not export to html, thus we cannot publish the presentation easily on the web, one of the features I wanted.

Org-mode also has an export plug-in for reveal.js, but I haven’t tried that.