Deveal, a reveal.js helper tool

Deveal is an helper tool for using the marvelous reveal.js presentation framework.

It provides the ability to

• create a new presentation
• split presentation into multiple files
• easily parameterize the presentation (title, theme, custom css, ...)
• build presentation into a single index.html file
• watch for presentation updates while editing the source files

Deveal is developped in Python 3 and mainly relies on the wonderful Jinja2, PyYaml and watchdog packages.

Installation

Use the pip installation tool

pip install deveal

The dependencies will be automatically installed.

Usage

Deveal is a command line tool. It must be used from within a terminal.

Run the following command to get help

deveal --help

deveal new

The deveal new command creates a new presentation. As it creates the presentation directory itself, the command must be run in the upper directory where the new presentation will be created

(example below for creating a new presentation named "mynewslideshow")

deveal new mynewslideshow

This command creates the minimal required files in the presentation directory

• the deveal-index.html template file
• the deveal.yaml configuration file

A deveal.css file for optional custom styles and a sections directory with an example presentation are also created

The deveal-index.html file is the template for the presentation. It a Jinja2 template rendered throught the deveal build command, using the variables contained in the deveal.yaml file. Unless you want to modify the reveal.js configuration, you should not have to modify this template.

The deveal.yaml file contains the configuration for the presentation. It should contains the folling expected variables:

• reveal_path : The path or URL to the installed reveal.js framework (default is "https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]")
• reveal_theme : The theme to use for (default is "black")
• content_files : The ordered array of files containing the parts of the presentation
• custom_css : The path to custom css files if any

Any other variable defined in this file is made available as a variable for the template file. This may be useful to customize the base template.

deveal build

The deveal build command builds the presentation as a single index.html file using the deveal-index.html and deveal.yaml files

deveal build

The obtained index.html file is the presentation itself that can be open throught a web browser.

deveal watch

The deveal watch command watches for files changes in the presentation directory and subdirectories. If a change is detected, a build is automatically triggered. Type Ctrl+C to stop watching.

deveal watch

Tips

• For an easier writing and maintenance of the presentation, it is encouraged to split the presentation into multiple files (for example title.html, part1.html, part2.html, ...)
• it is encouraged to put the graphics used in the presentation in a dedicated subdirectory (named "graphics" for example)

Authors

Deveal is developed by Jean-Christophe Fabre