Creating Presentations with CSS and R Markdown using Marp

Marp, also known as Markdown Presentation Ecosystem, is an innovative tool that enables users to create presentations in various formats using a markdown template. In this article, we will explore the process of getting Marp installed, creating a presentation, and generating presentation files.

Setting up Marp

To begin with, you need to install Marp on your system. Assuming you have npm installed, you can initialize a project and get Marp-cli package installed in just two steps. Run the command `$ npm install -save-dev marp-cli` to include the marp-core package and the Marpit framework.

Directory Structure

For ease of organization, create separate directories for input and output files. The normal structure of a Marp project that I use consists of a 'dist' directory for presentation files and a 'src' directory for markdown files. Keep your slides file in the src directory and name it 'slides.md'.

slides.md File Structure

The slides markdown file is straightforward, consisting of a front-matter section followed by the slides themselves, formatted using standard markdown syntax. Each slide is separated by three dashes '-'. For instance:

```

title: My Presentation

author: Your Name

Slide 1

=====

This is my first slide.

Slide 2

=====

This is my second slide.

```

Generating Presentations

Once you have set up your project and created the slides.md file, you can generate presentation files using the Marp-cli package. Run the command `marp slides.md` to create a presentation in HTML format. You can also customize the output by specifying different formats such as PDF or PowerPoint.

Customizing Presentations with CSS

One of the standout features of Marp is its support for CSS styles. This allows you to alter the appearance of your presentation using standard CSS syntax. For example, you can add custom themes, fonts, and colors to your presentation.

Marp is an excellent tool for creating presentations quickly and easily using markdown files. With its built-in syntax highlighting and support for different formats, Marp has become my go-to tool for generating presentations. Whether you're a developer or simply looking for a simple way to create presentations, Marp is definitely worth checking out.

In this article, we have covered the basics of setting up Marp, creating a presentation, and generating presentation files. With its ease of use and flexibility, Marp has become an essential tool in my workflow.

Css with rmarkdown presentation