Powerdot is a powerful presentation class for LaTeX. It provides several features that make easier for the presenter to create professional-looking slides in a short amount of time. This article explains how to use powerdot
.
In powerdot, to create a new slide the corresponding text and images must be enclosed in a special environment. See the example below.
\documentclass{powerdot}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\title{Powerdot Presentation}
\author{Sharelatex}
\date{\today}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\begin{slide}{Slide Title}
\begin{itemize}
\item This is an item
\item Second item
\item Third item
\end{itemize}
\end{slide}
\end{document}
The first command in a powerdot
presentation must be
\documentclass{powerdot}
after that the usual data (author, title and date) can be included in the preamble. Within the document, the commands \maketitle
and \section
will create a new slide to display the corresponding information.
In between the tags \begin{slide}
and \end{slide}
the contents of a new slide must be typed. A title for the slide can be set as an optional parameter inside braces right after the opening command. In the example the title is "Slide Title".
Note: To compile a powerdot
document use the latex
compiler instead of pdflatex
or xelatex
. After that you can convert the DVI output to PS or PDF. If you use Overleaf you can directly download the PDF file after compiling your project.
Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
Some extra parameters can be added to the class declaration command.
\documentclass[
mode=print,
paper=smartboard,
orient=landscape
]{powerdot}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
% Presentation metadata
\title{Powerdot Presentation}
\author{Sharelatex}
\date{\today}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
% section: title takes up full slide
\section{First section}
\begin{slide}{Slide Title}
\begin{itemize}
\item This is an item
\item Second item
\item Third item
\end{itemize}
\end{slide}
\begin{slide}{Slide N 2}
This is the content of slide 2.
Math $x=2\pi r$.
\end{slide}
\end{document}
In this example several options are set inside brackets in the command \documentclass[...]{powerdot}
:
mode=print
present
, which is the default mode for presentations; and handout
which produces a black and white overview of the slides, printing two slides per page.paper=smartboard
screen
(4/3 ratio), a4paper
and letterpaper
.orient=landscape
landscape
and portrait
Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
In powerdot
it's possible to add notes to the slides as an aid to the presenter.
\documentclass[
display=notes,
mode=print,
paper=smartboard,
orient=landscape
]{powerdot}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
% Presentation metadata
\title{Powerdot Presentation}
\author{Sharelatex}
\date{\today}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
% section: title takes up full slide
\section{First section}
\begin{slide}{Slide Title}
\begin{itemize}
\item This is an item
\item Second item
\item Third item
\end{itemize}
\end{slide}
\begin{note}{About items}
Mention that lists of items can be customised.
\end{note}
\end{document}
To create a note the environment note
must be used right below the corresponding slide. The syntax is the same as in the slide
environment, you can also set a title for the note.
To render only the notes the option display=notes
is passed to the document class command. Other values for this parameter are : slidesnotes
that print the notes and the slides, and slides
that prints only the slides.
Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
The appearance of a powerdot presentation can be changed by means of styles and palettes. The styles change the overall look of the presentation while the palettes determine the set of colours used in a style.
\documentclass[
style=sailor,
paper=smartboard
]{powerdot}
\pdsetup{palette=Chocolate}
...
Some extra option can be passed to the \documentclass
in the previous example that change the appearance of the slides:
style=sailor
Other options such as palette
can be included in \pdsetup{...}
.
\pdsetup{palette=Chocolate}
See the reference guide for a list of available styles and palettes.
Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
Transition effects can be added to a powerdot presentation to make it more visually attractive.
\documentclass[
style=sailor,
display=slides,
paper=smartboard,
orient=landscape,
]{powerdot}
\pdsetup{trans=Split}
...
In this example, a transition effect called Split
is added to the presentation by the command
\pdsetup{trans=Split}
It shows the new slide by splitting it and animating each half to appear on the screen. These effects depend on the PDF viewer and are supported by the most popular options, in full screen mode.
Other possible transition effects are
Blinds
Box
Wipe
Dissolve
Glitter
Replace
Fly
Push
Cover
Uncover
Fade
Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
Special commands can be used to unveil only some elements of the slide instead of the entire content. There are two ways to achieve this.
\begin{slide}{Slide Title}
You can see a list of items below. \pause \\
There are commands to make them appear sequentially
\begin{itemize}[type=1]
\item<2> This is an item
\item<3> Second item
\item<4> Third item
\end{itemize}
\end{slide}
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The two overlay-related commands are:
\pause
which will show the text after the command till the next overlay,\begin{itemize}[type=1]
the extra parameter enables overlays in itemize
and enumerate
environments. It's possible to use the \pause
command here or, as in the example, pass an extra parameter to each item
. This extra parameter determines which overlies will display the current item. For instance, the first item appears only on the second overly.Examples of other possible syntax for the extra parameters in the \item
command are:
\item<-2>
. This item will show up in all overlies except the second one.\item<2->
. This item will appear in all overlies from the second.\item<2-5>
. This item is printed from overly two to overly five.Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
Some content in a powerdot presentation requires special commands. For instance, to add verbatim text to a slide an additional parameter must be added to the slide
environment.
\documentclass[
style=sailor,
display=slides,
paper=smartboard,
orient=landscape,
]{powerdot}
\usepackage{listings}
\lstnewenvironment{code}{%
\lstset{frame=single,escapeinside=`',
backgroundcolor=\color{yellow!20},
basicstyle=\footnotesize \ttfamily}
}{}
\begin{document}
\begin{slide}[method=direct]{Slide 2}
Steps 1 and 2:
\begin{code}
compute a;
compute b;
\end{code}
\end{slide}
\end{document}
The parameter inside brackets, method=direct
is mandatory to add verbatim text to a slide, but don't allow overlays. Another option is to use method=file
that allows verbatim text and overlays, but could be slow if many slides use this method.
Open an example of the powerdot package in Overleaf
Below all official powerdot styles and all available palettes for the corresponding styles are listed.
main page | inner page | palettes | |
---|---|---|---|
simple | ![]() |
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|
tycja | ![]() |
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|
ikeda | ![]() |
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|
fyma | ![]() |
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blue, green, gray, brown, orange |
ciment | ![]() |
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|
elcolors | ![]() |
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|
aggie | ![]() |
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|
husky | ![]() |
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|
sailor | ![]() |
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River, Wine, Chocolate, Cocktail |
upen | ![]() |
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|
bframe | ![]() |
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|
horatio | ![]() |
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|
paintings | ![]() |
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Syndics, Skater, GoldenGate, Moitessier, PearlEarring,
Lamentation, HolyWood, Europa, MayThird, Charon |
klope | ![]() |
![]() |
Spring, PastelFlower, BlueWater, BlackWhite |
jefka | ![]() |
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brown, seagreen, blue, white |
pazik | ![]() |
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red, brown |
For more information see the