Slides from Markdown

This is a tiny workflow to turn a slides.md file into a Reveal.js presentation (slides.html) using Python.

---

Files you need

Create two files in the same folder:

• make_slides.py (build script)
• slides.md (your slide content)

---

1) Create make_slides.py

Save this as make_slides.py:

import pypandoc

# Download pandoc if it isn't available (downloads a local copy pypandoc can use)
pypandoc.download_pandoc()

pypandoc.convert_file(
    "slides.md",
    "revealjs",
    outputfile="slides.html",
    extra_args=[
        "--standalone",
        "-t", "revealjs",
        "-V", "revealjs-url=https://unpkg.com/reveal.js@5",
        "-V", "theme=black",
        "--mathjax",
        "--syntax-highlighting=pygments",
    ],
)

print("Slides written to slides.html")

What this does:

• Reads slides.md
• Produces a standalone slides.html
• Loads Reveal.js from the CDN
• Enables MathJax for formulas
• Enables syntax highlighting for code blocks

---

2) Create slides.md

Save this as slides.md:

# Title slide

Your name  
Date

---

## Second slide

- Bullet 1
- Bullet 2

---

## Third slide

You can write **normal markdown** here, formula $\omega$ or code.

$$x^2 + y^2 = 1$$

```python
def f(x):
    return x * x
```

---

3) Install dependencies

Install pypandoc:

pip install pypandoc

You do not need to install Pandoc separately, because the script downloads it automatically.

---

4) Build the slides

Run:

python make_slides.py

This writes slides.html.

---

5) View the presentation

Open slides.html in your browser (double-click it or use your file manager).

Navigation tips:

• Arrow keys: next/previous slide
• Esc: overview
• F: fullscreen
• URL hash updates are enabled, so slide position is reflected in the URL