Re: [Orgmode] Beamer support in Org-mode

[Nick Dokos]

Darlan Cavalcante Moreira <address@hidden> wrote:

> At Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:09:33 +0100,
> Carsten Dominik <address@hidden> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > On Nov 26, 2009, at 7:29 PM, Darlan Cavalcante Moreira wrote:
> > 
> > >
> > >
> > > I usually make my presentations in beamer as below.
> > > ,----
> > > | \begin{frame}
> > > |   \frametitle{This is the frametitle}
> > > |   \begin{itemize}
> > > |     \item Some information
> > > |     \begin{itemize}
> > > |       \item Some information in a subitem
> > > |     \end{itemize}
> > > |     \item more information
> > > |     \item more information \note[item]{This is a note about this  
> > > item}
> > > |   \end{itemize}
> > > | \end{frame}
> > > `----
> > >
> > > Therefore, I think a simple solution is just writing the \note  
> > > command directly
> > > in org that would then be passed to beamer. In org-mode the same  
> > > slide would be
> > >
> > > ,----
> > > | * This is the frametitle
> > > |  - Some information
> > > |    - Some information in a subitem
> > > |  - more information
> > > |  - more information \note[item]{This is a note about this item}
> > > `----
> > >
> > > This avoids cluttering the org file and since the item (including  
> > > the note) will
> > > probably span more then one line, then just leaving notes like this  
> > > will allow
> > > hiding everything with the outline capabilities of org-mode. If a  
> > > subtree is
> > > used this would probably not be possible.
> > >
> > > The "item" option in the note command is used in beamer to number  
> > > the notes (I
> > > myself always want this).
> > >
> > > Of course that if everyone else like to put the notes at the end of  
> > > the frame
> > > then a subtree with all the notes makes sense. Beamer does not  
> > > impose where the
> > > notes should be inside the frame and I can reeducate myself to put  
> > > them inside a
> > > subtree, but I'd like to leave the notes near the items they are  
> > > related to, if
> > > possible.
> > 
> > I still don't have any better ideas than this to represent notes
> > in Org for beamer presentations.  Just writing \noe{...} as you
> > suggest will certainly work - the disadvantage is that this does
> > not make a lot of sense when exporting to other formats.
> > 
> > One option would be to turn all those notes into footnotes
> > for other export.....
> > 
> > I'd really be interested to get more input on this issue.
> > 
> > - Carsten
> > 
> 
> Maybe it is better to simple ignore notes when exporting to other formats.
> 
> For me notes in beamer are useful only to give me an idea of what I intend to
> talk about in the presentation and help me training for the presentation. They
> are not really "part of the final exported document" and sometimes I put a lot
> of information in them (possible in a different language from the
> presentation).
> 
> Also, the contents in notes can be anything such as a table or a figure. This
> obviously would result in an error if or if org tried to put them into a
> footnote when exporting to other formats.
> 
> Therefore, the question is has anyone here any interest in notes when 
> exporting
> to other formats or do they only make sense when exporting to beamer?
> 

For me, notes are rather important: in addition to reminding me what to
say, they are essentially a second level to the presentation (and I
always include them in any handouts). Somebody who has a vague interest
in the subject can look at the slides. If they want to go into it a bit
deeper, they can look at the notes.

I've done a handful of presentations using org/beamer and they have all
been written specifically for exporting to beamer. In most cases, I've
had to manipulate the LaTeX output to get what I want (but at least part
of that was because of my own stupidity: my mapping from org to beamer
was much more limited than it had to be - unfortunately, I've not had
the time to go back and rework a presentation in light of what I now
know, so I still can't be much help to say what works and what doesn't).

Given that I only export the presentation to beamer, I'm actually happy
with Darlan's solution. I hope to try it over the Christmas break and
report back.

So unless somebody comes up with a really good idea, delaying any
org-specific implementation might be the best way forward: it would save
wear-and-tear on Carsten, allow the rest of us to catch up and gather
some experience and perhaps come up with better ideas on how to handle
this.

Nick