The management and publishing of complex presentations is poorly supported by available presentation software. This makes it hard to publish usable and accessible presentation material, and to reuse that material for continuously evolving events. XSLidy provides an XSLT-based approach to generate presentations out of a mix of general-purpose HTML and a small number of presentation-specific structural elements. Using XSLidy, the management and reuse of complex presentations becomes easier, and the results are more user-friendly in terms of usability and accessibility.

Web-Based Presentations

XML-Tage Berlin 2007

Felix Michel, ETH Zürich
September 24, 2007; Berlin, Germany

Abstract

The management and publishing of complex presentations is poorly supported by available presentation software. This makes it hard to publish usable and accessible presentation material, and to reuse that material for continuously evolving events.
Hotspot provides an XSLT-based approach to generate presentations out of a mix of general-purpose HTML and a small number of presentation-specific structural elements.
Using Hotspot, the management and reuse of complex presentations becomes easier, and the results are more user-friendly in terms of usability and accessibility.

Introduction

We present Hotspot, a
- powerful,
- customizable,
- and extensible
framework for generating and managing
- complex,
- structured,
- web-based
presentations.

A Word of Precaution First

We just re-baptized our project!
- Slidy → Kilauea
- XSLidy → Hotspot
XSLidy was based on Dave Raggett's Slidy, an XHTML slide show presentation application
Now we use our own browser-based application, which is called Kilauea
As the framework has nothing to do with Slidy any longer, we decided to rebaptize the project Hotspot
- You certainly noticed the semantic subtleties regarding the relationship between Hotspot and Kilauea…

Motivation

Outline (Motivation)

Motivation [2]
Hotspot [13]
1. Hotspot Extensions [2]
2. Kilauea [7]

Presentation Software Today

Desktop applications: Microsoft's Powerpoint, Apple's Keynote
Strengths:
- Posh & shiny layout templates
- Fancy transitions
Deficiencies:
- Poor support for
  - structured content
  - content reuse / transclusion
- Impenetrable content models
- Customizing or extending the applications is hard
Web-based: S⁵, Slidy
- Since last week: Google Docs

Use Case Scenario

Slideshow presentations for a university course
- A series of lectures
  - → a bunch of related presentations
- Information usually appears in additional contexts:
  - Course website
  - Lecture abstracts
  - Handouts
  - Syllabi systems
Furthermore, academic lectures are very likely to contain
- Cross-references
- Formulas
- Excerpts (e.g., sample code)

Hotspot

Outline (Hotspot)

Motivation [2]
Hotspot [13]
1. Hotspot Extensions [2]
2. Kilauea [7]

Hotspot

One XML document for
- one or multiple presentations
- additional information (e.g., TOC and index preferences)
Output is generated via XSLT
Structured collection of presentations
No redundant content
Apply changes once

Hotspot Architecture

Features: Listings

Hotspot provides for transclusion of external documents
- The foundation of this feature is an XSLT-based implementation of XInclude, the XInclude Processor (XIPr)

One application are listings, the inclusion of excerpts (e.g., of source code):

<listing src=berlin.xml

         line=168-174/>

The above listing results in the following HTML:

<li>One application are <em>listings</em>, 
the inclusion of excerpts (e.g., of source code):
<pre>&lt;listing src=<q>berlin.xml</q>

         line=<q>168-174</q>/&gt;</pre>
The above listing results in the following HTML:
<listing src="berlin.xml" line="168-174"/>
</li>

Hotspot Extensions

Outline (Hotspot Extensions)

Motivation [2]
Hotspot [13]
1. Hotspot Extensions [2]
2. Kilauea [7]

FormuLaTeX

The Formu $\LaTeX$ extension brings the full power of $\LaTeX$ to Hotspot

$\LaTeX$ code can directly be inserted in <tex/> elements:

<tex>$\calF{F}\{f(x)\} = F(u) = \\
\int_{-\infty}^{\infty}f(x)e^{-j2\pi{}ux}dx$</tex>

The Formu $\LaTeX$ extension then produces image files and alignment information, and the formula looks...

<img src=... alt=$\calF\{f(x)\} = ...

     style=height: 5.37ex; 
            vertical-align: -2.11ex; />

...perfect: $\calF{F}\{f(x)\} = F(u) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty}f(x)e^{-j2\pi{}ux}dx$

FormuLaTeX (II)

Furthermore, $\LaTeX$ packages can easily be included:
```
<tex pkg="amsmath">...</tex>
```
The Formu $\LaTeX$ extension is implemented in Perl and XSLT
- all you need is Perl and a working $\LaTeX$ installation
A caching mechanism ensures economic processing and no redundant HTTP transfers

Kilauea

Outline (Kilauea)

Motivation [2]
Hotspot [13]
1. Hotspot Extensions [2]
2. Kilauea [7]

Kilauea

Browser-based slideshow presentations
Implemented with Javascript and CSS

Cross-browser operation

No substantial browser-dependencies

Compatibility Chart:

Browser	Version	OS
Firefox	1.5	OS X 10.3
	2.0	OS X 10.4
		Windows XP
		Linux
Camino	1.0	OS X 10.4
Safari	2	OS X 10.4
Safari	3 beta	OS X 10.4
Konqueror	?	Linux
Shiira	2.0 beta	OS X 10.4
Opera	8.45	Linux
	9.22	Linux
	9.22	OS X 10.4
MSIE	6	Windows XP
MSIE	7	Windows XP

No plugins required

Kilauea Features

True hypertext:
- Structured content (including parts and sub-parts)
- Logical, not physical, markup
- Hyperlinks (link to parts, slides, and everything else)
Flexible (wide variety of initialization configurations)
Customizable (e.g., via CSS)
Extensible (sophisticated plugin architecture)
It is possible to embed presentations

Kilauea Javascript

Localization support
Small footprint (24 kB packed)
Backwards-compatible with Slidy
State-of-the-art Javascript:
- Inserts only one variable into the global symbol space
- Browser-independant, W3C-like event model
- → no problems with third-party Javascript
Offers custom events (e.g., slideChange events)

Kilauea Plugin Architecture

Plugins unleash the true power of Kilauea
Plugin development is easy with Kilauea, but almost impossible for existing presentation software
Extensive developer documentation eases plugin development
Architectural details:
- Plugins are identified by URIs
- Object-oriented: each plugin is a class, which inherits some utility properties
- Plugins are loaded at run-time
Currently available plugins include:
- remote: Support for distributed, remote presentations
- logger: Sophisticated logging facilities
- doublescreen: Presentator mode with two browser windows

Remote Presentations

Logging Facilities

Sophisticated logging and evaluation of presentations
Export as HTML or CSV

Transitions

Currently, we are working on a plugin which enables basic transition effects
- This might not seem to be very important, but it is a nice-to-have for moments like today's presentation
- Once the transition plugin has been included, transitions can be assigned to slides in a declarative way:

<div class=slide transition:fade</div>

  <h1>Transitions</h1>
  <ul>
    <li>Currently, we are working on a...
    ...

Outlook

A rich-text editor will be indispensable in order to lower the barrier-to-entry for users
Import from other formats (e.g., .ppt) would be nice, (but will be hard to implement)
Better documentation, installation guidelines, and online help

1 Introduction

Web content most often is produced to be read online or to be printed on paper, but there are also many settings where content is intended to be presented as auxiliary material for an aural presentation. Typical scenarios for this kind of setting are business presentations, courses, and lectures. There is a wide spectrum of different requirements for these scenarios, which in most cases depend on the amount of presentation material that is prepared, the structure of this material, the need for structured presentations, and the requirement to make the presentation material available in some reusable form to the audience.

When we speak of “complex presentations” in the following text, we refer to differ- ent aspects which in our practical experiences are typical for larger presentations. These aspects include

Today, presentation material is often prepared using commercial software packages and then “published” on the Web as PDF. Presentation software excels at providing visual effects, but provides little support for handling structured and complex presentations. Furthermore, because of the very nature of dedicated software and proprietary file formats, presentations prepared with these packages are not very usable and accessible for anybody not using that particular software.

Web-Based Presentations

Erik Wilde (UC Berkeley)

Philippe Cattin, Felix Michel (ETH Zürich)

Abstract:

Web-Based Presentations

XML-Tage Berlin 2007

Felix Michel, ETH Zürich
September 24, 2007; Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Introduction

A Word of Precaution First

Motivation

Outline (Motivation)

Presentation Software Today

Use Case Scenario

Hotspot

Outline (Hotspot)

Hotspot

Hotspot Architecture

Features: Listings

Hotspot Extensions

Outline (Hotspot Extensions)

FormuLaTeX

FormuLaTeX (II)

Kilauea

Outline (Kilauea)

Kilauea

Kilauea Features

Kilauea Javascript

Kilauea Plugin Architecture

Remote Presentations

Logging Facilities

Transitions

Outlook

1 Introduction

Web-Based Presentations

Erik Wilde (UC Berkeley)

Philippe Cattin, Felix Michel (ETH Zürich)

Abstract:

Web-Based Presentations

XML-Tage Berlin 2007

Felix Michel, ETH ZürichSeptember 24, 2007; Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Introduction

A Word of Precaution First

Motivation

Outline (Motivation)

Presentation Software Today

Use Case Scenario

Hotspot

Outline (Hotspot)

Hotspot

Hotspot Architecture

Features: Listings

Hotspot Extensions

Outline (Hotspot Extensions)

FormuLaTeX

FormuLaTeX (II)

Kilauea

Outline (Kilauea)

Kilauea

Kilauea Features

Kilauea Javascript

Kilauea Plugin Architecture

Remote Presentations

Logging Facilities

Transitions

Outlook

1 Introduction

Felix Michel, ETH Zürich
September 24, 2007; Berlin, Germany