[HN Gopher] Sent - Simple plaintext presentation tool
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       Sent - Simple plaintext presentation tool
        
       Author : midzer
       Score  : 63 points
       Date   : 2024-02-18 18:29 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (tools.suckless.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (tools.suckless.org)
        
       | aserr wrote:
       | I like the concept.
       | 
       | If you're looking for something with a little more capability and
       | that fits nicely into a Markdown-centric workflow, there is also
       | Marp: https://marp.app/
        
         | rockwotj wrote:
         | I also recommend https://sli.dev/ it's pretty batteries
         | included and mdx based
        
         | terhechte wrote:
         | I also wrote an app like that (macOS only)
         | 
         | https://hyperdeck.io/
        
       | zelphirkalt wrote:
       | The title reminded me of the Racket sublanguage for
       | presentations.
        
       | Aachen wrote:
       | I like simple tools, but this may be too minimalist for most
       | presentations I see being held, or virtually any presentation I
       | make. Adding an image on the side of text, or even anywhere on a
       | text slide, is something I'll want in probably 80% of the
       | presentations I do. One could use image editing for the same
       | effect, particularly if this supports SVG and thus the added text
       | won't get blurry, but that seems rather roundabout
       | 
       | My employer has a Latex template which we use by default (I've
       | also made a LibreOffice one for the one time I wanted a video in
       | there). The only annoying thing is that you need to memorize or
       | look up a handful of things like how to align an image the way
       | you want (e.g. below/besides text), but other than that it's
       | about as simple to use as this tool. The advantage of Sent would
       | be skipping the initial setup, but then Sent also doesn't give
       | you any design elements like a title page or slide numbers for
       | people to refer back to
       | 
       | I'm also wondering in what version of 2014 (initial git commit:
       | https://git.suckless.org/sent/commit/2e435b7da8067f4e6934bbd...)
       | it made sense to write a GUI tool in plain old C, or why this git
       | server makes you press "parent commit" 30 times to find the
       | initial commit
        
         | bee_rider wrote:
         | Yeah I like: Latex/Beamer with a good template and, like, don't
         | add anything that is fighting against the framework.
         | 
         | Of course you can do anything in Latex, so bring your own
         | restraint IMO.
        
       | samatman wrote:
       | > _Slides with exuberant amount of lines or characters produce
       | rendering glitches intentionally to prevent you from holding bad
       | presentations._
       | 
       | Welp. That's suckless for ya.
       | 
       | In a 1000 line, minimalist presentation tool, there is logic
       | devoted to screwing up the output if it doesn't conform to some
       | guy's opinion of what a slide should look like.
       | 
       | I would say that sucks more, rather than less, than the same tool
       | without the bad attitude. But then it wouldn't be suckless.
        
         | renerick wrote:
         | I don't think there is "logic" for screwing up the output, more
         | likely the implementation is bugged and they just didn't bother
         | to fix those glitches, and then put it on the page as
         | "feature". At least, I failed to find any relevant code, but I
         | could easily be missing it. And I still would agree, that kind
         | of sucks
        
           | jagged-chisel wrote:
           | Or likely the more content you attempt to add, the harder it
           | is to layout. Rather than add logic to do anything about it,
           | just let the layout logic run rampant.
        
         | dansalvato wrote:
         | "suckless" is a perfect name for this software suite--not
         | because of the name's literal meaning, but because they are
         | advertising their insufferable elitism right on the tin.
         | 
         | Yes, building software to solve a limited set of problems can
         | lead to great software. But for god's sake, if your core
         | philosophy is that you're better than everyone else, then
         | you're primarily going to attract developers and users who also
         | think they're better than everyone else.
         | 
         | The result is that instead of contributing to a mission that
         | conveys a useful message, you just dig an elitist moat around
         | yourselves that people can't float across unless their egos are
         | so inflated that they're buoyant.
        
         | nusl wrote:
         | So, what? Everything in the world that anyone makes needs to be
         | free of the author's opinionated way of how to do things or how
         | they like them done?
         | 
         | Honestly, just use something else if you care that much about
         | it. Or make your own.
         | 
         | But don't shit all over someone's work because whatever biases
         | you have aren't aligned with the author's project. You are
         | _obviously_ not the target market anyway.
         | 
         | It's not like there aren't valid alternatives, or that this is
         | a captive market.
         | 
         | I'm sure Microsoft or Google would love another rounding error
         | to add to their metrics. You get the added benefit of any
         | personal touches, opinions, or human aspects pre-stripped for
         | your enjoyment!
        
       | tagyro wrote:
       | To mirror another comment: I really like the concept and will
       | give it a try.
       | 
       | As an alternative, I want to suggest Quarto - https://quarto.org
       | - somewhat similar, easy to use, one might even call it "basic"
       | (I mean that in a good way!) 7/5 ^^
        
       | barnacs wrote:
       | Might as well just xdg-open files in a directory in alphanumeric
       | order by name as a "presentation" at this point.
        
         | dash2 wrote:
         | I once watched a Nobel prize winner present. His presentation
         | was a Word document, and he presented by scrolling down. For
         | bonus points you could do the same with `less`.
        
           | pests wrote:
           | I bet presentations or Word documents weren't what he won his
           | Nobel for!
        
             | godDLL wrote:
             | Aha. So he won his prize by his alonesome. With no
             | exchanging of any ideas to any other party. Like, in his
             | parents' basement, right.
        
       | xmprt wrote:
       | I think if the information in a presentation can be represented
       | this simply then it probably doesn't have to be a presentation.
        
       | jntnctrs wrote:
       | This made me think of LookAtMe, a python markdown-to-text-
       | presentation tool, which supports embedded terminal among other
       | features.
       | 
       | https://lookatme.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting_started.ht...
        
       | jrm4 wrote:
       | This reminds me a bit of the thing I started doing years ago,
       | tweaked to my liking and never looked back -- and I'm just now
       | thinking "Wow, it's weird that no one has made this better in a
       | more formal way."
       | 
       | Anyway, its S5 slides, like this:
       | https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/
       | 
       | And I just tweaked the CSS and added a bit of logic to included
       | the possibility of one image per slide; as well as editing slides
       | not with raw HTML but with https://zim-wiki.org (because that's
       | what I'm really used to, I'm sure any Markdown thing would work
       | just as well).
        
       | satisfice wrote:
       | Great tool for people who hate giving a good presentation.
        
       | IshKebab wrote:
       | Eh there are loads of these based on Markdown that are much
       | better. I think revealjs is the most popular, but I like
       | remarkjs:
       | 
       | https://github.com/gnab/remark
       | 
       | There's a list of them here:
       | https://gist.github.com/johnloy/27dd124ad40e210e91c70dd1c24a...
       | 
       | I don't know why this needs to exist given all those... I guess
       | it was just a fun project?
        
         | 3abiton wrote:
         | The beamer in me is too stubborn to change.
        
       | alexwennerberg wrote:
       | I've used Adelie, which has its own postscript-like notation to
       | render font and graphics inside a tiny VM. I love it
       | 
       | https://wiki.xxiivv.com/site/adelie.html
        
       | muxl wrote:
       | I've done a number of text-based slide presentations with `marp`
       | and I've been pleased with the results. Mostly it's just plain
       | markdown slides but if you want to get into the weeds with HTML
       | and have a 2-column slide or something you can do it.
       | https://marp.app/
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-18 23:00 UTC)