Slide Creator

Slide Creator — HTML → PDF Presentations

Build slide decks as HTML, export to pixel-perfect 16:9 PDF via headless Chromium.

Output format: PDF — not Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx). The PDF preserves exact layout, fonts, and colors across all devices.

Why HTML → PDF

• CSS layout (Grid/Flexbox) is far more flexible than any PPT editor
• Full web typography, gradients, SVG, animations (print degrades gracefully)
• Git-friendly, reproducible, scriptable
• One command → PDF with exact 16:9 page dimensions

Workflow

0. Identify Scenario (new)

Before any other step, identify the presentation scenario. Read references/content-scaffolding.md for full templates.

Each template defines: slide count, page titles, required content per page.

0.5 Bilingual Layout (if needed)

If the audience is bilingual (e.g. HK, Singapore, global Chinese conference), or the user mentions Chinese + English:

• Use the bilingual layout mode from references/content-scaffolding.md
• Heading: English (large) + Chinese subtitle (smaller, --text-muted)
• Body bullets: Chinese first, English parenthetical optional
• Avoid pure English-only decks for HK/TW/SG audiences

1. Plan the Deck

Define slide count and content per slide based on the scenario template. Each slide = one <section class="slide">.

1.5 Art Direction (run this before building)

Run this step whenever the user hasn't provided a specific visual style. Read skills/slide-creator/references/art-direction.md for the full style taxonomy, CSS token templates, and style-brief output format.

Step A — Ask 4 questions:

1. Audience & setting: who is this for, and in what context (investors / internal team / public keynote)?
2. Mood keywords: how should the audience feel (authoritative / energetic / friendly / geeky-modern)?
3. Brand constraints: any required brand colors, logo, or fonts?
4. Reference material: any template references to align with (images, web links, existing deck screenshots)?

Step B — Generate a visual style picker page: Do NOT present style options as text descriptions — users can't evaluate styles from words alone.

Reference handling rules:

• If user provides image files/screenshots: sample palette (primary/surface/accent), inspect layout density, corner radius, typography tone from the visual.
• If user provides web URLs: use web_fetch to extract design cues. Critical — follow this extraction protocol to avoid misreading the style:

1. Ignore the brand name / domain name — never infer visual style from the product's industry or name (e.g. "Neo" does NOT mean neon, "Opera" does NOT mean European luxury).
2. Read copy tone & vocabulary — the words used on the page reveal mood (e.g. "surgical precision", "quiet confidence" → restrained; "unleash", "radically" → bold/aggressive).
3. Extract explicit color vocabulary — look for CSS keywords in the fetched text, or color names mentioned in body text / alt tags. Warm vs cool, light vs dark, muted vs saturated.
4. Infer layout density — count words per section; sparse = editorial/luxury, dense = technical/functional.
5. Identify decorative motifs — mentioned or implied (e.g. geometry, gradients, photography, illustration, line art, brutalism).
6. Cross-check against art-direction.md — find the closest matching template, then describe the delta (e.g. "Style G but warmer, replace blue with burnt orange, add subtle grid lines").
7. When uncertain: be conservative — under-promise the style match and present 3 options where Option A is your best interpretation, B is safer/cleaner, C is more experimental. Never confidently assert a style that contradicts the actual visual evidence.

• If user provides both: prioritize image cues first, URL cues second.
• If no references are provided: use built-in style taxonomy defaults.

Then:

1. Create output/style-picker/index.html — a single page with 3 side-by-side mini slide previews (16:9 aspect ratio), each fully rendered with real CSS (colors, fonts, layout, decorative elements). Each preview must look like an actual slide, not a color chip.
2. Build these 3 options as: (A) Reference-faithful, (B) Safer corporate variant, (C) Bolder creative variant.
3. preview(action='serve') the directory and show the preview URL.
4. Each card has a label below: style name + one-line description.
5. Add onclick highlight so the user can click to indicate their choice.

User picks by saying "Choose A" / "I want B" / "Blend A+C" etc.

Step C — Generate style-brief.md: Once user selects a style, write a style-brief.md (template in art-direction.md) in the project directory. All subsequent HTML/CSS work must follow this brief.

Step D — Ask for brand assets (logo / colors): After user picks a style, ask:

"Do you have a logo or brand color to include? You can upload an image file, and I’ll embed the logo across the slides."

If logo uploaded: embed as base64 in HTML (use base64.b64encode in bash), place in top-left or top-right corner at ≤60px height. If brand color given: override --accent in CSS token block with user's color.

2. Choose a Theme

If Art Direction was completed, the style-brief.md is the theme spec — skip this table. Otherwise, use as a quick fallback:

3. Build HTML + CSS

Create a project directory with index.html + styles.css.

Start from `assets/base.css` — structural skeleton (slide dimensions, print rules, layout helpers) with NO colors or fonts. Layer your theme on top:

/* Example theme layer — customize freely */
body {
  font-family: 'Inter', sans-serif;
  color: #fff;
  background: #000;
}
.slide { background: #0a0a0a; }
.slide-tag { background: rgba(0,120,255,0.15); color: #0078ff; }
.card { background: rgba(255,255,255,0.04); border: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.08); }

Mandatory structural rules (in base.css — don't remove):

.slide { width: 1280px; height: 720px; page-break-after: always; overflow: hidden; }
@page { size: 1280px 720px; margin: 0; }

Key rules:

• Use px units — never vh/vw/rem/% for slide dimensions
• Google Fonts: use <link> in <head>, export script waits for network idle
• Viewport meta: <meta name="viewport" content="width=1280">
• Content must fit within 720px height — overflow is clipped

4. Preview (Optional)

Use preview(action='serve') to preview in browser before exporting.

5. Export to PDF

python3 skills/slide-creator/scripts/export_pdf.py --dir <project-dir> --output output/<name>.pdf

Options:

• --dir — directory containing index.html (required)
• --output / -o — output PDF path (default: <dir>/deck.pdf)
• --width — slide width in px (default: 1280)
• --height — slide height in px (default: 720)

6. Verify

The script prints slide count and confirms output path. Extra check:

import fitz
doc = fitz.open("output/deck.pdf")
print(f"Pages: {doc.page_count}")
for p in doc:
    r = p.rect
    print(f"  {r.width*96/72:.0f}x{r.height*96/72:.0f}px")