Beamer facts for kids
A Beamer presentation slide
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| Developer(s) | Till Tantau, Joseph Wright, Vedran Miletić |
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| Initial release | March 2003 |
| Stable release |
3.55 / December 2, 2018
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| Written in | LaTeX |
| Operating system | Unix-like, Windows |
| Platform | TeX Live, MikTeX |
| Available in | English, German, Croatian, Serbian |
| Type | Presentation software |
| License | LaTeX Project Public License, GNU General Public License |
Beamer is a special tool, or "document class," that works with LaTeX. It's used to create cool presentation slides, much like other presentation programs you might know. The best part is that Beamer is open source, which means its code is free for anyone to use and improve!
Beamer is super popular for making slides that include lots of math formulas. It's a favorite among students and teachers in science and engineering. When you finish making your presentation with Beamer, it turns all your slides into a PDF file. This makes it easy to share and view on almost any computer.
Contents
What is Beamer?
Beamer is a powerful tool for making digital slide shows. Imagine you're giving a report at school or explaining a science project. Beamer helps you put all your information onto slides in a clear and organized way. It's especially good if your presentation needs to show complex math or scientific symbols.
How Beamer Works with LaTeX
Beamer isn't a standalone program you just click to open. Instead, it's like an add-on for LaTeX. LaTeX is a system used to create documents, especially those with lots of equations or special formatting. Think of LaTeX as a super-smart word processor where you write commands to tell it exactly how your document should look. Beamer adds commands specifically for making presentations.
Why Use Beamer?
- Great for Math: If you need to show complicated math equations, Beamer handles them perfectly.
- Professional Look: Presentations made with Beamer often look very clean and professional.
- Customizable: You can change almost anything about your slides, from colors to fonts and layouts.
- Free to Use: Since it's open source, you don't have to pay to use Beamer.
Creating Presentations with Beamer
To make a presentation with Beamer, you write your content in a text file using LaTeX commands. For example, you'd write a command to start a new slide, another for a heading, and then your text. You can also add images, lists, and of course, math formulas.
Turning Code into Slides
Once you've written your presentation in LaTeX, you use a special program called a "compiler." This compiler reads your LaTeX code and turns it into a PDF file. Each "frame" in your LaTeX code becomes a slide in your PDF presentation. This process might sound a bit technical, but it gives you a lot of control over your final slides.
Related Pages
- CTAN - This is a huge online library where you can find Beamer and many other tools for LaTeX.
- SATySFi - Another open source software that aims to be an alternative to LaTeX and Beamer.
Learning More About Beamer
- Introduction to Beamer on Wikibooks - A helpful guide to get you started with Beamer.
