Ocideck/docs/USER_GUIDE.md

OciDeck — User Guide

OciDeck builds Marp presentations through a structured, slide-by-slide editor. You compose typed slides, preview them live, present them (on one or two screens), and export to Markdown, PDF, PPTX, or a self-contained HTML file. Files stay standard Marp Markdown, so a deck remains usable in other Marp tools.

Creating and opening decks

• New / Open: use the welcome screen or Ctrl/Cmd + O. Multiple decks open in tabs.
• Save: Ctrl/Cmd + S. Saving lays out a tidy project folder next to your .md (images/, data/, logos/, themes/) and copies assets in. See FILE_FORMAT.md.
• Crash recovery: unsaved work is snapshotted automatically and offered back after an unexpected exit.

Slide types

Add a slide and pick a type: title, section divider, bullets, two bullet columns, bullets + image, two images, large image, video, audio, quote, table, source code, chart (bar, line, pie, or spider/radar), and free Markdown. Each type has a dedicated editor on the left and a live preview on the right.

Text fields support inline Markdown (**bold**, *italic*, `code`, [links](…)). Free-Markdown slides also render fenced code with syntax highlighting and $…$ / $$…$$ LaTeX math.

Source-code slides

Choose a programming language for syntax highlighting (or "plain text") and paste your code. It renders as a "code sheet" whose background, text colour and monospace font come from the active style profile (e.g. Courier). Turn syntax colouring off to show the whole block in a single colour — e.g. bright green on black for a classic CRT-terminal look. The text is sized to fill the panel — larger when there's room, smaller for long fragments. Stored as a fenced code block in the Markdown.

Charts

Pick a type (bar, line, pie, or spider/radar) and a title, then enter data in the grid: the first column is the labels, each further column is a named series. Use Row and Series to add data; the small ✕ removes a row/column. Each series and (for pie/radar) each label can be given its own colour.

• CSV import — click CSV importeren. You can either keep the data in the slide (inline) or store it as a CSV file. A linked CSV lives in the deck's data/ directory and stays the source of truth (edit it in a spreadsheet); the grid then shows it read-only until you Ontkoppelen (unlink).
• Min/max (optional, bar/line/radar) — on bar and line charts these draw horizontal reference lines; on a spider/radar chart they fix the scale (centre to outer ring), shown as evenly spaced values in a small legend beside the chart. Leave them empty to scale automatically.
• Reading values — hovering a legend entry highlights its series (or pie slice). On a line chart the tooltip belongs to the dot under the cursor and shows every overlapping dot at once; on a spider/radar chart hovering a point shows its value in a tooltip too.
• Charts render in the preview, presenter, PDF, and PPTX, and as inline SVG in the HTML export.

Per-slide options

Below each editor you can set:

• Auto-advance after N seconds.
• TLP of this slide — a Traffic Light Protocol level (see below).
• Show/hide the logo and footer on this slide.
• Speaker notes.
• An optional audio attachment.

Traffic Light Protocol (TLP)

A deck has an overall TLP level (shown as a marking on the slides). Each slide can also carry its own level. When you present or export, slides whose level is stricter than the level chosen for the deck are withheld — so the same deck can be shown safely to audiences with different clearances. Order, least to most restrictive: none < CLEAR < GREEN < AMBER < AMBER+STRICT < RED.

Presenting

Start the fullscreen presenter from the toolbar. See SHORTCUTS.md for the full key list; highlights: arrows to move, G for the grid overview, B/W to blank, P for presenter view, H for the in-app cheatsheet.

Two screens (beamer + laptop)

When a second display is connected, OciDeck automatically shows the slide on the beamer and the presenter view on your laptop (current slide, next slide, notes, clock). Use an extended (not mirrored) display. Notes:

• The keyboard stays on the laptop; clicking the beamer also advances.
• On macOS the "external" screen is the one without the menu bar.

Annotating while presenting

Draw on the slide live with D pen, T highlighter, E eraser, X laser pointer, and C to clear; Esc puts the tool away. Drawings are a separate layer (never written into the Marp Markdown), mirror live to the beamer, and are saved in a <name>.ink.json sidecar so they persist with the deck.

Exporting

Export to:

• PDF and PPTX (PPTX includes speaker notes) — rendered from the in-app slide renderer.
• Self-contained HTML — one offline file; code highlighting, math, charts, and mermaid diagrams render in the browser.
• Portable package (.ocideck) — a single zip with the Markdown and all assets, to hand the whole deck to someone else.

Theming and language

• Style profiles control deck colours (including the source-code background, text, font and an optional syntax-colouring toggle), fonts, logo, and footer. Every colour can be picked from the presets or entered as a custom hex value. The Colours and Logo tabs show which profile you're editing. The bundled Marp theme is assets/themes/ocideck.css.
• App appearance (including a dark interface) is configurable in settings.
• The interface is available in Dutch, English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Frisian, and Papiamento.