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dbslide

dbslide is for DocBook something like the slide document class is for LaTeX. It is meant to create slides/overheads or computer presentations from a DocBook SGML document.

Overview

Overview

dbslide is implemented as driver files for the DocBook stylesheets, a sample stylesheet (CSS) for the HTML output, and some helper files. You can configure everything to your heart's content. With these files you can create:

a web browser presentation with JavaScript navigation support. The font size is pretty large to allow easy viewing e.g. on booths or when using a projector.
"classic" slides or overheads, with large fonts
a handout with regular size fonts
a speaker's copy with additional comments (using the standard SGML feature of marked sections)

License information

To avoid licensing hassles, I just use the same terms as Norman Walsh's DocBook stylesheets, to which the dbslide package is a minuscule extension. These terms, which are included in the source package, are in turn the same as for James Clark's Jade and allow you to do almost anything except removing the copyright and licensing note.

Download information

The current version is 0.2, released on 11-15-00.

Example

View this short presentation to see what dbslide can do for you. You can also inspect the slide/overhead output, the handout, and the source code of this demo.

Package contents

dbslide.dsl	driver file for the HTML presentation
dbslideovh.dsl	driver file for the slides/overheads
dbslidehdout.dsl	driver file for the handout/speaker's copy
fixdbslide	a helper shell script to fix the generated JavaScript code
dbslide.css	a cascading stylesheet for the HTML output
startddbslide.html	a helper HTML file to open a browser window w/o menu etc.
jadetex.ltx.diff	patch for JadeTeX to eliminate empty pages
lexer.c.diff	patch for HTML tidy so it can handle the dbslide HTML output

In addition to this stuff, the package also contains a manual in various formats (also available online).

Prerequisites

You need a functional SGML system which allows the desired transformations with DSSSL. You'll need at least Jade or its successor, OpenJade. You'll also need a TeX installation if you plan to use the TeX backend (for DVI, PostScript, and PDF output). For a suggestion how to set up a free SGML system on the Win32 platform, see SGML for Windows NT. Many Linux distributions (the most complete with regard to SGML seems to be Debian) allow to install such a system with just a few packages, and TeX and friends are included anyway. The software also compiles on a variety of other Unices.

Furthermore you'll need the DocBook DTD and Norman Walsh's Docbook stylesheets.

To fix the JavaScript/JScript code in the Jade/OpenJade-generated HTML pages you'll need ash (or bash) and sed. Both are part of all (afaik) Linux distributions and will compile on most Unix systems. Win32 ports are available with the free CygWin tools. If you don't want to use (b)ash and sed on Win32, you'll have to get yourself some other batch search-and-replace tool.

The documentation

The source package contains a manual that tells you all necessary tricks to work with dbslide. The HTML version is also available for online reading.