creating-presentations

Documents

Processes PowerPoint presentation files (.pptx). Creates slides, rewrites templates, converts HTML to presentations, validates thumbnails, swaps layouts, and performs deep OOXML editing. Use when working with presentation files or slide decks. Do NOT use for Word documents, spreadsheets, or PDF files.

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/telagod/code-abyss/blob/HEAD/skills/creating-presentations/SKILL.md

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PPTX Processing

.pptx is a ZIP archive of XML and resources. Choose workflow by intent.

Workflow Decision

Intent	Workflow	Reference
Read text	markitdown → markdown	thumbnails-and-conversion.md
Analyze layout / comments / theme	unpack → raw XML	thumbnails-and-conversion.md
Create new from scratch	html2pptx	html2pptx.md + design-patterns.md
Create using template	rearrange + inventory + replace	template-workflow.md
Edit existing slides	unpack → OOXML → pack	ooxml.md
Visual review	thumbnail grids	thumbnails-and-conversion.md

Iron Rules

Color choice is design — see palettes.md, state your approach BEFORE code.
Web-safe fonts only — Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Georgia, Courier New, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Impact.
Layout matches content count — 2 items → 2 columns; 3 → 3; never force.
Validate visually — always generate thumbnails after creation, inspect for cutoff/overlap/contrast.

Create New (without template) — html2pptx

MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE: html2pptx.md. NEVER set range limits.
Create HTML per slide (e.g., 720pt × 405pt for 16:9)
- Use <p>, <h1>–<h6>, <ul>, <ol>
- class="placeholder" for chart/table areas (gray bg for visibility)
- CRITICAL: Rasterize gradients & icons as PNG via Sharp first, then reference in HTML
- Use full-slide or two-column layout for charts/tables — never vertical stack
Run scripts/html2pptx.js to convert
- html2pptx() per HTML file
- Charts/tables via PptxGenJS API on placeholders
- pptx.writeFile() to save
Visual validation — python scripts/thumbnail.py output.pptx workspace/thumbnails --cols 4
- Inspect for: text cutoff, overlap, positioning, contrast
- Adjust HTML margins/spacing/colors, regenerate, repeat

Create with Template

See template-workflow.md for full 7-step workflow (extract → inventory → outline → rearrange → inventory text → generate replacements → apply).

Edit Existing Presentation

MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE: ooxml.md (~500 lines). NEVER set range limits.
python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file> <dir>
Edit XML (primarily ppt/slides/slide{N}.xml)
CRITICAL — validate after each edit: python ooxml/scripts/validate.py <dir> --original <file>
python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <dir> <file>

Code Style

Concise code, no verbose names, no unnecessary print statements.

Dependencies

Package	Install	Purpose
markitdown	`pip install "markitdown[pptx]"`	Text extraction
pptxgenjs	`npm i -g pptxgenjs`	Create via html2pptx
playwright	`npm i -g playwright`	HTML rendering
react-icons	`npm i -g react-icons react react-dom`	Icons
sharp	`npm i -g sharp`	SVG rasterization
LibreOffice	`apt install libreoffice`	PDF conversion
Poppler	`apt install poppler-utils`	`pdftoppm`
defusedxml	`pip install defusedxml`	Secure XML