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Tips for using the Beamer presentation class.
1. Enumerations
- To customize the labels for an enumeration list, put the cursor at the start of the first item in the list and click
Insert > Short Title. This will create an inset labeled 'opt' for optional arguments. Insert the label you want for the first item there. Beamer will automatically replace any occurrence of 1, i or I with the index of each item in Arabic, lower or upper case Roman numerals respectively. Be sure to include any punctuation you want. For example, XY1: would produce item labels 'XY1:', 'XY2:' etc.
- If you want a label that contains the letter i or I (or a numeral that stays fixed), you need to enclose that part of the label in braces. For instance, '{Hint} I:' will generate labels 'Hint I:', 'Hint II:' etc. but 'Hint I:' will generate labels 'HInt I:', 'HIInt II:' etc. The braces cannot be entered directly; use the TEX button,
Insert > TeX Code or Ctrl-L to add TeX insets to the optional argument inset, then type the braces in them.
- The labels in subitems restart as 1, 2, 3, etc. To get a, b, c, etc. insert in the LaTeX Preamble the command :
\setbeamertemplate{enumerate subitem}{\alph{enumii})}
2. Repeating the Title Slide
To repeat the title slide at the end of the presentation (or anywhere in between):
- add
\renewcommand\makebeamertitle{\frame[label=mytitle]{\maketitle}} to the document preamble;
- at the point where you want the title slide to repeat, create a new frame using the AgainFrame environment and type in
mytitle as the label.
3. Versions for Note-taking
The handout class option tells Beamer to create a version of the presentation with each frame on a single page. To create a handout with space on each page for the audience to take notes, you can use the handoutWithNotes package, available from http://www.guidodiepen.nl/2009/07/creating-latex-beamer-handouts-with-notes/ (with instructions there) (and apparently not available from CTAN). Install the style file into your local texmf tree (somewhere under tex/latex) and update the LaTeX file database (typically by running texhash, but somewhat distribution-specific). Then add the following two lines to your document preamble:
\usepackage{handoutWithNotes}
\pgfpagesuselayout{1 on 1 with notes}[letterpaper,border shrink=5mm]
You can do various customizations in the second line (a4paper rather than letterpaper to change the paper size, 2 on 1 rather than 1 on 1 to reduce the number of pages, landscape (inside the optional argument) to switch from portrait to landscape mode, and so on. You still need to specify handout in the class options field to print one entry per frame, rather than one per overlay.
4. Uncovering a Table Row-wise
(This is covered in the Beamer user guide; what follows is mainly adjustments for use within LyX.) To uncover one row of a table at a time, end the last cell in each row (other than the final row and any headings) with \pause in a TeX Code (ERT) inset. For more granular control, replace \pause with \uncover<?>{ in ERT at the end of the row above the one you will be uncovering and } in ERT at the end of the row being uncovered, where "?" is a valid overlay specification.
The Beamer user guide also offers a tip for using a dark/light alternating background color in the rows of the table. To use it in LyX, add table to Document > Settings > Document Class > Class options > Custom and something like \rowcolors[]{1}{blue!20}{blue!10} in the preamble. That color scheme is the one suggested in the Beamer guide, but you can season it to taste. If you want to use a larger color palette, add dvipsnames alongside table in the custom class options (separated by a comma).
5. Suppressing a Logo on One Slide
This tip is based on an answer posted by Alan Munn at StackExchange. To suppress a logo on selected slides, add the following command to the document preamble: \newcommand{\nologo}{\setbeamertemplate{logo}{}}. At the end of the frame prior to the one where you want to remove the logo, add an EndFrame environment followed by {\nologo in a TeX Code inset (ERT), using a standard environment. Next, build the frame as usual, starting with BeginFrame or one of the other frame creation environments. End that frame with another EndFrame environment, followed by } in ERT. Start the next frame as usual. To suppress the logo from a sequence of consecutive frames, just move the second EndFrame and closing } to the last frame in the group.
6. Categories
Tips Beamer
