13-scunning1975-mixtapetools-skills-compiledeck

brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-SkillsWorkplace & ProductivityAudit pendingSnapshot 933b3bc10f32

Summary

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SKILL.md

Compile Deck

Create beautiful Beamer presentations. This skill enforces the Rhetoric of Decks philosophy through concrete, measurable rules — not aspirational guidance.

Step 1: Triage

Before touching anything, answer three questions:

Q1: New deck or editing existing?

If editing: Read the .tex file first. Understand its palette, structure, and style before changing anything.
If new: Proceed to Q2.

Q2: Who is the audience?

Academic seminar — sparse, one idea per slide, titles carry the argument
Teaching lecture — clarity over compression, repetition OK, progressive revelation
Working deck (coauthors) — more detail OK, document choices, preserve uncertainty
External non-academic — storytelling, visual impact, minimal jargon

See domain_patterns.md in this skill directory for detailed guidance per audience type.

Q3: What's the tone?

Professional/Academic — use the Warm Professional palette (default) or Academic Muted
Colorful/Expressive — create something new each time. See palette_reference.md for inspiration.

Step 2: The Non-Negotiable Rules

These are not guidelines. They are constraints.

ONE idea per slide

If a slide has two ideas, split it. No exceptions.

Titles are assertions, not labels

Bad: "Results"
Good: "Treatment increased distance by 61 miles on average"
Bad: "Literature Review"
Good: "Prior work ignores the supply-side margin"

If someone reads only the slide titles in sequence, they should understand the entire argument.

Typography minimums

\documentclass[aspectratio=169,11pt]{beamer}

% Packages
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{microtype}
\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb}
\usepackage{booktabs}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{ragged2e}
\usepackage{colortbl}
\usepackage{array}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{adjustbox}

\usetikzlibrary{shapes.geometric, arrows.meta, positioning, calc,
                backgrounds, decorations.pathreplacing, shadows, fadings}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.18}

% --- Color Palette: Warm Professional ---
\definecolor{DeepNavy}{HTML}{2E4057}
\definecolor{Teal}{HTML}{048A81}
\definecolor{WarmOrange}{HTML}{E85D04}
\definecolor{SoftPurple}{HTML}{9D4EDD}
\definecolor{WarmGray}{HTML}{6C757D}
\definecolor{LightGray}{HTML}{E9ECEF}
\definecolor{Cream}{HTML}{FBF8F1}
\definecolor{DeepRed}{HTML}{D62828}
\definecolor{Gold}{HTML}{D4A03A}
\definecolor{SoftWhite}{HTML}{FAFAFA}

% Beamer colors
\setbeamercolor{normal text}{fg=DeepNavy, bg=SoftWhite}
\setbeamercolor{structure}{fg=DeepNavy}
\setbeamercolor{alerted text}{fg=DeepRed}
\setbeamercolor{example text}{fg=Teal}
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=DeepNavy, bg=SoftWhite}
\setbeamercolor{title}{fg=DeepNavy}
\setbeamercolor{subtitle}{fg=WarmGray}
\setbeamercolor{block title}{bg=DeepNavy, fg=SoftWhite}
\setbeamercolor{block body}{bg=LightGray, fg=DeepNavy}
\setbeamercolor{itemize item}{fg=WarmOrange}
\setbeamercolor{itemize subitem}{fg=Gold}

% Fonts
\usefonttheme{professionalfonts}
\setbeamerfont{title}{size=\huge, series=\bfseries}
\setbeamerfont{frametitle}{size=\Large, series=\bfseries}

% Strip chrome
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\setbeamertemplate{headline}{}

% Minimal footline
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{%
    \hfill
    \begin{beamercolorbox}[wd=3cm,ht=2.5ex,dp=1ex,right,rightskip=0.6cm]{page number}
        \usebeamercolor[fg]{WarmGray}\scriptsize\insertframenumber
    \end{beamercolorbox}
    \vspace{0.3cm}
}

% Bullets
\setbeamertemplate{itemize item}{\footnotesize\raisebox{0.3ex}{\tikz\fill[WarmOrange] (0,0) circle (0.45ex);}}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize subitem}{\footnotesize\raisebox{0.3ex}{\tikz\fill[Gold] (0,0) circle (0.35ex);}}

% Custom commands
\newcommand{\transitionslide}[2]{%
    {\setbeamercolor{normal text}{fg=SoftWhite,bg=DeepNavy}
    \begin{frame}[plain]\vfill\begin{center}
        {\huge\bfseries\textcolor{Gold}{#1}}\\[0.6cm]
        {\large\textcolor{LightGray}{#2}}
    \end{center}\vfill\end{frame}}
}

\graphicspath{{figures/}}

pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode [file].tex

grep "^!" [file].log

grep -cE "Overfull|Underfull" [file].log

Warning	Fix
Overfull \hbox	Rephrase shorter, use `\adjustbox`, add `@{}` to table columns
Underfull \hbox	Rephrase or adjust paragraph breaks
Overfull \vbox	Split the slide or reduce `\vspace`, tighten content
Underfull \vbox	Add `\vfill` or adjust spacing

grep -i "font" [file].log | grep -i "warning"

grep -n "bend" [file].tex

open [file].pdf

Principle	Rule
Ideas per slide	ONE
Title style	Assertion, not label
Minimum font	24pt (18pt floor)
Bullets	Avoid — find the structure
White space	Confidence, not waste
Charts	One message, direct labels
Compile target	Zero warnings
Opening slide	Puzzle, surprise, or provocation
Closing slide	One memorable takeaway
TikZ labels	Calculate the gap (see tikz_rules.md)
Color palette	10+ colors, warm by default
Narrative	Setup, Development, Resolution

13-scunning1975-mixtapetools-skills-compiledeck

Summary

SKILL.md

Compile Deck

Step 1: Triage

Step 2: The Non-Negotiable Rules

ONE idea per slide

Titles are assertions, not labels

Typography minimums

No bullet lists (usually)

Charts: one message, direct labels

White space is confidence, not waste

Zero compile warnings

Step 3: The Preamble

Default: Warm Professional Palette (10 colors)

Step 4: Slide Architecture Patterns

Opening slide (first content slide after title)

Transition slides

Closing slide

Devil's Advocate slide (academic decks)

TikZ diagram slides

Step 5: The Compile Loop

5a: Compile

5b: Check for fatal errors

5c: Check for ALL warnings

5d: Check fonts

5e: TikZ verification (Bézier-first workflow)

5f: Open the PDF

Step 6: The Narrative Arc

Step 7: Figure Generation

Quick Reference

Supporting Files

Full Philosophy Reference

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