![Beamer for UIC presentations
A quick start
If you would like L
A
TEX in your presentation, Beamer is a great way to go!
• Beamer has a detailed user manual, but we will go over the most common
features.
• This template is designed for a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is the default in
PowerPoint and the most common amongst projectors.
• The most common of all slide types involve bulleted points, like these.
— Placing pause after items will allow you to sequentially unroll points.
— Changing begin{itemize} to begin{itemize}[<+->] achieves a similar effect,
although pause gives finer control on the unrolling.
2 / 31](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vxvydkgqkmywfqzxjmtpmzsscdmtyqdk-241219161245-76b95d14/85/How-to-build-beautiful-slides-pdf-format-idea-3-320.jpg)
![Typesetting Algorithms
More control
• If you must use algorithmic instead of algpseudocode, some commands will
need to be manually defined
— For example the function Call (or rather, the CALL) command.
◦ Do it as newcommand*CALL[2]{textsc{#1}(#2)}
◦ Remember that not all fonts have a small caps variant needed by textsc
◦ You can look at uicfont.sty to see how we augment our font with another small caps
font (i.e. PlayFair Display SC)
— Additionally, the Comment of algpseudocode might look better than the COMMENT
of algorithmic
◦ You can define a custom one to mimic Comment
◦ Do it as newcommand*ANNOTATE[1]{hfill(triangleright) #1}
12 / 31](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vxvydkgqkmywfqzxjmtpmzsscdmtyqdk-241219161245-76b95d14/85/How-to-build-beautiful-slides-pdf-format-idea-16-320.jpg)
![Common issues (this is P̂ laceholder math)
Placeholder
• Math in title will cause its height to be inconsistent with that of other frames (try
viewing these example slides in a full screen mode)
— This theme provides a titlemanualoffset register which can be used to
manually adjust this offset.
◦ Putting setlength{titlemanualoffset}{<some calibrated offset>} before
begin{frame} for this frame will fix this issue.
◦ Make sure to zero it out after end{frame}
• If you use verb command (or begin{verbatim} environment) in a frame,
make sure to specify the [fragile] option in begin{frame} otherwise the
compiler will run into problems.
— In most cases, texttt can be used instead of verb, and it does not require the
[fragile] option.
13 / 31](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vxvydkgqkmywfqzxjmtpmzsscdmtyqdk-241219161245-76b95d14/85/How-to-build-beautiful-slides-pdf-format-idea-17-320.jpg)
![If you need more space in slides
Placeholder
If you would like more space, you can control the font size by specifying an option in
the documentclass command at the beginning of this file.
• Use documentclass[smaller]{beamer} to reduce font size.
• For all options, refer to Section 18.2.1 of the Beamer user manual.
16 / 31](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vxvydkgqkmywfqzxjmtpmzsscdmtyqdk-241219161245-76b95d14/85/How-to-build-beautiful-slides-pdf-format-idea-20-320.jpg)
![Fonts
Placeholder
Fonts are categorized as Serif and Sans-Serif (see this link for when to use which).
• Open Sans and IBM Plex Serif have been provided with this template.
• Beamer uses Sans-Serif mode by default.
— To switch to Serif mode, please change usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif} to
usefonttheme{serif} in the preamble.
• If you want to mix and match Serif and Sans-Serif
— You can still typeset in Serif font in Sans-Serif mode (and vice versa) using textrm
and textsf commands.
For more options with fonts, you need to modify the self explanatory uicfont.sty
file. Next few slides will be helpful in this regard.
20 / 31](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vxvydkgqkmywfqzxjmtpmzsscdmtyqdk-241219161245-76b95d14/85/How-to-build-beautiful-slides-pdf-format-idea-24-320.jpg)
![Chapter slides
Placeholder
• Allow you to partition your presentation into multiple chapters
• Also frames, but with a few more options
• Created with begin{chapter}[<image>]{<color>}{<title>}
— Image is optional, color and title are mandatory.
• Multiple background images have been provided in this template which may be
used for chapter slides:
— Some campus photos that I have taken over the years and;
— some departmental logos.
— Let’s look at a few examples!
24 / 31](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vxvydkgqkmywfqzxjmtpmzsscdmtyqdk-241219161245-76b95d14/85/How-to-build-beautiful-slides-pdf-format-idea-28-320.jpg)
How to build beautiful slides pdf format idea .
- 1. Get started with the UIC Beamer Theme Using L A TEX to prepare slides Usama Muneeb December 7, 2024
- 2. Beamer for UIC presentations A quick start If you would like L A TEX in your presentation, Beamer is a great way to go! • Beamer has a detailed user manual, but we will go over the most common features. • This template is designed for a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is the default in PowerPoint and the most common amongst projectors. • The most common of all slide types involve bulleted points, like these. 2 / 31
- 3. Beamer for UIC presentations A quick start If you would like L A TEX in your presentation, Beamer is a great way to go! • Beamer has a detailed user manual, but we will go over the most common features. • This template is designed for a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is the default in PowerPoint and the most common amongst projectors. • The most common of all slide types involve bulleted points, like these. — Placing pause after items will allow you to sequentially unroll points. — Changing begin{itemize} to begin{itemize}[<+->] achieves a similar effect, although pause gives finer control on the unrolling. 2 / 31
- 4. Slide Layouts Some standard slide layouts
- 5. Images, columns and tips for good slides Do use this optional subtitle where appropriate • Do keep a good balance between text and figures. — Do use nested lists wherever appropriate. • Do use the underbrace and overbrace commands to help explain your equations: max λ,ν . inf x Lagrangian z }| { L(x, λ, ν) | {z } Lagrange Dual Function s.t. λ ≥ 0 Figure: Minimum fuel trajectory 4 / 31
- 6. More with bullet points Alerts and repeats Sections 12.1 through 12.3 of the Beamer user manual demonstrate many more features, like alerts and repeats. • The alert{} feature can be particularly useful. • Like this. • The highlighting may span multiple slides in a frame. — Previous one did not, but this one will. • This is accomplished by the hyphen (i.e. -) in the alert<3-> command. 5 / 31
- 7. More with bullet points Alerts and repeats Sections 12.1 through 12.3 of the Beamer user manual demonstrate many more features, like alerts and repeats. • The alert{} feature can be particularly useful. • Like this. • The highlighting may span multiple slides in a frame. — Previous one did not, but this one will. • This is accomplished by the hyphen (i.e. -) in the alert<3-> command. 5 / 31
- 8. More with bullet points Alerts and repeats Sections 12.1 through 12.3 of the Beamer user manual demonstrate many more features, like alerts and repeats. • The alert{} feature can be particularly useful. • Like this. • The highlighting may span multiple slides in a frame. — Previous one did not, but this one will. • This is accomplished by the hyphen (i.e. -) in the alert<3-> command. 5 / 31
- 9. More with bullet points Alerts and repeats Sections 12.1 through 12.3 of the Beamer user manual demonstrate many more features, like alerts and repeats. • The alert{} feature can be particularly useful. • Like this. • The highlighting may span multiple slides in a frame. — Previous one did not, but this one will. • This is accomplished by the hyphen (i.e. -) in the alert<3-> command. 5 / 31
- 10. Another images/columns example Placeholder Figure: Minimum fuel trajectory Left: Solving for optimal fuel consumption Right: Solving for optimal time taken Figure: Minimum time trajectory 6 / 31
- 11. Blocks Placeholder Some content will just look better in blocks. Block title This is a block. Its color will match the color of the footline. The block environment is native to Beamer. Block title This Beamer theme also provides a colorblock environment which is a wrapper on top of the usual block environment in Beamer. It allows you to specify a custom background and font color. Here’s an example usage: The discrete case ... The continuous case ... 7 / 31
- 12. Blocks for theorems Placeholder Beamer also uses blocks by default to wrap theorems. Theorem This is a theorem. 8 / 31
- 13. Side-Picture Slides Placeholder This Beamer theme also provides a sidepic envi- ronment which is a wrapper on top of the frame en- vironment. • It has an optional image argument which will help you achieve a layout of this type. 9 / 31
- 14. Pseudocode Example Placeholder Algorithm Bellman-Kalaba (adapted from algorithmicx documentation). Input: G, u, l, p for all v ∈ V(G) do l(v) ← ∞ end for l(u) ← 0 repeat for i ← 1, n do min ← l(vi) for j ← 1, n do if min > Edge(vi, vj) + l(vj) then min ← Edge(vi, vj) + l(vj) ▷ Example comment p(i) ← vj end if end for l’(i) ← min end for changed ← l ̸= l’ l ← l’ until ¬changed
- 15. Typesetting Algorithms Common Issues • There are multiple environments for typesetting algorithms. — This template uses algorithmicx via algpseudocode. ◦ algpseudocode is (one of the) layouts for algorithmicx. ◦ Others exist, as mentioned in the documentation, section 2.1. — algorithmic is also widely used, which is an alternative to using algorithmicx (via a layout package). • While algpseudocode tries to be close to algorithmic, they use different capitalization schemes — algorithmic commands are fully capitalized (e.g. STATE, FORALL) — algpseudocode commands are not (e.g. State, ForAll). — If moving an algorithm from one to the other, you will need to fix the capitalization, or the compiler will run into problems. 11 / 31
- 16. Typesetting Algorithms More control • If you must use algorithmic instead of algpseudocode, some commands will need to be manually defined — For example the function Call (or rather, the CALL) command. ◦ Do it as newcommand*CALL[2]{textsc{#1}(#2)} ◦ Remember that not all fonts have a small caps variant needed by textsc ◦ You can look at uicfont.sty to see how we augment our font with another small caps font (i.e. PlayFair Display SC) — Additionally, the Comment of algpseudocode might look better than the COMMENT of algorithmic ◦ You can define a custom one to mimic Comment ◦ Do it as newcommand*ANNOTATE[1]{hfill(triangleright) #1} 12 / 31
- 17. Common issues (this is P̂ laceholder math) Placeholder • Math in title will cause its height to be inconsistent with that of other frames (try viewing these example slides in a full screen mode) — This theme provides a titlemanualoffset register which can be used to manually adjust this offset. ◦ Putting setlength{titlemanualoffset}{<some calibrated offset>} before begin{frame} for this frame will fix this issue. ◦ Make sure to zero it out after end{frame} • If you use verb command (or begin{verbatim} environment) in a frame, make sure to specify the [fragile] option in begin{frame} otherwise the compiler will run into problems. — In most cases, texttt can be used instead of verb, and it does not require the [fragile] option. 13 / 31
- 18. Avoid duplicate logos Placeholder If using a logo based background, you can disable the logo in the top left by temporarily switching to a color scheme that does not use a logo. The next slide is such an example. 14 / 31
- 19. Personalization Fonts and color schemes
- 20. If you need more space in slides Placeholder If you would like more space, you can control the font size by specifying an option in the documentclass command at the beginning of this file. • Use documentclass[smaller]{beamer} to reduce font size. • For all options, refer to Section 18.2.1 of the Beamer user manual. 16 / 31
- 21. Color schemes Placeholder Three fundamental features greatly affect the look and feel of your slides. Two of them can be controlled with the themecolor command (provided by this theme). • The background color. — The default is light theme, which has a light background, which we are currently using. • The foreground color. — The light theme has a dark foreground (i.e. text color) and vice versa. • The third, the footer color can be set using footlinecolor command. — We are currently using test uicblue color for our footer. — The default is no footline, but I believe page numbers are incredibly helpful for your audience to ask questions later. 17 / 31
- 22. Color schemes Placeholder • I just called themecolor{dark} before begin{frame} for this slide. — Ideally you should set the theme globally in the preamble (i.e. before begin{document}). Default is light. • You can also change the footer color with footlinecolor{color}, as we did for this slide. • All the changes we talked about here happen for the current as well as subsequent frames. — I will manually revert all the changes for the next slide. 18 / 31
- 23. UIC Colors Placeholder • Font color can be set with the textcolor{<color name>}{text} command. • The colors are defined in the uiccolor package, in accordance with the UIC Visual Elements guide: — UIC’s primary colors are Navy Pier Blue ( test uicblue) and Fire Engine Red ( test uicred). — UIC’s secondary colors are Chicago Blue ( test chicagoblue), UI Health Teal ( test uihteal) and Champions Gold ( test championsgold). — UIC’s neutral colors are Expo White ( test expowhite) and Steel Gray ( test steelgray or test steelgrey). • A simpler alternative to font colors is often just emph{}. 19 / 31
- 24. Fonts Placeholder Fonts are categorized as Serif and Sans-Serif (see this link for when to use which). • Open Sans and IBM Plex Serif have been provided with this template. • Beamer uses Sans-Serif mode by default. — To switch to Serif mode, please change usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif} to usefonttheme{serif} in the preamble. • If you want to mix and match Serif and Sans-Serif — You can still typeset in Serif font in Sans-Serif mode (and vice versa) using textrm and textsf commands. For more options with fonts, you need to modify the self explanatory uicfont.sty file. Next few slides will be helpful in this regard. 20 / 31
- 25. Font formats over time Placeholder Here are the old formats (still used in the LaTeX ecosystem): • PostScript Type 1 format developed by Adobe in the 1980s — Authoring support officially ended by Adobe in January 2023 • TrueType format (.ttf) developed by Apple, also in 1980s, licensed to Microsoft The new font formats are OpenType, developed jointly by Microsoft and Adobe in the 1990s as an extension of Apple’s TrueType font format. OpenType fonts are either • PostScript flavor OpenType (.otf) that supercedes Adobe’s PostScript Type 1 • TrueType flavor OpenType (also .ttf!) that supercedes Apple’s TrueType — Distinguishing them from the old TrueType format is non trivial, since they have the same file extension. 21 / 31
- 26. Font formats compatibility Placeholder The new OpenType fonts have several new features over the old formats. They are however, supported natively only by XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX compilers. The most popular pdfLaTeX compiler has limited support for them: • OpenType fonts are not pdfLaTeX-ready by default. • They require the production of TeX font metrics and other ancillary files in order to be used with LaTeX. • The production of these files is not easy for the average user. Consequently, if using pdfLaTeX, the most convenient option is to restrict yourself to the pdfLaTeX-ready font packages in your TeX distribution (exhaustive list provided in the LaTeX Font Catalog). 22 / 31
- 27. Font formats compatibility Placeholder If you want to use fonts beyond those in the LaTeX Font Catalog (for example, fonts from Google Fonts), the recommended approach is to use XeLaTeX. • XeLaTeX is set as the default compiler on the Overleaf version of this template. • The fonts included in the fonts folder are TrueType flavor OpenType fonts. • If pdfLaTeX is used, font packages from your TeX distribution will be used instead. UIC signature font is Theinhardt, which is a proprietary font. • UIC provides Theinhardt, but proprietary fonts sometimes do not permit PDF embedding which might cause substitutions or compatibility issues. — This template uses Open Sans which has wider spacing and offers more clarity in a scientific setting than Theinhardt. Additionally, it’s OFL licensed. 23 / 31
- 28. Chapter slides Placeholder • Allow you to partition your presentation into multiple chapters • Also frames, but with a few more options • Created with begin{chapter}[<image>]{<color>}{<title>} — Image is optional, color and title are mandatory. • Multiple background images have been provided in this template which may be used for chapter slides: — Some campus photos that I have taken over the years and; — some departmental logos. — Let’s look at a few examples! 24 / 31
- 29. Title goes here Subtitle goes here
- 30. Title goes here Subtitle goes here
- 31. Title goes here Subtitle goes here
- 32. Title goes here Subtitle goes here
- 33. Other departments Placeholder • You can use the generic uic_lockup.png background, or • Download your logo from here. — What you need is “departmental lockup in EPS format and RGB/inverted RGB color”. • Overlay it on a static background — Upload your EPS logo to this Overleaf and use the overlay_eps.tex file to superimpose it onto a static background. ◦ Copy over the resulting PDF to the assets folder. — If EPS logo is not available, download an SVG version and use the overlay_svg.py Python script provided in the GitHub repository of this template (link on next slide). 29 / 31
- 34. Good luck with your presentation! Placeholder • This template is hosted on GitHub — https://github.com/usamamuneeb/uic-beamer-template • I would appreciate contributions of all sorts (pull requests, identifying issues, etc). • If you have any suggestions, send them to me! 30 / 31
- 35. Thank you!