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Distribution & Analytics

Self-contained output​

Every render produces a self-contained directory — index.html, speaker.html, sync.js, and all copied image assets. It works in any browser without a server.

my-talk/
  index.html      ← main presentation (share this)
  speaker.html    ← speaker view
  sync.js         ← speaker view sync module
  images/         ← copied assets

Sharing options​

Zip and email:

zip -r my-talk.zip my-talk/

Web server:

scp -r my-talk/ user@server:/var/www/html/

GitHub Pages — put the output in a docs/ folder or push to a gh-pages branch.

Local HTTP server (also resolves speaker view popup-blocker issues):

python3 -m http.server 8080
# open http://localhost:8080/my-talk/

PDF export​

Browser print — simplest option:

  1. Open my-talk/index.html
  2. File → Print (Ctrl/Cmd + P)
  3. Destination → Save as PDF
  4. Print

Headless Chrome — more control over page size:

chromium --headless --print-to-pdf=my-talk.pdf my-talk/index.html

Speaker notes are in speaker.html — they are not included in the PDF export.

Session analytics​

Use display instead of opening index.html directly to enable session logging:

java -jar md-slides.jar display my-talk

This opens the presentation in your browser and writes every navigation event to my-talk/deck.log:

  • Navigation events with method (arrow, goto, history)
  • Timer start, pause, and resume
  • Break mode toggles
  • Session start and end

After presenting, run report to analyze the session:

java -jar md-slides.jar report my-talk

The report shows:

  • Total presentation time (excluding breaks)
  • Per-slide time spent
  • Navigation path taken
  • Break durations

Review after each talk to improve pacing and identify which slides consistently run long.

Smart default​

MD-Slides infers what you want from context — no subcommand required:

java -jar md-slides.jar my-talk       # → render (first time)
java -jar md-slides.jar my-talk       # → display (if deck.log exists)
java -jar md-slides.jar my-talk.md    # → render

If the output directory already contains deck.log, the smart default switches to display automatically — it assumes you're re-presenting an existing deck. Pass --display explicitly to force session logging on a fresh render:

java -jar md-slides.jar my-talk --display