beamer

Beamer Slide Workflow

Universal skill for academic Beamer presentations. Full lifecycle: create → compile → review → polish → verify.

0. REFERENCE PREAMBLE

When creating new slides, use this as the default preamble unless the user has a custom template.

\documentclass[aspectratio=169,10pt]{beamer}

\usetheme{Madrid}
\usecolortheme{default}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\setbeamertemplate{footline}[frame number]

\usepackage{amsmath,amssymb,amsthm,booktabs,mathtools}
\usepackage{stmaryrd}  % for \llbracket, \rrbracket
\usepackage{graphicx}  % for \includegraphics (extracted figures)
\usepackage{hyperref}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{arrows.meta,positioning,decorations.pathreplacing}

% Semantic colors — use in BOTH text and TikZ for global consistency
\definecolor{positive}{HTML}{0173B2}       % blue (correct, advantage)
\definecolor{negative}{HTML}{DE8F05}       % orange (limitation, drawback)
\definecolor{emphasis}{HTML}{029E73}        % green (highlight, key finding)
\definecolor{neutral}{gray}{0.55}          % muted context
\definecolor{cbPurple}{HTML}{CC78BC}        % additional accent
\newcommand{\pos}[1]{\textcolor{positive}{#1}}
\newcommand{\con}[1]{\textcolor{negative}{#1}}
\newcommand{\HL}[1]{\textcolor{emphasis}{#1}}

Rules:

• Always 10pt — 11pt or 12pt produces oversized, sparse slides.
• Always aspectratio=169 — modern projectors are 16:9.
• Default presenter: \author{Presenter: [name]} and \institute{Shanghai Jiao Tong University}. Override only if user specifies otherwise.
• If user provides a custom preamble, header file, or theme: use theirs.
• Add domain-specific macros (e.g. \newcommand{\F}{\mathbb{F}}) as needed.
• Algorithm/code packages (add only when needed):
  • Algorithms: \usepackage[ruled,lined]{algorithm2e} — set \SetAlgoLined, \DontPrintSemicolon
  • Code listings: \usepackage{listings} — set basicstyle=\ttfamily\small, keywordstyle=\bfseries\color{positive}, commentstyle=\color{neutral}. Max 10 lines of code per slide; highlight key lines with escapeinside={(*@}{@*)} and \colorbox.
  • Pseudocode: \usepackage{algorithmic} — simpler than algorithm2e, suitable for short procedures.
• Data plotting (add only when needed):
  • \usepackage{pgfplots} + \pgfplotsset{compat=1.18} — data-driven plots (bar, scatter, error bars, histograms). Far more efficient than manual TikZ coordinate plots for data visualization.
  • \usepackage{subcaption} — multiple subfigures in one frame via \begin{subfigure}{0.48\textwidth}.
• Theorem environments: Beamer provides theorem, lemma, corollary, definition, example, proof out of the box (styled by the theme). Use them for formal statements — they get automatic numbering and consistent styling. Customize with \setbeamertemplate{theorems}[numbered] or [ams style].