Markdown Presentation Skill

Create professional, presenter-friendly markdown presentations with timing guidance, expandable details, and clean visual hierarchy.

When to Use This Skill

• Creating team onboarding presentations
• Technical architecture overviews
• Knowledge transfer sessions
• Sprint demos or retrospectives
• Any presentation that will be viewed in markdown-capable viewers (GitHub, VS Code, Obsidian)

Presentation Structure

Standard Template

# Presentation Title
## Subtitle or Context

**Duration:** X minutes
**Audience:** Target audience
**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD

---

## Agenda

1. Topic 1 (X min)
2. Topic 2 (X min)
3. Topic 3 (X min)
...

---

## 1. First Section

Content here...

---

## 2. Second Section

Content here...

---

## Questions?

### Contact
- Channel/email
- Resources

---

*Presentation created: YYYY-MM-DD*
*Built with [markdown-presentation@plinde/claude-plugins](https://github.com/plinde/claude-plugins/tree/main/markdown-presentation)*

Key Formatting Patterns

Horizontal Rules as Slide Breaks

Use --- to create visual "slide" breaks between sections:

## Section 1

Content...

---

## Section 2

Content...

Expandable Details for Dense Content

Use HTML <details> tags for content that's too long for a single "slide":

<details>
<summary><b>📋 Click to expand detailed info</b></summary>

Long content here...
- Bullet points
- Code blocks
- Tables

</details>

Best Practices for Details:

• Use emoji + bold for visual distinction: <b>📋 Title</b>
• Keep summary text short and descriptive
• Use for: command references, configuration examples, troubleshooting guides
• Don't use for: critical information that everyone must see

Timing Annotations

Include timing in the agenda to help presenters pace themselves:

## Agenda

1. Introduction (2 min)
2. Architecture Overview (5 min)
3. Demo (8 min)
4. Q&A (5 min)

**Total: 20 minutes**

ASCII Diagrams (Markdown Only)

Use ASCII art for architecture diagrams in pure markdown contexts (GitHub, VS Code preview):

┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐
│ Source │────▶│ Processor │
└─────────────┘ └──────┬──────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────┐
│ Output │
└─────────────┘

ASCII Box Drawing Characters:

• Corners: ┌ ┐ └ ┘
• Lines: ─ │
• Connectors: ├ ┤ ┬ ┴ ┼
• Arrows: ▶ ▼ ◀ ▲ → ← ↑ ↓

Warning: ASCII diagrams often have alignment issues in HTML output due to font rendering. For HTML presentations, use HTML tables/divs instead (see HTML Presentations section below).

Tables for Comparisons

| Feature | Option A | Option B |
|---------|----------|----------|
| Speed   | Fast     | Slow     |
| Cost    | High     | Low      |

Quick Reference Cards

End presentations with a quick reference section:

## Quick Reference Card

### Key Commands
| Command | Purpose |
|---------|---------|
| `cmd1`  | Does X  |
| `cmd2`  | Does Y  |

### Important Links
- [Doc 1](url)
- [Doc 2](url)

Presentation Length Guidelines

Rule of thumb: ~2 minutes per major section (excluding expandable details)

Viewing Options

VS Code

code presentation.md
# Use Ctrl+Shift+V (or Cmd+Shift+V) for preview

GitHub

• Push to repo, view in browser
• Details sections render as expandable

Obsidian

• Open in vault
• Use presentation plugins for slideshow mode

Marp (CLI)

Convert to actual slides:

marp presentation.md -o presentation.pdf
marp presentation.md -o presentation.html

HTML Presentations

For presentations that will be viewed primarily in browsers, consider using HTML instead of pure markdown. HTML provides better control over styling and diagram alignment.

When to Use HTML vs Markdown

Dark Theme CSS Template

Use CSS variables for consistent theming (Tokyo Night-inspired palette):

:root {
    --bg-primary: #1a1b26;
    --bg-secondary: #24283b;
    --bg-tertiary: #1f2335;
    --text-primary: #c0caf5;
    --text-secondary: #a9b1d6;
    --text-muted: #565f89;
    --accent-blue: #7aa2f7;
    --accent-teal: #73daca;
    --accent-purple: #bb9af7;
    --accent-amber: #e0af68;
    --accent-green: #9ece6a;
    --accent-coral: #f7768e;
    --border-color: #3b4261;
}

body {
    background-color: var(--bg-primary);
    color: var(--text-primary);
    font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', sans-serif;
}

pre, code {
    background-color: var(--bg-tertiary);
    border: 1px solid var(--border-color);
}

h1, h2, h3 { color: var(--accent-blue); }
a { color: var(--accent-teal); }

HTML Diagrams (Replace ASCII)

Problem: ASCII art alignment breaks in HTML due to font rendering differences.

Solution: Use HTML divs with flexbox or tables with defined widths.

Architecture Box Pattern

<div style="display: flex; gap: 20px; justify-content: center; flex-wrap: wrap;">
    <div style="border: 2px solid var(--accent-teal); border-radius: 8px;
                padding: 15px; min-width: 200px; background: rgba(115,218,202,0.1);">
        <strong style="color: var(--accent-teal);">Component A</strong>
        <ul><li>Feature 1</li><li>Feature 2</li></ul>
    </div>
    <div style="border: 2px solid var(--accent-purple); border-radius: 8px;
                padding: 15px; min-width: 200px; background: rgba(187,154,247,0.1);">
        <strong style="color: var(--accent-purple);">Component B</strong>
        <ul><li>Feature 1</li><li>Feature 2</li></ul>
    </div>
</div>

Flow Diagram Pattern (Flexbox)

<div style="display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center;
            gap: 10px; flex-wrap: wrap; padding: 20px;">
    <div style="background: var(--accent-blue); color: var(--bg-primary);
                padding: 10px 20px; border-radius: 8px;">
        <strong>Step 1</strong>
    </div>
    <span style="color: var(--accent-teal); font-size: 1.5em;">→</span>
    <div style="background: var(--accent-purple); color: var(--bg-primary);
                padding: 10px 20px; border-radius: 8px;">
        <strong>Step 2</strong>
    </div>
    <span style="color: var(--accent-teal); font-size: 1.5em;">→</span>
    <div style="background: var(--accent-green); color: var(--bg-primary);
                padding: 10px 20px; border-radius: 8px;">
        <strong>Step 3</strong>
    </div>
</div>

Comparison Table Pattern

<table style="width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse;">
    <thead>
        <tr style="background: var(--bg-secondary);">
            <th style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid var(--border-color);">Feature</th>
            <th style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid var(--border-color);">Option A</th>
            <th style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid var(--border-color);">Option B</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid var(--border-color);">Speed</td>
            <td style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid var(--border-color);
                       color: var(--accent-green);">Fast</td>
            <td style="padding: 12px; border: 1px solid var(--border-color);
                       color: var(--accent-coral);">Slow</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table>

Color-Coded Components

Use consistent colors for related components throughout the presentation:

/* Example: Multi-environment architecture */
--env-production: #73daca;    /* teal - production */
--env-staging: #bb9af7;       /* purple - staging */
--env-development: #e0af68;   /* amber - development */

Apply with semi-transparent backgrounds for visual grouping:

<div style="border: 2px solid var(--env-production);
            background: rgba(115,218,202,0.1);
            border-radius: 8px; padding: 15px;">
    Production Environment Content
</div>

Example: Technical Onboarding

# Service X Onboarding
## For New Team Members

**Duration:** 15 minutes
**Audience:** New engineers

---

## Agenda

1. What is Service X? (2 min)
2. Architecture (5 min)
3. Local Development (5 min)
4. Resources (3 min)

---

## 1. What is Service X?

Service X handles authentication for all internal tools.

**Key Facts:**
- Processes 10M requests/day
- 99.99% uptime SLA
- Deployed in 3 regions

---

## 2. Architecture

┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐
│ Client │────▶│ Service X│────▶│ IdP │
└──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘

<details>
<summary><b>📋 Component Details</b></summary>

**Service X Components:**
- API Gateway (Kong)
- Auth Service (Go)
- Token Store (Redis)
- Audit Logger (Kafka → ES)

</details>

---

## 3. Local Development

```bash
# Clone and setup
git clone git@github.com:org/service-x.git
cd service-x
make setup

# Run locally
make run

# Run tests
make test

lsof -i :8080
kill -9 <PID>

make db-reset

4. Resources

Questions?

Contact: #service-x-support

Created: 2025-12-22
Built with markdown-presentation@plinde/claude-plugins

## Self-Test

```bash
# Verify skill exists
ls -la ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/plinde-plugins/markdown-presentation/skills/markdown-presentation/SKILL.md

# Or if installed locally
ls -la ~/.claude/skills/markdown-presentation/SKILL.md

Related Tools

• Marp - Convert markdown to presentation slides
• Pandoc - Universal document converter (md → docx, pdf, html)