Creating Presentations

PPTX Processing

.pptx is a ZIP archive of XML and resources. Choose workflow by intent.

Workflow Decision

| Intent | Workflow | Reference |

|--------|----------|-----------|

| Read text | markitdown → markdown | thumbnails-and-conversion.md |

| Analyze layout / comments / theme | unpack → raw XML | thumbnails-and-conversion.md |

| Create new from scratch | html2pptx | html2pptx.md + design-patterns.md |

| Create using template | rearrange + inventory + replace | template-workflow.md |

| Edit existing slides | unpack → OOXML → pack | ooxml.md |

| Visual review | thumbnail grids | thumbnails-and-conversion.md |

Iron Rules

• Color choice is design — see palettes.md, state your approach BEFORE code.
• Web-safe fonts only — Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Georgia, Courier New, Verdana, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Impact.
• Layout matches content count — 2 items → 2 columns; 3 → 3; never force.
• Validate visually — always generate thumbnails after creation, inspect for cutoff/overlap/contrast.

Create New (without template) — html2pptx

• MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE: html2pptx.md. NEVER set range limits.
• Create HTML per slide (e.g., 720pt × 405pt for 16:9)
• Use <p>, <h1>–<h6>, <ul>, <ol>
• class="placeholder" for chart/table areas (gray bg for visibility)
• CRITICAL: Rasterize gradients & icons as PNG via Sharp first, then reference in HTML
• Use full-slide or two-column layout for charts/tables — never vertical stack
• Run scripts/html2pptx.js to convert
• html2pptx() per HTML file
• Charts/tables via PptxGenJS API on placeholders
• pptx.writeFile() to save
• Visual validation — python scripts/thumbnail.py output.pptx workspace/thumbnails --cols 4
• Inspect for: text cutoff, overlap, positioning, contrast
• Adjust HTML margins/spacing/colors, regenerate, repeat

Create with Template

See template-workflow.md for full 7-step workflow (extract → inventory → outline → rearrange → inventory text → generate replacements → apply).

Edit Existing Presentation

• MANDATORY — READ ENTIRE FILE: ooxml.md (~500 lines). NEVER set range limits.
• python ooxml/scripts/unpack.py <file> <dir>
• Edit XML (primarily ppt/slides/slide{N}.xml)
• CRITICAL — validate after each edit: python ooxml/scripts/validate.py <dir> --original <file>
• python ooxml/scripts/pack.py <dir> <file>

Code Style

Concise code, no verbose names, no unnecessary print statements.

Dependencies

| Package | Install | Purpose |

|---------|---------|---------|

| markitdown | pip install "markitdown[pptx]" | Text extraction |

| pptxgenjs | npm i -g pptxgenjs | Create via html2pptx |

| playwright | npm i -g playwright | HTML rendering |

| react-icons | npm i -g react-icons react react-dom | Icons |

| sharp | npm i -g sharp | SVG rasterization |

| LibreOffice | apt install libreoffice | PDF conversion |

| Poppler | apt install poppler-utils | pdftoppm |

| defusedxml | pip install defusedxml | Secure XML |