MagicPoint

MagicPoint

Developer(s)	WIDE Project
Stable release	1.13a / February 13, 2008 (2008-02-13)
Operating system	Any Unix-like
Type	Presentation program
License	BSD license[1]
Website	http://member.wide.ad.jp/wg/mgp/

MagicPoint is one of several open source presentation programs,^[2] often used to produce slides for conferences.^[3] Unlike most presentation programs, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, where a GUI is used to create slides, MagicPoint slides are created by writing text files using a simple markup language. The resulting file is then displayed with MagicPoint's X11-based viewer.

History

MagicPoint was originally created in the autumn of 1997, at a WIDE Project camp. It was originally known as tp, standing for TinyPoint,^[4] but in December the name was changed to MagicPoint.^[5]

Features

• Content is written in text files and formatting is indicated by text features. For example, different level bullet points can be created by simply indenting the text with tabs^[6]
• Many image formats are supported^[7]
• Slides can be scaled to different screen sizes^[8]
• External applications can be executed from inside the presentation^[9]
• A talk timer and slide guide are included^[7]
• Presentations can be exported to HTML or PostScript files.^[10] Native MagicPoint files can be imported by Calligra Stage, another open source presentation program.

Another feature of MagicPoint is the ability to draw on slides during a presentation.^[2] By pressing x on the keyboard, the slide can temporarily be scribbled on with red "ink".^[9] Shift x allows you to cycle through other pen colours.

References

External links

• Official homepage
• Short review and tutorial
• Primer and Syntax