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Is there a good graphical interface, similar to PowerPoint or LibreOffice Impress, for generating presentation slides?

When writing documents I prefer to write my text and LaTeX-markups using a text-editor and not using a graphical tool like LyX. However, in the case of presentation slides I want to see the layout and to have the ability to immediately see what you get e.g. by moving a picture with arrow keys.

ADDITION: The background to my question is as follows. I have used PowerPoint for more than a decade and like to use a WYSIWYG tool when making presentation slides. However, I can not use PowerPoint on my current computer and I think the output from LibreOffice Impress is inferior. As a long-time user of LaTeX, I have considered using SliTeX or Beamer but unfortunately I do not like the way of working. The end result is of course superior, but I found it very time-consuming and tiresome to e.g. adjust the position and size of pictures.

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    To be honest, this sounds like you are looking for PowerPoint with a decent template, and not LaTeX. You could think about using something like Latexit as your latex engine and copying and pasting the text into your .ppt, maybe? Jun 18, 2013 at 16:34
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    @LostBrit I don't understand your aggressive comment. One could perfectly be looking to benefit from some of LaTeX's advantages (high quality output, easy collaboration, easy versioning or other) while at the same time preferring to use a graphical interface. For structured documents, LyX is quite popular, and for graphical presentations a good editing tool would probably be too.
    – Xavier
    Jun 18, 2013 at 23:32
  • @Xavier I didn't mean to sound aggressive! It just struck me that the OP was halfway there with PowerPoint, and that adding the output from a lightweight tex editor / compiler that uses the standalone class (as I think Latexit does / can) would be a very simple way to meet his needs. Jun 19, 2013 at 0:04
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    @LostBrit I am not looking for PowerPoint. I want to use LaTeX combined with a graphical editing tool. Since LyX exists as a graphical tool documents, I am hoping for a graphical tool for generating presentations. Please also see the addition to my question above.
    – mghg
    Jun 19, 2013 at 18:03
  • @Xavier Please see my above comment and the addition to my question
    – mghg
    Jun 19, 2013 at 18:03

3 Answers 3

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There are free LaTeX editors that can show a PDF preview in a right panel with single buttom click (as TeXworks) or automatically every x seconds when you are not typing, or only when synchronizing the PDF preview with the editor (as Gummi).

There also a commercial WYSIWYG editor (BaKoMa) that probably work well with Beamer documents. Apparently PowerDot, Prosper, Seminar and Slides are also supported. (I'm not tried nothing of this, but you can try for free in the 28 days evaluation period).

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    BaKoMa sounds interesting, I have to investigate how to install it on a Ubuntu 12.04 system that already has TeX Live 2012. The PDF preview method is less interesting for me. Please also see the addition to my question.
    – mghg
    Jun 19, 2013 at 18:12
  • Ideally, this graphical interface should have its own format, and also File menu commands Export as latex Beamer presentation, Export as PDF etc. Oct 6, 2013 at 10:28
  • Just curiosity. Why the downvote?
    – Fran
    Oct 6, 2013 at 11:31
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    With this approach, you still need to program everything yourself (f.i. figures using TikZ). Maybe the OP wants to draw and position objects by moving them like in Powerpoint?
    – Karlo
    Jun 14, 2017 at 15:40
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    @Karlo Everything is too much speaking of LaTeX. Never a GUI will take care of any posible LaTeX command, but for graphs see What GUI applications are there to assist in generating graphics for TeX?.
    – Fran
    Jun 15, 2017 at 7:52
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I think powerline can do, partially, the job. Try https://suchanek.name/programs/powerline/

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I don't think exactly what you are looking for exists. However when you said that: "I want to use LaTeX combined with a graphical editing tool." as usual I can't help but mention Inkscape + LaTeX which is just like that although probably not exactly what you want...

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