Reveal parts of multiple \item at the same time

Question

In the following MWE, I'd like the frame to consist of two slides. On the first slide, only the 3 items (Item 1, Item 2, Item 3) should be visible. On the second slide, additionally, the 3 explanations (explanation 1, explanation 2, explanation 3) should be visible, too.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
    \begin{itemize}
        \item \makebox[4cm][l]{Item 1}explanation 1
        \item \makebox[4cm][l]{Item 2}explanation 2
        \item \makebox[4cm][l]{Item 3}explanation 3
    \end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

I read about item<X> to specify that an item should appear only on slide X, but that affects the whole item -- is it possible to achieve this behaviour for parts of items, too?

Answer 1

You can use beamer overlays, like \only, \visible etc., to delay specific parts of the text.

Please also note, that you don't need to load graphicx, beamer already loads this for you.

\documentclass{beamer}
%\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
    \begin{itemize}
        \item \makebox[4cm][l]{Item 1}\visible<2->{explanation 1}
        \item \makebox[4cm][l]{Item 2}\visible<2->{explanation 2}
        \item \makebox[4cm][l]{Item 3}\visible<2->{explanation 3}
    \end{itemize}
\end{frame}
\end{document}