Create Beautiful Presentations with Markdown
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450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
šÆ Why Markdown Slides?
Unlike PowerPoint or Keynote, your presentations are future-proof, portable, and completely under your control. No proprietary formats, no vendor lock-in, no subscription fees.
The Problem with Traditional Slides
PowerPoint & Keynote:
- šø Expensive licenses or subscriptions
- š Proprietary file formats (
.pptx,.key) - š» Platform-specific (Windows/Mac only)
- š¦ Large binary files
- š« Difficult to version control
- š° Lost formatting when sharing
Google Slides:
- āļø Requires internet connection
- š Data stored on Google’s servers
- š± Limited offline editing
- šØ Formatting breaks when exporting
- š Dependency on Google’s platform
The Hugo Blox Solution
Write your presentations in simple, human-readable Markdown. Edit anywhere, present anywhere, own forever.
⨠What You Get
šØ Professional Design, Zero Effort
- 15+ Built-in Themes ā Black, white, sky, league, and more
- Syntax Highlighting ā Beautiful code blocks with 50+ languages
- Math Support ā LaTeX equations render perfectly: $E = mc^2$
- Responsive ā Looks great on any screen size
š Write in Plain Text
## My Slide Title
- Point one
- Point two
- Point three
```python
def hello():
return "World!"
```
---
That’s it! No complex UI, no formatting headaches.
š Edit Anywhere, Anytime
Your slides are just Markdown files. Edit them in:
- HugoBlox Studio ā Visual editing with live preview
- VS Code ā With Markdown extensions
- Obsidian ā Note-taking app that speaks Markdown
- Typora ā Minimal distraction writing
- Any text editor ā Even Notepad works!
šÆ Advanced Features
Dual Column Layouts:
<div style="display: flex; gap: 2rem;">
<div style="flex: 1;">Column 1</div>
<div style="flex: 1;">Column 2</div>
</div>
Fragment Animations:
{{< fragment >}}Appear on click!{{< /fragment >}}
Speaker Notes:
Note: Your private notes here
(visible in presenter view only)
Vertical Slide Stacks: Navigate down for sub-topics!
š Getting Started is Easy
Step 1: Create Your Slides
Create content/slides/my-talk/index.md:
---
title: "My Amazing Talk"
type: slides
slides:
theme: black
---
# My Amazing Talk
### Your Name
---
## Main Points
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3
---
## Thank You!
Step 2: Link to Your Event
In your event page (content/events/my-event/index.md):
---
title: "My Conference Presentation"
slides: "my-talk" # References the slides folder name
---
Step 3: Present!
Your slides are automatically:
- ā Embedded on the event page
- ā Available in fullscreen mode (click arrows-expand button)
- ā Accessible at a direct URL
- ā Keyboard-navigatable (ā ā keys)
š Why Academics & Researchers Love It
“I can finally version control my presentations with Git, collaborate using GitHub, and never worry about formatting breaking again. Game changer for reproducible research!” ā Dr. Xin Liu, MIT
Perfect for Research
- Version Control ā Track every change with Git
- Collaboration ā Use GitHub pull requests for slide reviews
- Reproducibility ā Slides are plain text, commit them with your code
- Open Science ā Share presentations on GitHub, no barriers
- Citations ā Include BibTeX references easily
- Jupyter Integration ā Embed notebooks and visualizations
Perfect for Teaching
- Reusable Content ā Mix and match slides across courses
- Student Contributions ā Students can submit slide PRs
- Live Coding ā Syntax highlighting for all languages
- Interactive Examples ā Embed interactive visualizations
- Accessible ā Keyboard navigation, screen reader friendly
š¬ See It In Action
Try it now! The slides embedded above demonstrate all these features:
- Code highlighting with Python
- Mathematical equations with LaTeX
- Dual column layouts (slides 4-6)
- Fragment animations
- Multiple themes
Click the arrows-expand fullscreen button (top right) to experience presentation mode!
Live Features to Try
- Navigate: Use arrow keys (ā ā) or click controls
- Fullscreen: Click the expand button to go fullscreen
- Speaker Notes: Press
Sto open presenter view (try it!) - Overview: Press
ESCto see all slides at once - Search: Press
/to search slide content - Zoom:
Alt+Clickto zoom into details
š Comparison
| Feature | PowerPoint | Google Slides | Hugo Blox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $159.99/year | Free* | Free Forever |
| Format | Binary (.pptx) |
Proprietary | Plain Markdown |
| Version Control | ā Difficult | ā Limited | ā Git Native |
| Offline Editing | ā Yes | ā ļø Limited | ā Fully Offline |
| Platform Lock-in | ā ļø Microsoft | ā ļø Google | ā None |
| Code Highlighting | ā ļø Basic | ā ļø Limited | ā 50+ Languages |
| Math Equations | ā ļø Clunky | ā ļø Basic | ā Full LaTeX |
| Portability | ā Poor | ā Requires Google | ā Works Anywhere |
| Future-Proof | ā Format changes | ā ļø API changes | ā Plain Text Forever |
| Open Source | ā No | ā No | ā Yes |
Hugo Blox wins on freedom, portability, and long-term sustainability.
š ļø Advanced Capabilities
Code Blocks with Syntax Highlighting
import torch
import torch.nn as nn
class Transformer(nn.Module):
def __init__(self, d_model=512, nhead=8):
super().__init__()
self.attention = nn.MultiheadAttention(d_model, nhead)
def forward(self, x):
return self.attention(x, x, x)[0]
Mathematical Equations
Display equations with LaTeX:
$$
\nabla \times \vec{E} = -\frac{\partial \vec{B}}{\partial t}
$$
$$
\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} e^{-x^2} dx = \sqrt{\pi}
$$
Dual Column Layouts
Perfect for before/after comparisons, code + explanation, or image + text:
<div style="display: flex; gap: 2rem;">
<div style="flex: 1;">Left content</div>
<div style="flex: 1;">Right content</div>
</div>
See slides 4-6 in the embedded presentation above for live examples!
š For Educators: Teach the Future
Teaching with Hugo Blox means teaching modern, transferable skills:
- Markdown (used everywhere: GitHub, Notion, Obsidian)
- Version control (essential for careers)
- Web technologies (HTML, CSS)
- Reproducible science practices
Course Integration
courses/
āāā ml-101/
ā āāā lecture-1/
ā ā āāā index.md (slides)
ā ā āāā notes.md
ā āāā lecture-2/
ā ā āāā index.md
ā āāā _index.md
Each lecture gets its own slide deck, all version controlled, all editable by students as PRs.
š Join the Community
Hugo Blox is used by researchers at:
- š Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge
- š¢ Google Research, Meta AI, OpenAI
- š¬ CERN, NASA, NIH
- š Thousands of universities worldwide
Get Help & Connect
- š Documentation
- š¬ Discord Community
- š GitHub Issues
- š¦ Follow @BuildLore
š Ready to Create?
No installation required. No account needed. Just Markdown and your creativity.
š Additional Resources
Templates & Examples
Tips & Tricks
- Keep slides simple ā one idea per slide
- Use dual columns for comparisons
- Add speaker notes with
Note:prefix - Test presenter view before your talk
- Use fragments to control pacing
- Version control your slides with Git
- Share source files for reproducibility
Have questions? Check out the FAQ or ask the community!
Want to contribute? Hugo Blox is open source! Contributions welcome.