latex-handouts_skill

Overview

This skill generates professional LaTeX handouts that combine slide images, presenter notes, and researched references into a standalone PDF document. It guides dependency checks, graceful degradation when tooling is missing, and produces a structured .tex layout optimized for presentation handouts. The emphasis is on prose-rich slide expansions, clear image embedding, and publication-ready formatting.

How this skill works

The skill inspects environment dependencies (pdflatex, LaTeX packages, Playwright) and chooses a generation strategy based on exit codes: full PDF with images when all tools are present, degraded text-only handout if slide export is not available, or a .tex output if pdflatex is missing. It applies a semantic heading hierarchy, embeds slides with framed borders, adds Overview/Key Considerations/Technical Details paragraphs per slide, and appends curated Further Reading links. Templates and package fallbacks ensure functional output even when specific packages are absent.

When to use it

• When asked to "create LaTeX handout" or "compile handout" from a Slidev or slide deck
• When you need a standalone reference document that expands slide content into full prose
• When you want PDF handouts with slide images and detailed technical notes
• When environment may lack pdflatex or slide-export tools and graceful degradation is required
• When you need guidance on LaTeX structure, packages, image embedding, or bibliography setup

Best practices

• Run the dependency check script before generating and act on its exit code to choose full or degraded output
• Write complete 2–4 sentence paragraphs per slide: Overview, Key Considerations, Technical Details where applicable
• Include 3–5 authoritative Further Reading URLs per slide with short descriptions
• Use semantic headings: section → subsection → subsubsection for each slide and never skip levels
• Frame all slide images with \fbox and control sizes by width to maintain aspect ratio
• Provide a .tex fallback when pdflatex is unavailable and include install instructions for missing tools

Example use cases

• Convert a Slidev developer talk into a 10–20 page PDF handout with images, notes, and references
• Produce text-only handouts when slide exports are unavailable but prose and links are still needed
• Create multi-slide grid pages for printed handouts to save paper while preserving captions and context
• Prepare extended course materials using report or KOMA-Script classes for multi-session content
• Generate an appendix with full code listings and a biber-managed bibliography for technical audiences