Learning MDX Deck: Getting Started
Dave Follett
Posted on May 13, 2019
π What is MDX Deck?
MDX Deck was created by Brent Jackson (@jxnblk) and is a tool for creating presentation deck websites using MDX. MDX provides the ability to use Reactβs JSX inside Markdown. The combination creates a powerful experience for building a web-based presentation deck. Here are a list of features, as listed on the MDX Deck GitHub Page:
- π Write presentations in markdown
- β Import and use React components
- π Customizable themes and components
- 0οΈβ£ Zero-config CLI
- πββοΈ Presenter modeοΏΌ
- π Speaker notes
ποΈ Installation
First make sure you have node installed and paste the following as package.json
into a new file. Alternatively, you can run: npm init
to generate a package.json
file.
{
"name": "demo-mdx-deck",
"version": "1.0.0",
"description": "Demo MDX Deck",
"scripts": {
"test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1"
},
"author": "Dave Follett",
"license": "MIT"
}
Next, install mdx-deck with the following command.
npm i -D mdx-deck
πββοΈ Getting Started
To create a simple presentation, create a file named deck.mdx
and copy the following contents into it.
# SLIDE 1 - LIST
* I am a bullet list item
* I am another bullet list item
* I am another bullet list item
---
# SLIDE 2 - HEADERS
## Header 2
### Header 3
#### Header 4
##### Header 5
---
# SLIDE 3 - TABLE
| Fruit | Weight | Cost |
| ------------- | ---------| ----- |
| Strawberries | 16oz | $3.99 |
| Blueberries | 8oz | $2.99 |
| Grapes | 12oz | $3.75 |
Each slide is separated by ---
. To see the presentation in action, add the following to the scripts section of package.json
.
"scripts": {
"start": "mdx-deck deck.mdx"
}
And run the following command to start the development server.
npm start
The presentation can be viewed at http://localhost:8080/
.
β¨οΈ Keyboard Shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts can be used to interact with the presentation.
Key | Description |
---|---|
Left Arrow | Go to previous slide (or step in Appear) |
Right Arrow | Go to next slide (or step in Appear) |
Space | Go to next slide (or step in Appear) |
Alt + P | Toggle Presenter Mode |
Alt + O | Toggle Overview Mode |
Alt + G | Toggle Grid Mode |
π Conclusion
As you can see, you can get up and running with MDX Deck pretty quickly. There is a lot more to MDX Deck than I have shown here. Coming up π, I will be exploring more of the features it provides, such as, importing react components, layouts, themes, speaker notes, and deploying to Netlify.
Posted on May 13, 2019
Join Our Newsletter. No Spam, Only the good stuff.
Sign up to receive the latest update from our blog.