Hakim El Hattab released version 2.2 of reveal.js on January 28th, fixing a handful of bugs and implementing a host of new features in the JavaScript 3D presentation library.
Reveal.js, like other work from Hattab, leverages modern browsers to exploit CSS 3D transformations to explore depth of the browser canvas. Thus, unlike traditional software presentation software, reveal.js allows presenters to build presentations that fold into the z-dimensional space, enlivening traditional 2D slide decks with 3D transitions.
Even so, reveal.js remains a closer ancestor to SlideShare and PowerPoint in its linear presentation form. One divergent counterpart to reveal.js includes “impress.js [which] uses a lon-linear style of presentation inspired by Prezi,” Hattab says. “I think impress.js is great, just like reveal.js it takes a pre-existing concept and makes it available openly and freely. The biggest difference in between the two is in their visual style and structure.”
To that end, version 2.2 adds some notable enhancements:
- Using PhantomJS, a special print stylesheet, and Google Chrome, you can now export your 3D presentations directly to PDF.
- Support for internal links.
- Added a remotes.io plugin to control the presentation using a smartphone or tablet.
- Wired the reveal.js source to the Travis Continuous Integration solution.
To export or publish reveal.js presentations quickly, developers can use rvl.io, a free presentation authoring tool with a simple UI. This simplicity has emboldened some users to create “personal sites on rvl.io and embed them under their own domains,” says Hattab. “This surprised me. I never intended for it to be used this way, but I’d love to explore it further.”
Hattab hacked reveal.js together in the summer of 2011 while preparing a presentation for a meetup in Stockholm. Having no presentation software on hand, Hattab decided to roll his own. “I figured I could just write my own directly in the browser and a few late night hours later it was mostly complete. Since I ended up really liking how it turned out I decided to convert that presentation into a framework and that is how reveal.js was born,” Hattab says.
Now, 18 months since its initial GitHub commit, reveal.js as a framework is hardening, Hattab says. Next, he intends on focusing on rvl.io to leverage the current reveal.js feature set. “I want to build the best authoring tool possible, put it in the hands of our users, and let them decide where to take it.”