Creating Interactive Slideshows in Jupyter Notebook using RISE

Step 1: Set up All the Requirements

Installing Python and Jupyter Notebook

In order to start with the slideshows, firstly you need to install Python and Jupyter Notebook, using Anaconda Navigator.

Installing RISE

RISE, is an acronym which stands for Reveal.js IPython/Jupyter Slideshow Extension and as the name suggests RISE is a Jupyter Notebook extension that enables you to create dynamic presentation slides from your Jupyter Notebook. Through RISE, a notebook is rendered as a Reveal.js based slideshow during which you can execute code, display plots or show your audience any actions you would perform inside the notebook itself.

To use rise, first you need to install this. If you are using Anaconda then, use the command

conda install -c conda-forge RISE

or if you are using Command Prompt then use the command

pip install RISE

You won’t be able to interact directly with RISE, instead you will be access it through your Jupyter Notebook.

Step 2: How to Create a SlideShow

Enabling Slideshow Mode

To start with the creation of slideshows, you will need to start the Jupyter Notebook and open a new Notebook in it (must do this after installing RISE). Once you’re in the new fresh Notebook, you will need to enable the slideshow. For doing this, follow the following steps given below:

1. Click on the “View” tab in the Jupyter Notebook.

2. A dropdown menu will appear. Hover and select over the “Cell Toolbar” option.

3. Another dropdown appears. Now, select the “Slideshow” option in the “Cell Toolbar” menu.

You’ve now enabled the slideshow mode.

Creating the slides with cells

Now, at this point, start working with the cell toolbar present in the dropdown menu.

Once, you open the first cell in the Notebook, you’ll observe a “Slide Type” option present at the top right corner of the cell. This contains different types options which determines how each slide would fit in the slideshow. Those are:

slide – designates the selected cell as the first of a new slide.

sub-slide – indicates that the selected cell should be the start of a new sub-slide, which appears in a new frame beneath the previous slide.

fragment – denotes that the chosen cell should be added to the previous slide as a build.

skip – indicates that the selected cell should not be included in the slideshow and should instead be skipped.

notes – indicates that the selected cell should just be the presenter notes.

– – indicates that the selected cell should follow the behavior of the previous cell, which is useful when a markdown cell and a code cell should appear simultaneously.

Step 3: Viewing and Operating the SlideShows

Viewing the slideshow

The slideshow can be seen directly from the notebook once the slide material has been created using cells for the slideshow.

There are two options to view the slideshow:

1. Using the shortcut ALT + R on Windows to enter and exit into the presentation mode within the notebook.

2. Clicking the “Presentation Mode” button from the notebook (Note that it would only appear if you’ve successfully installed RISE) as present at the right most, shown in the image given below.

Once you choose enter into the slideshow presentation mode, a window will open as shown below

This means the presentation is active now.

Operating the slideshow

Changing the slides

When you enter in the slideshow window, you will see four different types of arrows in the bottom-right corner for controlling the slides. Although using the keys <- and -> may look attractive, but it can lead to skip of many sub-slides. Instead, its recommended to use SPACE for moving the slides forward and SPACE+SHIFT for moving the slides backward, respectively.

Apart from this, you may also access many other keyboard shortcuts within the slideshow by clicking the question mark (?) in the bottom-left corner.

Running and Editing the code

One of the best features of RISE is that you can update and run code while the presentation is in progress because it operates in a live Python session.

A code cell will show up in the slideshow as editable and runnable if it is identified as a slide, sub-slide, fragment, or -. Here’s an illustration:

Finally, you are done with the slideshow to showcase it to others.

We all have been very well acquainted with the creation of slideshows by using Microsoft PowerPoint for our schools, colleges, or offices in our day-to-day lives. But, have we ever wondered how would it be to create a slideshow through the Jupyter Notebook? The advantages of creating slideshows with Python and Jupyter are its version control capability, dynamicity in the slideshows, easy sharing of codes with others in the groups, and a single presentation document, but the only con with this is that it doesn’t have many themes to apply in the slides, due to which it may look sort of a little plain.

In this article, we will walk through the different methods used for creating interactive slideshows in Jupyter Notebook like through RISE, with Jupyter’s built-in slideshow feature, Jupyter widgets, and ipywidgets and voila and voila-reveal. Also, we will read about the importance of creating interactive slideshows, how to customize our slides in the slideshows, and the processes involved in exporting the slideshow.

Now, coming to the basic query to ask everyone, and which every individual has in their mind is

Why Interactive SlideShow?

Some of the reasons why interactive slideshows are appreciated are mentioned below:

1. It easily helps in capturing audiences’ attention because of its interactive clickable elements, colours, images, videos, etc. making the presentation more memorable.

2. Users can delve further into data visualizations, charts, and graphs in interactive slideshows for data-driven presentations. To acquire deeper insights, they might filter data or zoom in on particular data points.

3. Interactive slideshows possess features like surveys and quizzes to collect feedback and gauge audience comprehension in real-time, which can be useful for training or instructional purposes.

4. Presenters can adapt their information to their audience’s demands by using interactive slideshows. Users can take their own route through the content by concentrating on the subjects that are most interesting or important to them, creating a more individualized experience.