firebird-slides

A presentation template and theme for the HKUST Firebird CTF team internal training. Built on touying.

Every component is rendered in examples/showcase.typ and documented with images in USAGE.md.

Quick setup

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/FirebirdHK/typst
cd typst
pkg="$(typst info 2>&1 | sed -n 's/^[[:space:]]*Package path[[:space:]]*//p')/preview/firebird-slides"
mkdir -p "$pkg" && ln -sfn "$PWD" "$pkg/0.3.0"

The submodules bring the BlobCats art; an existing clone catches up with git submodule update --init. The link makes the working copy the package, so edits to lib.typ reach every deck on the next compile. If IBM Plex is not installed system-wide, add --font-path vendor/fonts — see Fonts.

Minimal deck

Copy template/main.typ, or start from this:

#import "@preview/firebird-slides:0.3.0": *

#show: firebird.with(
  title: "Elliptic curves without the jargon",
  subtitle: "Why a 256-bit key is not 256 bits of work",
  authors: ("Wyli (wyli)",),
  helpers: ("Robin (mango)",),
)

#title-slide()
#toc-slide()

#section-slide("Groups", subtitle: "The only algebra you need today")

#slide(title: "Claim in the title, evidence in the body")[
  - One idea per line.
  - #strong[Strong] for the phrase you want remembered.
  - Inline math $c = m xor k$ flows inline.
]

#end-slide(lines: ("Next session: ...",))

Compiling

typst compile deck.typ        # PDF next to the source
typst watch deck.typ          # recompile on save

Decks import the package by name, so this works from any directory with no flags. The showcase built from the latest main: showcase.pdf.

Configuration

firebird.with(...) sets up the whole deck:

Parameter	Default	Controls
title, subtitle	none	cover title; title also names the deck in metadata
course	"COMP2633 …"	right side of the running header
authors, helpers	()	cover lines — presenter(s), then helper(s)
credits	()	short attributions under the helpers on the cover
date	auto	today's date; pass any content to pin it
aspect	"16:9"	or "4:3"
body-size	19.5pt	the whole type scale derives from it
sans, mono, serif	IBM Plex stacks	font stacks per voice
display	"sans"	"serif" moves cover, section and slide titles to the serif voice
raw-theme	"assets/firebird.tmTheme"	syntax-highlighting theme for code
debug, gate	auto	same as --input debug=true / gate=true (see Verifying)
handout	false	collapses every overlay to its final state

Overlays

#pause splits a slide into subslides; #uncover(n), #only(n) and #speaker-note[…] place content per step; firebird.with(handout: true) collapses every overlay. Everything else is touying's.

Components

Component	Use
slide(body, title:, subtitle:, center:, header:, footer:)	every content slide
title-slide(), toc-slide(), section-slide(), subsection-slide(), end-slide()	deck furniture
bio-slide(name, discord:, photo:)	the speaker
admin-slide(items, title:, note:, qr:)	weekly attendance / exercise / homework schedule
credits-slide(entries, title:, note:)	attributions
challenge-slide(kind, name, deadline:, links:)	a scored challenge with its links card
definition, exercise, claim, remark, theorem, example, proof, insight, warning	callouts
code(src, lang:, file:, lines:)	syntax-highlighted code with a file bar
terminal(src, title:)	a shell session
cols(a, b, ratio:)	two columns — prose beside code or a figure
keyeq($ … $, note:)	the one equation that matters, boxed
quote(attribution:)	serif block quote
data-table(headers, rows, columns:, mono:)	no-rules table, zebra rows
image-slide(), image-row(), meme()	pictures, with captions
inline-code("x"), pill[LABEL]	inline snippet / chip
serif[…]	the serif voice inline

Rendered examples: USAGE.md.

Blobcats

BlobCats (Apache-2.0) ship as a git submodule; #blobcat("party") puts one on the text baseline:

Deploy succeeded #blobcat("party")
#blobcat-wall(("party", "sip", "melt", "uwu"), cols: 4, size: 54pt)

Names ignore case, spaces, _ and a leading BlobCat; a wrong name fails the compile with its best guesses. #blobcat-list() lists all 209.

Verifying your deck

--input debug=true draws the body box and overflow badges; --input gate=true fails the compile, naming the slide. The three checks CI runs:

typst compile --input gate=true examples/showcase.typ
typst compile --input gate=true template/main.typ
typst compile tests/contrast.typ

Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md.

Fonts

One family, three voices, bundled in vendor/fonts (SIL OFL):

Voice	Family	Used for
sans	IBM Plex Sans	body, titles, callout heads, tables
mono	IBM Plex Mono	code, terminals, file names
serif	IBM Plex Serif	block quotes, #serif[…] accents

typst compile --font-path vendor/fonts deck.typ   # per command
TYPST_FONT_PATHS=$PWD/vendor/fonts typst watch deck.typ
cp vendor/fonts/*/*.ttf ~/Library/Fonts/          # system-wide

display: "serif" moves the titles to the serif voice.