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What is reveal.js?

hakimel/reveal.js — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-20

71,135JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

In one sentence

Reveal.js lets you build slide deck presentations using HTML and Markdown that run directly in a web browser, with transitions, speaker notes, and code highlighting built in.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((reveal.js))
    What it does
      HTML slide decks
      Browser presentations
      Speaker notes
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      HTML and CSS
      No build step
    Use cases
      Tech conference talks
      Online presentations
      Code demos
    Audience
      Developers
      Technical speakers
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Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Create a technical conference talk as an HTML file with syntax-highlighted code blocks, smooth transitions, and a speaker notes view.

USE CASE 2

Write slide content in Markdown and publish the presentation as a web page that anyone can view in a browser without special software.

USE CASE 3

Build a live demo presentation that embeds runnable code examples or iframes directly inside slides.

USE CASE 4

Version-control a presentation as plain text files and collaborate on it via Git like any other code project.

What is it built with?

JavaScriptHTMLCSS

How does it compare?

hakimel/reveal.jsexpressjs/expressjuliangarnier/anime
Stars71,13568,99367,850
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audiencedeveloperdevelopervibe coder

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Licensed under the MIT License, which lets you use, modify, and distribute it freely for any purpose including commercial use.

So what is it?

Reveal.js is an open-source HTML presentation framework that lets you build slide decks entirely in a web browser using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Instead of creating presentations in PowerPoint or Keynote, you write your slides as HTML pages and reveal.js handles all the slide navigation, transitions, and visual layout. The result runs in any browser, making it easy to share or host presentations online without needing specialized software. The framework works by organizing your content into slides defined with HTML tags. You link the reveal.js library into your page and it handles turning those elements into a navigable slideshow. Slides are arranged in a two-dimensional grid, meaning you can navigate horizontally through topics and vertically through sub-slides within each topic. Key features described in the README include Markdown support (so you can write slide content in plain text rather than raw HTML), Auto-Animate for smooth transitions between slides, PDF export for offline sharing, a speaker notes view for presenting, LaTeX support for math notation, and syntax-highlighted code blocks. There is also an extensive JavaScript API for programmatic control. A companion commercial product called Slides.com provides a graphical drag-and-drop editor built on top of the same framework for people who prefer not to write HTML. You would use reveal.js when you want a presentation that lives on the web, integrates code examples, has version-controlled content (since it is just text files), or needs features that traditional slideshow tools do not easily support. Developers often prefer it for technical talks. The tech stack is plain JavaScript with no build step required for basic use, you simply include the library in an HTML file. It is MIT-licensed.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Create a reveal.js presentation with three horizontal topic slides, where the second topic has two vertical sub-slides. Include a syntax-highlighted JavaScript code block on the last slide.
Prompt 2
Show me how to write all my reveal.js slide content in external Markdown files and link them into the presentation instead of writing raw HTML.
Prompt 3
Add speaker notes to my reveal.js slides and show me how to open the presenter view so I can see my notes on one screen while the audience sees the slides on another.
Prompt 4
Configure reveal.js Auto-Animate to smoothly move a heading element from the left side of one slide to the center of the next slide.
Prompt 5
Set up reveal.js to export my presentation as a PDF so I can share it with people who do not have internet access.

Frequently asked questions

What is reveal.js?

Reveal.js lets you build slide deck presentations using HTML and Markdown that run directly in a web browser, with transitions, speaker notes, and code highlighting built in.

What language is reveal.js written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript, HTML, CSS.

What license does reveal.js use?

Licensed under the MIT License, which lets you use, modify, and distribute it freely for any purpose including commercial use.

How hard is reveal.js to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is reveal.js for?

Mainly developer.

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