Graham M Smith wrote:
Paul
Any particular reason you are switching to the article class for
handouts, as opposed to using the handout option in the class options
field?
Mmmm,
I'm not switching to the article class, I'm switching to the "article
(Beamer)" class. I realise now that I described this as "beamer article"
class in my original post.
That's ok, I understood what you meant -- just not why you did it. I
don't use article (Beamer), but my impression is that it's purpose is to
facilitate turning a slideshow into a paper (either after the fact or in
parallel development). I don't think it's really intended to reproduce
slides in slide-like form (although I could be wrong), and in any case
it seems to be overkill for handouts (unless maybe you mean to annotate
the handouts a fair bit).
However, I can't see a handout option under class options assuming this
is meant to be under Document settings|document class.
You have to fill it in.
The document class options predefined is ticked but greyed out with [No
options predefined] in the field.
This is when Document Class "presentation(Beamer)" is selected.
Am I in the wrong place? A simple handout option would be nice. This is
1.6.2 on Ubuntu 9.04
You're in the right place but perhaps misunderstanding the dialog a bit.
The grayed-out box is for options that were preselected (which I
suspect means forced on you) by the layout file. Grayed out is a good
thing IMHO -- it means all the options are up to you.
The "Custom" box beneath it is where you specify class options of your
choosing, by typing them in (the same way you would if you were using
straight LaTeX). It presumes that you know what options work with the
class you chose.
In this case, just type the word 'handout' (no quotes) in the "Custom"
field and then View->PDF (pdflatex). What you get is a bunch of slides,
one per page, same margins as the original. The main differences are
that overlays and sequential alerting are eliminated. So, for instance,
if you have a slide with five bullets, each in a separate overlay, that
was five pages in the original PDF but one page (all bullets showing) in
the handout version.
It's common to want to print multiple slides on one page for handouts.
That's usually best accomplished in the printer settings or in the
viewer. For instance, if you use Acrobat Reader, File > Print has a
'Page scaling' entry that lets yo specify multiple pages per sheet.
Pretty much the same story if you use Evince (aka 'Document Viewer') --
look at the 'Page Setup tab' in the print dialog, 'Pages per side'.
I'm not sure, but I think Beamer even includes some macros that can add
annotations/notes to slides that will display in handout mode (if that's
important to you). Personally, I usually just pass out the slides
themselves, one or two slides per sheet (four per sheet works if your
audience has good eyesight and no intention of taking notes on the slides).
/Paul
