Split single presentation in multiple markdown files?

[Ezwen]

At the moment one entire presentation must be defined in a unique .md file.

Could we imagine a feature to split the content of a presentation in multiple .md files that would get automatically merged when doing serve or export?

thanks again for backslide, i'm really loving it so far

[sinedied]

It would not be too hard to use a preprocessor for that, but why would you want to split each slide in a different file?

[Ezwen]

I would not go as far as splitting each slide in a separate file, but I would really enjoy having each "part" of a presentation in a different file, especially for long talks (~40 slides).

I tend to lose myself in my markdown code when searching for a specific slide, so if I could first open the file corresponding to the part containing the slide, then look for the slide in this subset, that would make my life easier :)

But if such a workflow is too specific to my individual case, I would fully understand that you would rather not consider having such a feature.

[sinedied]

Ok, I understand now 😄
I don't think it would be too difficult to have a preprocessor grouping files following a naming scheme like file-1.md file-2.md etc into a single one, I'm currently low on free time to implement this but I would gladly accept a PR.

I'm working on a complete rewrite of the tool (branch feature/refactor) to make preprocessor/transformers more easy to write, and even at some point support plugins, that may help in the future.

[jronallo]

👍 for preprocessors/transformers. I'd be interested in being able to use shortcodes and templates to minimize some of the markup I need to include in markdown files to get different layouts. Adding the ability to preprocess those would allow me to make my slide decks more readable.

In the past I've broken up long slide decks into separate markdown files. It can be especially helpful during that drafting stage. Since then I've found that using an editor that has an outline to the side has minimized my need for such a feature, though it would still be useful at times.