Grey Wolf's Scouts Beamer Theme.

By Mike Jones, [email protected]
AKA Grey Wolf [email protected]
[23rd Manchester (Birch with Fallowfield)][23MCR]
[23MCR]: https://mansouthscouts.org.uk/our-groups/23rdManchester

Overview

The purpose of this theme is to facilitate the making of Scout presentations using free and open source software, in this case LaTeX. It follows, as closely as I was reasonably able to, the Scout Association's PowerPoint template. Users of this template/beamer theme should be able to produce PDF documents, by default in widescreen format (16x9) with the font, colours and layout matching those in the guidelines published by the Scout Brand Centre.

How did this theme come about? Well if you really want to know, I have written some slides about writing some slides for a 23rd Manchester all-section online group meeting we had over Summer 2020. You should find a PDF file along with this distribution.

The PDF is compiled from the file main.tex and also contains instructions on how to use this theme as well as a number of other examples.

I have taken the liberty to apply some corrections to the Office 365 rendering of the POT file before transcribing it into this LaTeX theme. In some places O365 appears to make poor font substitutions and font weight selection which didn't appear to render correctly my browser or export correctly to PDF. Where this has happened I have referred to the Scouts brand for guidance.

Oh, and please remember that LaTeX and Beamer are not tools to replicate Microsoft, they are a whole different kettle of fish. While it is possible to replicate using LaTeX and Beamer any static slide deck created with such tooling, it might take hours, days, months to get it pixel perfect. There will therefore be differences between slide decks generated with this theme and those generated using the Scout Brand Centre's PowerPoint template. Heck different versions of PowerPoint render slides differently. They do this in what I like to call a WYSINWYG environment.

Package Contents

In the top level directory

./main.tex : This is the primary file which can be compiled using the command: latexmk. It contains the directives to load this "scouts" Beamer theme and other basic headers in what LaTeX calls the preamble. Then it has the content based instructions between the \begin{document} and \end{document} labels. Those describe what and how to draw the slides (frames) and also, as in this case, potentially link to other files with other content to include.

./latexmkrc : This is a configuration file containing instructions on how to compile the LaTeX code relating to this theme. All the necessary additional fonts logos and code for this theme are contained within a copy of the Tex Directory Structure (TDS) packaged up with this bundle. In this latexmkrc file the latexmk executable reads the location where everything required has been stashed. latexmk is the automation tool that handles the building of the document.

: The online cloud based LaTeX editing and rendering site overleaf.com uses this method to compile LaTeX documents. This template has been tested on Grey Wolk's Ubuntu 18 laptop and in Overleaf's environment.

./scouttemplate.tex : This file contains content and rendering instructions to reasonably recreate the [Scout Brand Centre's PowerPoint-template/POT][SBCPOT]
[SBCPOT]: https://scoutsbrand.org.uk/catalogue/item/scouts-powerpoint-template

./colours.tex : This file demonstrates base colours as defined in the theme. It is just a collection of simple content executed over a loop of changing colour themes. See the \changecolours[]{} macro for details about colour themes.

./euclid.tex : This file contains a walk-through of the Euclid example from [the Beamer documentation][Beamer]
[Beamer]: http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/beameruserguide.pdf

./media/ : The media directory contains the images extracted directly from the Scouts PowerPoint template (see above). Note that the Scout Branding Template uses a background image the size of the slide, whereas Grey Wolf's Scouts Beamer Theme includes the image but truncates it in the code allowing images to be placed with any appropriate colour theme choices. See the macro \bgimage[]{} for details.

./texmf/ : The texmf directory is where all the theme files are placed as per the [Tex Directory Structure][TDS]
[TDS]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX_Directory_Structure "TDS on wikipedia"

./README.md : This file.

./LICENCE : A file describing the licence applied to all software in this package developed for Grey Wolf's Beamer Theme not already covered by its own licence statement.

./LICENSE : A symlink to LICENCE

./gpl-3.0.md : The GNU General Public License licence, version 3

In the local Tex Directory Structure

./texmf/beamerthemescouts.sty : This .sty file sets up Grey Wolf's Scouts Beamer Theme. It loads the inner, outer, font and 'color' parts of the theme setup. These have been used somewhat haphazardly used and as such may not work in the usual separate way one expects. It could have been separated better, granted, however this theme is not designed to work as part of a multi-theme setup so this does not present an immediate problem. Additionally, this .sty file additionally loads a number of other beamerscouts .sty files which contain macros used by this theme.

./texmf/beamercolorthemescouts.sty : This .sty file the colours used in Grey Wolf's Scouts Beamer Theme. These are the RGB hex encoded colours as defined in [Brand Guidelines May 2018][SBCGuide]

./texmf/beamerinnerthemescouts.sty : This is Grey Wolf's Scouts Beamer inner theme definition. It contains the configuration for the \titlepage macro. It attempts to place the following macros (if defined) on the Title Page when rendered:

1. \title: Attempts to place the title in a similar way to the Do more. Share more. Be more. in the PowerPoint template example.
2. \subtitle: If defined places the subtitle below the title.
3. \author and/or \institute are placed as per the PPT template.
4. Additionally a date (either \today or \date) is placed in the footer. Grey Wolf believes that a date should always be included in a presentation file for context.

./texmf/beamerouterthemescouts.sty : Here the logos for use in the head and footlines are defined, also the frametitle and frametitle continuation templates. The navigation symbols are deactivated here too. Grey Wolf prefers to use the PDF viewers tools. I dare say you can comment out the line: : \defbeamertemplate*{navigation symbols}{scouts}{} : if you wish

./texmf/beamerfontthemescouts.sty : While the font family is already set in the setup file The font sizes need to be defined. This is done here using the \pptratio scaling factor defined in ./texmf/beamerthemescouts.sty

./texmf/beamerscoutschangecolours.sty : Provides three macros:

• \changecolours[]{}
• \headervisibility[] and
• \togglecolours

: See the example .tex files for usage.

./texmf/beamerscoutslogo.sty : Provides the \logoslide[] macro. See the example .tex files for usage.

./texmf/beamerscoutsbgimage.sty : The \bgimage[]{} macro causes a background image to be shipped to the {current} or following frames.

./texmf/beamerscoutsitemseps.sty : The \itemseps[] macro allows the user to change the spacing in numbered/unnumbered lists: The \itemise and \enumerate environments.

./texmf/beamerscoutstwocolframe.sty : This macro created a convenient way to make slides with two columns similar to the slides in the Scout Brand Centre's examples. A more powerful tool might be LaTeX's multicol environment.

./texmf/fonts/truetype/NunitoSans/nunito-sans.zip : The [Nunito Sans TrueType font][NSTTF] distribution archive.
[NSTTF]: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Nunito+Sans

./texmf/fonts/truetype/NunitoSans/OFL.txt : A local copy of [the Nunito Sans TrueType font licence][NSL]
[NSL]: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Nunito+Sans#license

./texmf/fonts/truetype/NunitoSans/OS2v3/* : Modified versions of the Nunito Sans font. FontForge was used to downgrade the OS/2 Table to version 3. See the corresponding [README.md][OS2v3] file for details. Manifest: NunitoSansOS2v3-BlackItalic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-Black.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-BoldItalic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-Bold.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-ExtraBoldItalic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-ExtraBold.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-ExtraLightItalic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-ExtraLight.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-Italic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-LightItalic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-Light.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-Regular.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-SemiBoldItalic.ttf, NunitoSansOS2v3-SemiBold.ttf [OS2v3]: ./texmf/fonts/truetype/NunitoSans/OS2v3/README.md

./fonts/tfm/NunitoSansOS2v3/* : Generated Tex Font Metric files. Manifest: nunbit8t.tfm, nunbn8t.tfm, nunebit8t.tfm, nunebn8t.tfm, nunelit8t.tfm, nuneln8t.tfm, nunlit8t.tfm, nunln8t.tfm, nunmit8t.tfm, nunmn8t.tfm, nunsbit8t.tfm, nunsbn8t.tfm, nunubit8t.tfm, nunubn8t.tfm

./texmf/tex/latex/psnfss/T1nun.fd : Font definition file for the use of the Nunito Sans OS2v3 TTF fonts listed above.

./texmf/tex/latex/psnfss/NunitoSansOS2v3.sty : Package to enable the loading of the Nunito Sans OS2v3 font family.

./texmf/tex/generic/images/Branding/Logos/RGB/* : The logos as obtained from the Scout Branding Centre https://scoutsbrand.org.uk/catalogue/category/digital/logos Due to there being some logos generated with borders and some without; some in CMYK and others in RGB, I have created RGB versions and stripped the borders for spacing consistency. NB there are strict branding rules on the spacing and use of scout logos please respect these.

: Edit (2021-02-15) Since writing this README file the Scout Brand Centre has published some of the logos in a publicly accessible archive: https://docs.scoutsbrand.org.uk/logos.zip along with the general guidelines https://docs.scoutsbrand.org.uk/guidelines.pdf. This theme will, however, continue to use the derived RGB borderless logos for technical reasons. The publication of these logos is very welcome as it makes publishing this theme clearer.

Installation

This package is designed to be installed in a standalone location or used via a cloud service such as overleaf.com. While it is possible to install the theme and its dependencies in the TDS, that was certainly not the intention. To install issue the following command:

git clone https://github.com/nimpo/GreyWolfsScoutsBeamerTheme.git

To view the Git Repository online visit https://github.com/nimpo/GreyWolfsScoutsBeamerTheme.

Package requirements and licence overview

The package contains, requires or has made use of other software. These are discussed below.

0. LaTeX
1. Beamer
2. Fonts
3. Scouts Branding
4. Code produced for this project
5. Acknowledgements

LaTeX

duh!
I expect if you plan to use this theme you will already have an installation of LaTeX either locally or via a cloud service such as https://overleaf.com/.

Beamer

Grey Wolf's Scout Beamer Theme is a third party Beamer theme. Beamer itself is part of the standard LaTeX distribution available online here: https://ctan.org/pkg/beamer. Beamer and it documentation is distributed under the following Licences:

• Free Documentation License
• GNU General Public License, version 2 or newer
• The LATEX Project Public License 1.3c

Font

The fonts chosen and supplied for use in this project are those specified by The Scout Association's branding guidelines: the Nunito Sans family has been chosen because it can be used at no cost and suits the chosen style.

It was necessary to create a modified version of the Nunito Sans TTF to enable them to work with this software. This was a two step process:

1. Downgrade the OS/2 table
2. Convert to Adobe Type 1 postscript in order to create the TFM files The Derived TTF files are used in the output PDF.

Nunito Sans was originally created by Vernon Adams and later extended by Jacques Le Bailly. The T1 fonts for use with (PDF)LaTeX were converted to Adobe Type 1 from TrueType format by Mike Jones using a mixture of tools including but not limited to [FontForge][FF] and various tools from the [FreeType 1][FT1] package. [FF]: https://fontforge.org/ [FT1]: https://www.freetype.org/

Nunito Sans is distributed by Google as a TrueType Font and is freely available under the terms of the SIL Open Font License licence See: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Nunito+Sans#license and https://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=OFL

The Scout Association and its branding

The Scout Association rebranded in 2018. Here's a blog post about that: https://www.scouts.org.uk/news/2018/may/a-vibrant-new-brand-and-identity-for-the-scouts/

You can read about the specifics of the new brand here (provided you have access) in the [Brand Guidelines May 2018][SBCGuide]. (Edit 2021-02-15 [Publicly available version here][SBCGuide2].) [SBCGuide]: https://scoutsbrand.org.uk/catalogue/category/digital/guidelines [SBCGuide2]: https://docs.scoutsbrand.org.uk/guidelines.pdf

Use of the Scout Association logos and the various section logos and Fleur-de-lis etc. is covered by the licensing rules in section 14 of the POR, [Rule 147][POR147]. [POR147]: https://www.scouts.org.uk/por/14-other-matters/rule-147-protected-scout-logos-names-badges-and-awards/

This project

When the beamer documentclass is used and this theme is selected the default font will be switched to Nunito Sans, various macros will be loaded and the default colour scheme, "ScoutPurple," will be selected.

All of this software not already covered by its own or derived licence is released under the terms of the GNU GPL v3 License licence.

Acknowledgements

(These people helped although they don't know it.)

Damir Rakityansky [email protected] I leaned heavily on [these instructions][TTFT1] on how to convert TTF into T1. This wasn't an easy process but I found that I kept returning to Damir's notes and would not have managed to create the TTF fonts without them. [TTFT1]: http://www.radamir.com/tex/ttf-tex.htm

Jerome Belleman [email protected] who provided the [CERN Beamer template][CERN]. I started here as this was the kind of theme that best lent itself to the kind of template as specified by the Scout Brand Centre examples. In the end I rewrote the whole template from scratch, but I learned much from Jerome's theme. [CERN]: https://github.com/jeromebelleman/beamer-cern

And these were useful Stack Exchanges.

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/204010/conditionally-print-subsection-in-beamer#483337
Davy Gillebert

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/225736/latex-beamer-define-itemsep-globally#225737
Gonzalo Medina

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/192686/hyperref-warning-caused-by-beamer-appendix#192689
Sam Carter

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/5285/tableofcontents-from-part-commands-in-beamer#5418
Ulrich Schwarz

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/16866/how-can-i-use-footnotemark-with-a-ref-argument
"Mostly Harmless"

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/76273/multiple-pdfs-with-page-group-included-in-a-single-page-warning#78020
Martin Schröder

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/378307/advanced-string-highlighting-in-listings#378367
"SDF"

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/26828/first-line-number-in-lstinputlisting-environment#27240
"Werner"

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/467672/problems-with-fragile-frames-in-beamer#467675
"TeXnician"

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/306396/paracol-how-to-reset-footnote-counter-every-page#306405
"Sr. Schnider"