Editorial Monocle deck skill
You are designing a presentation, not writing a research report. Each
slide carries one idea. Visual structure carries the narrative.
How this skill is invoked
The user typed something like "make a deck about X" inside openkb chat.
You have wiki-read tools in your normal tool set, plus a write_file
tool that can write under output/**, plus a shell tool you can use to
read this SKILL.md and any files in skills/openkb-deck-editorial/ if
needed.
Pick a kebab-case slug for the deck (e.g. transformers-pitch) and
write the output to output/decks/<slug>/index.html.
Required output
Exactly one file: output/decks/<slug>/index.html.
It must be self-contained: no external <link rel="stylesheet">,
no external <script src="…">, no remote <img>. All CSS goes in a
single inline <style> in <head>. Helper JS for keyboard navigation
goes in a single inline <script> at end of <body>.
The body is a sequence of <section class="slide" data-type="...">
blocks. Each data-type must be one of the 7 values listed in §
"Slide grammar" below. The deck supports keyboard navigation: ← / →
move between slides, F toggles fullscreen, P triggers print.
Design system: Editorial Monocle
Use this fixed design system. Do not improvise nearby colors, do not
introduce gradients, do not bring in emojis. This is the only
non-monochrome palette in the entire deck.
Color palette
:root {
--bg: #f3eee1; /* oklch(94% 0.03 80) — warm cream paper */
--ink: #1a1612; /* oklch(15% 0.01 50) — warm near-black */
--muted: #7a6e55; /* oklch(55% 0.04 75) — labels / metadata */
--rule: #d4cfc0; /* oklch(82% 0.02 75) — thin separator */
--accent: #a4341c; /* oklch(45% 0.16 30) — brick red, the ONLY non-monochrome */
--highlight: #fff3a8; /* oklch(95% 0.10 95) — marker highlighter ONLY */
}
Type system
font-family-serif: "Charter", "Iowan Old Style", "Times New Roman", Georgia, serif;
font-family-sans: "Inter", -apple-system, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; /* labels only */
Type scale (size / line-height / letter-spacing):
--type-display: 56px / 1.05 / -1px — cover/chapter big titles--type-title: 38px / 1.10 / -0.5px — normal slide titles--type-body: 18px / 1.55 / 0 — body copy--type-quote: 28px / 1.30 / -0.3px italic — pull quotes--type-label: 10px / 1.0 / 2.5px uppercase — top/bottom label tracks
Frame (every slide)
- 16:9 aspect ratio:
aspect-ratio: 16/9; width: 100vw; max-width: 1280px;
- Per-slide padding: 64px top/bottom, 80px left/right.
- 10px brick-red bar on the right edge of every slide. The deck's
visual signature. 4px reads as invisible at presentation scale.
- Top label row: left = chapter id (e.g. "CHAPTER 03"), right = source mark.
- Bottom folio row: left =
N / Total, right = source short label.
Composition rules
- Cover title (
.display) must use max-width: 18ch (NOT 10ch).
Never wrap an article ("the", "an", "to") onto its own line.
- Data slides must center the big number horizontally on the slide
(
.data-body { align-items: center; text-align: center } for
data-type="data" only — leave other slide types left-aligned).
Body copy beneath stays centered, max-width 38em.
- Cover and closing slides:
.cover-body, .closing-body { max-width: 26em }.
Keyboard nav hint
.kbd { opacity: 0; transition: opacity .25s ease; }
body:hover .kbd { opacity: .55; }
Slide grammar (7 permitted data-type values)
data-type | Use | Visual signature |
|---|
cover | First slide: tag + huge title + 1-line subtitle | Display type, left-aligned, never centered |
chapter | Section divider: oversize number + chapter name | Number 120px brick-red, name 38px serif |
thesis | A single claim + a short explanation | Title fills ~60% height, explanation small bottom |
quote | Italic pull-quote + attribution | Centered, serif italic 28px, generous whitespace |
compare | Two-column comparison: header + 3-5 lines each side | 1px brick-red vertical rule between columns |
data | One number + label + one-line interpretation | Number 120-160px brick-red, micro-copy 12px |
closing | Mirrors cover; thanks / next steps | Same scale as cover but content closes the arc |
Cover/closing exception: the cover and closing slides have no
chapter context, so the top-left label is the deck identifier
("OPENKB") instead of a CHAPTER NN id.
Working method
- Survey first. Use your wiki-read tools to list
concepts/ and
summaries/, and read wiki/index.md. Form a mental map before
committing to what the deck argues.
- Choose a narrative arc. Write a one-line thesis, then an 8-12
step arc (problem → tension → resolution, or whatever shape the
intent calls for). Each step becomes 1-2 slides, landing the final
deck in the 8-15 range required by §Self-check.
- Read the relevant content. For each concept the arc touches,
read the concept page. For each document a concept cites, read at
least one targeted slice of the source. This is where the
specific arguments, named techniques, worked examples, and
counter-cases live. The deck is only as expert as the depth of
source reading you do here. Generic restatements of the topic are
a failure mode — your deck will read as a definition-grade
summary, not an expert briefing.
- Outline the slides. Map each step to one or more slides with
concrete
data-type assignments. Vary data-type — at least 4
distinct types, no run of 3+ consecutive same type.
- Write
output/decks/<slug>/index.html in one write_file
call. Inline all CSS, inline the keyboard nav JS, use inline
<svg> only for any graphics (v1 does not embed bitmap images).
- Revise. Re-read against §Failure modes below; touch at least
one slide if anything matches.
- Self-check the 5 invariants in §Self-check; fix anything that
fails.
- Report back to the user with: the deck path and a one-line summary
of the arc you chose.
Failure modes (negative checklist)
- Bullet dump — slide with > 5 bullet points. Cut to 3 strongest
or restructure into a
compare / data slide.
- Wall of text — slide body > ~80 words. Cut, or split.
- Visual monotony — 3+ consecutive slides with the same
data-type.
- Centered everything — only
quote and closing are centered.
- AI slop palette — any color outside the 6-value palette: no
blue/purple gradients, no emoji, no rainbow accents.
- Generic titles — "Introduction" / "Background" / "Conclusion"
as a slide title. Title must carry specific content.
- Definition-grade content — slide body is just "X is Y where Y
is …" with no named technique, no number, no concrete example, no
quote from the source. If you can't name something specific on a
slide, the wiki may not have the depth — re-read the source pages
(step 3) before settling for a definition.
Self-check (before reporting back)
- Does
output/decks/<slug>/index.html exist and contain no external
<link> or <script src=>?
- Is there at least one
data-type="cover" and one
data-type="closing"?
- Is the total slide count between 8 and 15?
- Are at least 4 distinct
data-type values used?
- Is there no run of 3+ consecutive slides with the same
data-type?
If any answer is no, revise and re-run this self-check.