MagicPoint is one of several open-sourcepresentation programs,[2] often used to produce slides for conferences.[3] Unlike most presentation programs, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, where a GUI is used to create slides, MagicPoint slides are created by writing text files using a simple markup language. The resulting file is then displayed with MagicPoint's X11-based viewer.
MagicPoint was originally created in the autumn of 1997, at a WIDE Project camp. It was originally known as tp, standing for TinyPoint,[4] but in December the name was changed to MagicPoint.[5]
Content is written in text files and formatting is indicated by text features. For example, different level bullet points can be created by simply indenting the text with tabs[6]
Another feature of MagicPoint is the ability to draw on slides during a presentation.[2] By pressing x on the keyboard, the slide can temporarily be scribbled on with red "ink". Shift x allows you to cycle through other pen colours.
