openkb-deck-editorial

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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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).
6. Revise. Re-read against §Failure modes below; touch at least one slide if anything matches.
7. Self-check the 5 invariants in §Self-check; fix anything that fails.
8. Report back to the user with: the deck path and a one-line summary of the arc you chose.

Failure modes (negative checklist)

1. Bullet dump — slide with > 5 bullet points. Cut to 3 strongest or restructure into a compare / data slide.
2. Wall of text — slide body > ~80 words. Cut, or split.
3. Visual monotony — 3+ consecutive slides with the same data-type.
4. Centered everything — only quote and closing are centered.
5. AI slop palette — any color outside the 6-value palette: no blue/purple gradients, no emoji, no rainbow accents.
6. Generic titles — "Introduction" / "Background" / "Conclusion" as a slide title. Title must carry specific content.
7. 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)

1. Does output/decks/<slug>/index.html exist and contain no external <link> or <script src=>?
2. Is there at least one data-type="cover" and one data-type="closing"?
3. Is the total slide count between 8 and 15?
4. Are at least 4 distinct data-type values used?
5. 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.