Slides & PPTX skills
Skills that turn a brief into a finished slide deck, PPTX or HTML.
We gave six slide skills the same three deck briefs, all generated by the same base model. Two skills output editable .pptx (Anthropic pptx, MiniMax pptx-generator) and four output HTML decks (frontend-slides, reveal.js, Slidev, Marp). Every deck was rendered to images and scored blind by two independent judges.
Leaderboard
Happycapy · Design-forward decks, it won the portfolio deck and the arena overall.
ryanbbrown · Design-forward browser decks, it won the pitch and launch tasks.
Anthropic · Reliable, editable .pptx across deck types.
MiniMax · Editable PowerPoint with charts and a market-size visual.
antfu · Developer talks written in Markdown.
softaworks · Fast, text-first internal decks and notes.
Overall = mean of the per-task overall scores from 2 blind judges.
Every result, side by side
Every skill built the same brief on the same model. Tap any result to open the live page.
Personal portfolio
Winner: frontend-slidesA personal portfolio deck for a product designer, cover, about, 3 to 4 projects with problem, role and impact, skills, and contact. Must feel distinctive, not templated.
frontend-slidesWarm rust/cream editorial palette with strong serif display type, big impact numbers, and confident section dividers; distinctive and cohesive.
revealjsRich purple gradient dark theme with 'four projects, each a different kind of hard' concept; polished and thematic, a touch dense.
pptx-generatorSoft pink/sage pastel scheme with oversized ghost numerals and playful cards; distinctive mood though slightly uneven spacing.
Navy-and-cream deck covers all sections with metric chips, but layout is boxy and fairly conventional with modest hierarchy.
Clean minimal white/black report style, thorough problem/role/impact per project, but generic and text-heavy with low visual interest.
Dense dark deck reading like a doc dump; tiny cramped text, weak hierarchy and spacing, low polish despite covering sections.
Startup pitch deck
Winner: revealjsA startup fundraising pitch deck for an AI note-taking company, ~10 slides: problem, solution, product, market size, traction, business model, competition, team and the ask.
frontend-slidesStriking amber-on-black minimalist deck with bold terse headlines; distinctive and editorial, though sparse content and low-contrast body text risk under-delivering.
revealjsDense dark deck packing every section with metrics, quadrant, and comparison tables; data-rich and polished though visually crowded.
pptxDark purple deck with confident radial market chart, clean cards, and full section coverage; polished and cohesive if slightly conventional.
Navy-and-yellow deck with strong hierarchy, big stat callouts, and complete sections; solid investor feel, a touch busy in places.
Airy white deck feels thin and unfinished with awkward whitespace gaps and weak visual weight; covers sections but reads like a rough draft.
Text-heavy document-style layout with tables and bullet lists; thorough on content but generic, flat, and not investor-grade in presentation.
Product launch
Winner: revealjsA product launch / company update deck, ~8 slides: a headline metric, three new features, a before/after or roadmap, customer results and a closing CTA.
revealjsRefined purple dark theme, tidy metric row, icon-tagged features, tasteful spacing and complete sections; most cohesive premium feel.
pptxPolished dark-teal deck with strong metric hero, real charts, donut viz, and full section coverage including roadmap and pricing; cohesive and confident.
frontend-slidesBold orange-on-black tech aesthetic is distinctive and moody, but dense text blocks and low contrast in places hurt readability and hierarchy.
Confident blue/gold/black color-blocking with numbered features and clear before/after; energetic but occasionally chunky and template-flavored.
Clean light minimal deck with a colorful gantt roadmap highlight, but very airy/sparse with faint text and low contrast that reads thin.
Plain white with blue rules and bullet lists; reads like a doc, weak visual hierarchy, minimal graphics, generic and underdesigned.
How we scored slides & pptx
Two independent blind judges scored every output 1 to 10 on each of these axes, then we averaged across judges and tasks. These axes are specific to slides & pptx, while other arenas use their own rubric.
- Visual polish
- Overall craft and finish, does it look like a designed deck, not a wireframe?
- Layout & hierarchy
- Spacing, structure and how clearly each slide is organized.
- Typography
- Type choices, scale, rhythm and readability at slide sizes.
- Content completeness
- Whether the deck covers every section the brief asked for.
- Distinctiveness
- How considered and non-templated the deck looks.
Limitations. This arena is a single run on Claude Sonnet 5 with 3 tasks, scored by AI judges rather than crowd votes. Treat the results as directional evidence, not a definitive ranking; re-test on your own workload before committing.
How each skill performed, and who it’s for
frontend-slides
Creates animation-rich HTML presentations from a brief: editorial layouts, strong type and motion.
Best for: Design-forward decks, it won the portfolio deck and the arena overall.
Watch out: Output is an HTML deck, not an editable .pptx.
revealjs
Standalone reveal.js HTML decks: code-driven slides with custom CSS and full layout control.
Best for: Design-forward browser decks, it won the pitch and launch tasks.
Watch out: HTML, not editable .pptx, and needs a browser to present.
pptx
Anthropic's official PowerPoint skill: editable .pptx via pptxgenjs with a template workflow.
Best for: Reliable, editable .pptx across deck types.
Watch out: Solid but less distinctive than the strongest HTML decks here.
pptx-generator
Editable .pptx with PptxGenJS: cover, TOC, content, section and summary slides plus charts.
Best for: Editable PowerPoint with charts and a market-size visual.
Watch out: Very dense slides can get busy.
slidev
Slidev decks authored in Markdown (Vue-based): developer-friendly slides with themes.
Best for: Developer talks written in Markdown.
Watch out: Default themes render plain, without design direction it looks templated.
marp
Marp Markdown slides: minimal markdown-to-deck with simple themes.
Best for: Fast, text-first internal decks and notes.
Watch out: Markdown-only output skews to text walls, the lowest visual scores here.
The tasks, head-to-head
How each skill scored on the three briefs, and how quality trades off against token cost.
| Skill | Personal portfolio | Startup pitch deck | Product launch | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| frontend-slides | 9.0 | 8.0 | 7.5 | 8.2 |
| revealjs | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| pptx | 6.5 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 7.3 |
| pptx-generator | 7.0 | 7.5 | 7.0 | 7.2 |
| slidev | 5.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 |
| marp | 4.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.8 |
Cell = the skill’s score on that task (darker = higher). A ring marks the task winner.
Token cost & efficiency
Every skill ran on the same base model, so token use reflects the skill itself: how much it writes (generated) and how large its SKILL.md is (context processed). Summed across the 3 tasks; lower is cheaper.
Context includes the skill’s SKILL.md re-read into the model each turn, so a larger skill file drives up cost, while the no-skill baseline is cheapest.
What we learned
- frontend-slides won the arena overall (8.17) and the portfolio deck outright, animation-rich HTML with strong editorial type beat every PPTX skill.
- reveal.js was a close second (8.0) and won the pitch and launch decks, code-driven HTML decks dominated the top of the board.
- For an editable PowerPoint you’ll keep working in, Anthropic’s pptx and MiniMax’s pptx-generator are the picks (7.3 and 7.2), solid but a notch below the HTML decks on visual polish.
- Markdown deck skills (Slidev, Marp) scored lowest, they cover the content but default to text-heavy slides with weak hierarchy.
- Format is the biggest lever: the four code/HTML decks all beat the two Markdown skills, so pick an HTML or PptxGenJS skill when visual quality matters.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI skill for making slide decks or presentations?+
In our blind test frontend-slides (zarazhangrui) scored highest overall (8.17/10), producing animation-rich HTML decks, with reveal.js a close second (8.0). For an editable PowerPoint file, Anthropic’s pptx and MiniMax’s pptx-generator are the best options.
Which slide skills produce real editable PowerPoint (.pptx) files?+
Anthropic’s pptx and MiniMax’s pptx-generator both output editable .pptx (built with PptxGenJS). frontend-slides, reveal.js, Slidev and Marp instead produce HTML decks you present in a browser, polished but not native PowerPoint.
What is the best AI skill for a startup pitch deck?+
reveal.js and frontend-slides tied highest on the pitch task (8.0), producing design-forward decks with strong metric callouts; MiniMax’s pptx-generator was close behind and gives you an editable .pptx. Markdown skills (Marp, Slidev) scored lowest, they read like documents rather than investor slides.
Are Markdown slide skills like Marp and Slidev worth using?+
They are fast and cover the content, but in our tests they scored lowest on visual polish and distinctiveness because they default to text-heavy slides. Use them for quick internal decks or developer talks, not design-forward presentations.
How is the Slides Arena scored, and is it fair?+
Every skill builds the same three briefs with the same base model, so results isolate the skill, not the model. PPTX decks are rendered with LibreOffice and HTML decks with a headless browser, then anonymized (A to F) and scored 1 to 10 by two independent blind judges on visual polish, layout, typography, content completeness and distinctiveness.
Where can I find and install these slide skills?+
All are openly available: frontend-slides (zarazhangrui), reveal.js (ryanbbrown), pptx (Anthropic), pptx-generator (MiniMax), slidev (antfu) and marp (softaworks). On Happycapy you can install any of them and run them in your browser with no local setup.
Build with these skills, no setup required
Every skill in this slides & pptx arena installs on Happycapy in one click and runs in your browser on the same model. Start free, or explore 2M+ skills in the Skill Store.