When using columns in Quarto->Beamer, there is no vertical space between bullets, paragraphs, equations. Can someone help?

[ennoschroeder]

Description

I am creating presentations using Quarto-Beamer. When I create two columns on a slide, the resulting PDF has no vertical space between bullet points, paragraphs and equations.

quarto_beamer.pdf

When I don't use Quarto and write a tex file instead, the problem does not occur and the output is well-behaved.

---
title: "Title Here"
author: "Author Name"
format: beamer
---

## Using columns, there is no space between content in resulting PDF

::::{.columns}

::: {.column width="40%"}
- Point 1. It stretches across a line to demonstrate spacing issue

- Point 2 comes next.

- Point 3
:::

::: {.column width="60%"}
- Point 1. It stretches across a line to demonstrate spacing issue

- Point 2 comes next.
$$ y = f(x) $$

- Point 3

Text without bullet points also has no space between paragraphs and equations.

Text without bullet points also has no space between paragraphs and equations.
:::

::::

## Without columns, spacing between content is well-behaved

- Point 1. It stretches across a line to demonstrate spacing issue

- Point 2 comes next.
$$ y = f(x) $$

- Point 3

Text without bullet points does has space between paragraphs and equations.

Text without bullet points does has space between paragraphs and equations.

[mcanouil]

When I don't use Quarto and write a tex file instead, the problem does not occur and the output is well-behaved.

Use keep-tex to investigate the LaTeX intermediate file and to compare with what you write.

[mcanouil]

So this whole issue really concerns the spacing before, between, and after bullets. Quarto (through some tex command in the preamble) vertically condenses content in the two-column environment. Spacing between bullets and paragraphs is lost.

You are saying this like it's a fact but that's inconsistent with what you said before, so it is an assumption?

You also keep mentioning a LaTeX file you wrote, but what is it exactly?

[mcanouil]

What is doing the spacing comes from the Pandoc template:

\usepackage{parskip}

and/or the following which is a fallback when parskip is not there and replicates parskip

\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{6pt plus 2pt minus 1pt}

[mcanouil]

That's basically pure LaTex weirdness between packages and classes.
I suggest to work around this by setting yourself the paragraph spacing you want.

---
title: "Title Here"
author: "Author Name"
format: beamer
---

## Using columns, there is no space between content in resulting PDF

:::: {.columns}

::: {.column width="100%"}

`\setlength{\parskip}{8pt}`{=latex}

- Point 1. It stretches across a line to demonstrate spacing issue

- Point 2 comes next.

  $$
  y = f(x)
  $$

- Point 3

Text without bullet points also has no space between paragraphs and equations.

Text without bullet points also has no space between paragraphs and equations.
:::

::::

## Without columns, spacing between content is well-behaved

- Point 1. It stretches across a line to demonstrate spacing issue

- Point 2 comes next.

  $$
  y = f(x)
  $$

- Point 3

Text without bullet points does has space between paragraphs and equations.

Text without bullet points does has space between paragraphs and equations.

[ennoschroeder]

It's a solution. I can insert the LaTeX code (\setlength{\parskip}{8pt}{=latex}) anytime I create a two-column slide. Thank you.

A blemish is that the Quarto file won't be as clean and pretty and I will always see these ugly LaTeX commands that I wanted to avoid.

[mcanouil]

A blemish is that the Quarto file won't be as clean and pretty and I will always see these ugly LaTeX commands that I wanted to avoid.

You can still choose to use Reveal.js and Decktape to get fancy and perfectly matching HTML/PDF.