Get started with Quarto | Mine Çetinkaya-Rundel

Summary

In this video, Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel introduces Quarto, a powerful document creation tool. She demonstrates creating HTML and PDF documents, making slides, and building a website using Quarto. Features like visual editing, code chunk insertion, cross-referencing, and citations are highlighted. The video also covers publishing documents online using Quarto Pub, showcasing Quarto's versatility for various document types.

Takeaways

• 📝 Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel introduces Quarto, a document preparation system similar to R Markdown but with a .qmd file extension.
• 💻 She demonstrates creating a simple Quarto document in RStudio, emphasizing the visual editor's ease of use, akin to Google Docs.
• 🔗 The script shows how to add interactive elements like links and formatting options such as bold text within the visual editor.
• 📊 The process of rendering documents to see outputs, such as HTML, is explained, along with the ability to preview documents side-by-side with the source code.
• 💬 The script covers inserting R code chunks into documents and rendering them to display both input code and output results.
• 📖 It's shown how to add alternative text to figures using the `fig-alt` chunk option, enhancing accessibility.
• 🚀 The script explains hiding code chunks with `echo: false` for a cleaner output, suitable for reports where only results are needed.
• 🔗 Cross-referencing figures and tables is demonstrated, showing how to create links to them within the document text.
• 📚 Citations can be easily added to documents, with Quarto handling the reference list and bibliography file (`references.bib`) automatically.
• 📑 Quarto supports multiple output formats, including HTML, PDF, and reveal.js-based slides, from the same source document.
• 🌐 The script outlines creating a website using Quarto by defining a `_quarto.yml` file to structure the project and render it into a navigable site.
• 🔄 The final part of the script discusses publishing Quarto documents to the web using Quarto Pub, providing a straightforward method to share work online.

Q & A

What is Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel's role at Posit and Duke University?

Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel is a Developer Educator at Posit and a Professor of the Practice at Duke University.

What is Quarto and why is it being introduced in the video?

Quarto is a modern, open-source publishing system that combines the best aspects of Jupyter Notebooks and R Markdown. It is being introduced in the video as a tool for creating dynamic and interactive documents, with the aim of providing an introduction to its capabilities.

What is the file extension for Quarto documents?

The file extension for Quarto documents is '.qmd'.

How does the Quarto visual editor differ from the source editor?

The Quarto visual editor provides a more user-friendly interface akin to Google Docs, offering a what-you-see-is-what-you-get experience, whereas the source editor is more code-oriented and similar to R Markdown.

What is the purpose of the YAML metadata at the top of a Quarto document?

The YAML metadata at the top of a Quarto document contains information about the document such as the title and the desired output format, in this case, HTML.

How can one add a live link to text within the Quarto visual editor?

One can add a live link to text within the Quarto visual editor by using the toolbar or keyboard shortcuts to format the text as a hyperlink.

What does rendering a Quarto document do?

Rendering a Quarto document compiles the content, including any embedded code, into the specified output format, such as HTML, PDF, or slides.

How can you view the source code and its rendered output side by side in RStudio?

In RStudio, you can view the source code and its rendered output side by side by using the viewer pane, which allows you to see the source code on one side and the rendered document on the other.

What is the purpose of the 'fig-alt' chunk option in Quarto?

The 'fig-alt' chunk option in Quarto is used to provide alternative text for figures, which is important for accessibility and SEO purposes.

How can you hide the code output in a Quarto document?

You can hide the code output in a Quarto document by using the 'echo: false' chunk option for individual code chunks or setting 'echo: false' in the YAML metadata at the document level.

What is a cross-reference in the context of Quarto documents and how is it added?

A cross-reference in Quarto allows you to create links to figures or tables within the document. It is added by giving the figure or table a label and a caption, and then using the label in the text to create a link.

How does Quarto handle citations and how are they added to a document?

Quarto handles citations by allowing you to insert a citation directly in the text, which automatically adds a reference in the YAML and creates a bibliography section at the end of the document. The citation information is stored in a '.bib' file.

What output formats can Quarto produce and how are they specified?

Quarto can produce various output formats such as HTML, PDF, and slides. The output format is specified in the YAML metadata at the top of the document.

How can you create a multi-page website using Quarto?

To create a multi-page website using Quarto, you create individual '.qmd' documents for each page and then use a '_quarto.yml' file to define the website structure, including navigation links.

What is Quarto Pub and how does it relate to publishing Quarto documents?

Quarto Pub is a service that allows you to publish Quarto documents directly to the web. It provides a simple way to make your Quarto documents available online.