The 2D canvas

scrolly's defining idea is spatial: a deck is not a linear sequence of slides but a set of slides placed on a 2D integer grid. This page covers the spatial authoring model — how slides, their coordinates, groups, and edges fit together.

Grid coordinates

Every slide has a position: [col, row] placing it on the grid. Coordinates can be negative and need not start at the origin — scrolly fits and centers the occupied region either way. A plus-shaped deck, for example, places slides above, below, left, and right of a center slide:

              [ intro ]  (0, -1)
                  |
[ left ] (-1,0)—[ main ]—[ right ] (1, 0)
                (0, 0)
                  |
             [ detail ]  (0, 1)

Edges

Slides are connected by edges — directional links drawn between grid neighbors that tell the reader where they can go next. Edges render as connector lines in the deck map and as navigation arrows when zoomed into a slide.

Groups

Slides can be collected into groups that share a background color and a labeled tab in the deck map. A group's label color is chosen automatically for legibility against its background, or set explicitly — see Deck format.

Two views

The rendered deck has two zoom levels, covered in Deck view & mini-map:

• the deck map — zoomed out, showing all slides, edges, and group tabs at once; and
• the slide view — zoomed into a single slide, which the reader scrolls through.