How to use the Retro Windows HTML Deck agent skill

What the skill makes the agent do

An agent skill is a folder of instructions and files that an AI agent loads when a task matches it. This skill covers one job: building a presentation in the Retro Windows style. When you ask for a deck like this, the agent copies the bundled template, replaces the placeholder headlines, numbers and images with your content, and adds or removes slides to fit your material.

The skill is a visual template, not a source of subject knowledge. The agent will not supply facts about your topic, so you need to bring your own text and figures. The skill is built to keep the nostalgic look consistent, and its instructions tell the agent not to change fonts, colours, layout grid or decorative elements.

• Output is one self-contained HTML file that opens in a browser.
• The agent duplicates existing slide layouts for longer decks and drops slides from the end for shorter ones.
• If a slide needs a layout the template lacks, the agent designs it using the same fonts, palette and decorations rather than switching templates.

Install the skill in Claude or a project

You can install the skill in two ways. For personal use, download the ZIP from the skill page on this site and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into the project's .claude/skills/ folder instead. The folder should be named html-ppt-zhangzara-retro-windows and contain the skill's files.

You can also upload the ZIP in the Claude apps under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project
• Skill files listed for this item: example.html, SKILL.md, template.json

How to trigger the skill with natural requests

The agent decides to use a skill based on your request, so describe a retro-style slide deck in plain words. The skill's listed triggers include phrases such as html deck, html slides, training-deck, workshop and course-module, so including one of these terms helps. Name the subject, the audience and the look you want.

Good requests say what the deck is about and who will see it. The agent may ask for missing essentials such as the audience, the goal of the deck and the numbers that must stay accurate before it builds the slides.

• Make a retro Windows 95 style HTML slide deck about the history of arcade games for a museum audience.
• Create an html deck in the retro Windows style for a talk on early web design, about 10 slides.
• Build a playful Y2K-style html slides deck for our brand launch, using the numbers I paste below.

Examples of what to ask for

The skill fits decks where the nostalgic style is the point. The bundled example is a phishing-awareness training deck, which shows the template working with real content, but the look is what the skill provides. Use it where a playful retro reference suits the audience.

• Retro gaming talks and game history presentations.
• Creator or marketing decks for brands with a Y2K or 90s feel.
• Tech-history talks and tongue-in-cheek internal showcases.
• A single HTML file you can open in a browser and share as a link or file.

What the skill needs and how it runs

The skill lists no requirements. It does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing. The output is an HTML file produced by the agent, which you can open in any browser.

The skill's instructions say to keep the navigation code as shipped if the deck includes a keyboard handler or runtime file. Do not edit that code unless you know what it does.

• Requires: nothing listed
• Runs scripts: no
• Uses network: no

Safety, licence and where the skill is not a good fit

The skill's own guidance says the Windows 95 look reads as a costume. Do not use it for formal or institutional training such as employee security awareness, or for a modern corporate deck. The bundled example is a phishing-awareness training deck, but the skill's guidance still points away from that use for real staff training.

The skill is listed under Apache-2.0. Its SKILL.md notes that it was vendored from an MIT-licensed upstream project and that the upstream MIT licence text and copyright notice should be kept with any copy of the template files. Check the licence files in your copy before redistributing it.

• Avoid for formal training, institutional credibility or elegant corporate decks.
• Keep the upstream MIT licence notice with any redistributed copy, as SKILL.md requires.
• Review the agent's output before sharing, since it will not verify facts for you.

Tips for better results

Give the agent your exact headlines, numbers and names up front so it does not have to invent them. Say how many slides you need, since the agent adds or removes slides from the template to match. If you want a slide with a different structure, describe it, and the agent will design it in the same visual system.

• Paste your source numbers and check them in the output.
• State the slide count if you have one in mind.
• Ask for a slide layout you need, and the agent will build it in the same style.
• Keep the deck inside this one template, since mixing templates breaks the look.