2

When combining biblatex with beamerposter, I get a weird symbol in place of the bibliography reference counter. Here's the minimum code I used to reproduce my issue.

MWE:

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usepackage[orientation=landscape,size=a1,scale=1.4]{beamerposter}
\usepackage[absolute,overlay]{textpos}
\usepackage[backend=biber, maxbibnames=2, maxcitenames=2, sortcites=true, style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\renewcommand*{\bibfont}{\small}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@book{dr1957cat,
title={The Cat in the Hat},
author={Seuss, Dr. and Ginsburg, Avi},
series={Beginner books},
year={1957},
publisher={Random House}
}
\end{filecontents*}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\usetheme{default}
\useinnertheme{rectangles}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}[label={sec:org1b2094c}]{}
\begin{columns}
\begin{column}{0.9\columnwidth}
\begin{block}{Introduction}
Fusce sagittis, libero non molestie mollis, magna orci ultrices dolor, at vulputate neque nulla lacinia eros. Aliquam erat volutpat.  Nunc eleifend leo vitae magna. \cite{dr1957cat}  In id erat non orci commodo lobortis.  Proin neque massa, cursus ut, gravida ut, lobortis eget, lacus.
\end{block}

\begin{block}{References}
\printbibliography
\end{block}
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Here's a picture of the problem, note the small "paper" symbol instead of the reference counter:

enter image description here

For completeness, I tried compiling the document with both pdflatex and xelatex using the following commands:

latexmk -pdflatex='pdflatex -shell-escape -interaction nonstopmode' -pdf -bibtex -f %f"

and 

latexmk -pdflatex='xelatex -interaction nonstopmode' -pdf -bibtex -f %f"

Texlive 2016 on a CentOS machine.

Has anyone seen this before? What can I do to fix this? Thank you.

Daniel
  • 165

1 Answers1

4

If you don't like this cute little symbol, you can disable it with \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}{}

\documentclass[t]{beamer}
\usepackage[orientation=landscape,size=a1,scale=1.4]{beamerposter}
\usepackage[absolute,overlay]{textpos}
\usepackage[backend=biber, maxbibnames=2, maxcitenames=2, sortcites=true, style=authoryear]{biblatex}
\renewcommand*{\bibfont}{\small}

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{\jobname.bib}
@book{dr1957cat,
title={The Cat in the Hat},
author={Seuss, Dr. and Ginsburg, Avi},
series={Beginner books},
year={1957},
publisher={Random House}
}
\end{filecontents*}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\usetheme{default}
\useinnertheme{rectangles}


\setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}{}
%\setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}{\insertbiblabel}% for numeric bib styles

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}[label={sec:org1b2094c}]{}
\begin{columns}
\begin{column}{0.9\columnwidth}
\begin{block}{Introduction}
Fusce sagittis, libero non molestie mollis, magna orci ultrices dolor, at vulputate neque nulla lacinia eros. Aliquam erat volutpat.  Nunc eleifend leo vitae magna. \cite{dr1957cat}  In id erat non orci commodo lobortis.  Proin neque massa, cursus ut, gravida ut, lobortis eget, lacus.
\end{block}

\begin{block}{References}
\printbibliography
\end{block}
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\end{document}
samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
  • 158,329
  • It's cute, but unexpected. I thought I had problems with my fonts. In any case, thank you for your answer. – Daniel May 31 '18 at 15:58
  • @dangom You don't use beamer often enough if it is enexpected :) – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 15:59
  • No, it's indeed the first time. – Daniel May 31 '18 at 16:00
  • Would \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}{\insertbiblabel} not be safer in case one decides to use a numeric style? Or is there something more to it? – moewe May 31 '18 at 16:11
  • @moewe On the other hand it might be confusing to see \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}{\insertbiblabel} in the code and nothing is displayed for authoryear style. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 16:17
  • @moewe I added the alternative solution as comment – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 16:18
  • Thank you. I'm wondering if \insertbiblabel should be the go-to option for all styles or if there could be negative consequences of using it instead of \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}{}? – moewe May 31 '18 at 18:17
  • @moewe It seems to work fine with the normal styles shipped with biblatex. The problem is the infinity of custom styles out there - I'm sure one of them will break it :) – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 18:38
  • @moewe My personal opinion: This should be set in the bibliography style. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 18:39
  • I had a look at the beamer code and I think \insertbiblabel should be fine. But I don't think I can agree that bibliography styles should set the correct \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}. My reasons are of course biblatex-centric but I believe that style authors should not have to worry about modifications applied by document classes. – moewe May 31 '18 at 18:54
  • @moewe I can agree to disagree :) Beamer uses the little icons. If a style wants to display something else, the style should make the modification. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 19:09
  • Mhhh, but what would you say if the author of the KOMA classes were to change his classes in a way that would always typeset the bibliography entries in pink font over the picture of a beautiful unicorn by default and would offer an interface \KOMAoptions{nounicornbib=true} to turn that off? Would it then be up to style authors to set that option if they don't like unicorns? The lines get blurred once a class or package interferes with the workings of another package. – moewe May 31 '18 at 19:22
  • @moewe I'd sent him my pink unicorn duck to use as an image :) Back to serious: The only real problem I see are numeric styles and the ones of the form ABC96. For authoryear I think the icons are a gain in information. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 19:40
  • @moewe IMHO bibliographies in presentation should serve a different purpose than bibs in written documents. In written documents, it most of the time a place to look up more detailed informations about the cited works. In a presentation this does not really work. A number on a slide is more or less useless as it is forgotten when the speaker finally shows the references at the end of the talk. I think a bibliography in a talk makes sense for example for "further reading", where it is nice to distinguish the different types by icon. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz May 31 '18 at 19:41
  • @moewe There is also a predefined template \setbeamertemplate{bibliography item}[text] that inserts the bib label. – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz Jun 01 '18 at 11:22