Content formatter

Content Formatter for Claude Code Course

Overview

This skill takes dense, text-heavy lesson content and transforms it into beautiful, scannable, student-friendly format that works perfectly in Notion, Google Slides, or any modern course platform.

When to Use This Skill

• After lesson-generator creates content
• Lesson content is too dense
• Need web/slide-ready format
• Want student-friendly layout
• Converting for Notion/platform delivery
• Making content scannable and engaging

Tone Dial (set this first)

Before formatting, pick a tone. The default is Friendly, but for regulated, executive, or client-facing material switch to Professional so the output reads as sober, not breezy.

Tone	Use for	Emojis	Voice	Celebration blocks
Friendly (default)	self-paced courses, onboarding, internal enablement	full emoji key	"You've got this!", "Let's do this together"	yes
Professional	financial services, exec decks, client/board material, compliance-adjacent docs	none, or a single section marker at most	calm and direct: "Here's what to do", "Confirm it worked"	no

In Professional tone: keep the structure (visual hierarchy, time boxes, success checks, troubleshooting), drop the emoji key and the "🎉 You Did It!" celebration, and replace conversational encouragement with plain, confident instruction. Everything else in this skill still applies.

If the user does not specify a tone, ask once which they want, then proceed.

Core Transformation Principles

Visual Hierarchy

Use clear structure with emojis for instant recognition:

• 📘 Lesson titles (h1)
• 🎯 Goals/Objectives (h2)
• ⏱️ Time estimates
• 📋 Steps/Instructions
• ✅ Success criteria
• ⚠️ Troubleshooting
• 💡 Tips/Pro tips
• 🎉 Wins/Celebrations
• 📚 Resources
• 💼 Examples
• 🔧 Tools

Break Up Walls of Text

• Maximum 3-4 sentences per paragraph
• Use bullet points for lists
• Numbered steps for sequences
• Tables for comparisons
• Code blocks for commands
• Callout boxes for important info

Student-First Language

Change technical language:

• "Execute the following command" → "Type this:"
• "Verify successful completion" → "Check it worked:"
• "In the event of an error" → "If something goes wrong:"
• "Prerequisites" → "Before you start, you'll need:"

Use conversational tone:

• "You've got this!"
• "Let's do this together"
• "Here's what's happening..."
• "See how that works?"

Progressive Disclosure

Use expandable sections for optional content:

<details>
<summary>💡 Not sure how to [X]? Click here</summary>

[Additional helpful information]

</details>

Time Boxes Everywhere

Every section needs clear time estimate:

## 📋 Step 3: Test Your Skill
⏱️ **Time:** 10 minutes

Success Checkpoints

After EVERY step, tell them how to verify:

✅ **You'll know this worked when:**
- Criterion 1 (specific and testable)
- Criterion 2
- Criterion 3

Standard Lesson Page Structure

# 📘 Lesson 1.X: [Title]

> 🎯 **What You'll Learn:** [One sentence]
> ⏱️ **Time Required:** X minutes  
> 📦 **What You'll Build:** [Specific deliverable]

---

## 🎬 Watch First (10 min)

[Video embed placeholder]

**Key Points:**
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3

**Next:** [Preview of exercise]

---

## 🎯 Exercise: [Action-Oriented Title]

⏱️ **Total Time:** XX minutes

### What You'll Build
[One clear sentence with emoji icon]

### Before You Start

**You'll need:**
- [ ] Requirement 1
- [ ] Requirement 2
- [ ] Requirement 3

**Example outputs:**
[Show what success looks like]

---

## 📋 Step 1: [Action Verb + Task]

⏱️ **Time:** X minutes

**What you're doing:**
[2-3 sentence context]

**Instructions:**
1. [Specific action]
2. [Specific action]
3. [Specific action]

**Command to run:**
```bash
[command here]
```

**What this does:**
[Plain English explanation]

> 💡 **Pro Tip:** [Helpful insight]

✅ **Success Check:**
- [ ] Verification 1
- [ ] Verification 2

---

## 📋 Step 2: [Action Verb + Task]

[Continue same pattern...]

---

## ✅ Overall Success Criteria

By the end of this exercise, you should have:
- [ ] Deliverable 1 (specific)
- [ ] Deliverable 2 (specific)
- [ ] Deliverable 3 (specific)

**Quick test:**
[Simple way to verify everything works]

---

## ⚠️ Troubleshooting

<details>
<summary>Issue 1: [Specific Problem]</summary>

**Symptom:** What you'll see/experience

**Cause:** Why this happens

**Fix:**
1. Step to solve
2. Step to solve
3. Step to solve

**Prevention:** How to avoid this

</details>

<details>
<summary>Issue 2: [Specific Problem]</summary>

[Same format...]

</details>

<details>
<summary>Issue 3: [Specific Problem]</summary>

[Same format...]

</details>

---

## 🎉 You Did It!

You just [specific accomplishment]!

**Why this matters:**
[Business impact in 2 sentences]

**Time saved:**
[If applicable: X hours/week or other metric]

**Next up:**
Lesson X.Y: [Title] - [One sentence teaser]

---

## 💼 How This Works Across Industries

### Financial Services
[Name] used this same approach for [specific task]. Result: [outcome]

### Healthcare  
[Name] used this same approach for [specific task]. Result: [outcome]

### Sales/Operations
[Name] used this same approach for [specific task]. Result: [outcome]

**The pattern:**
[Universal principle that applies everywhere]

---

## 📚 Resources & Help

### Need Help?
- 💬 **Community:** [your channel / forum link]
- 🕐 **Office Hours:** [day and time]
- 📧 **Email:** [your support email]

### Templates
- [Template name with description](link)
- [Template name with description](link)

### Documentation
- [Doc name with description](link)
- [Doc name with description](link)

### Video Timestamp Guide
- [0:23] - [Topic with timestamp for quick reference]
- [1:45] - [Topic]
- [3:12] - [Topic]

---

## 📝 Notes for Notion Setup

**Page properties to add:**
- Status: Not Started | In Progress | Complete
- Time: [X] minutes
- Week: Week [X]
- Deliverable: [What they build]

**Use Notion features:**
- **Toggle blocks** for troubleshooting
- **Callout blocks** for tips/warnings  
- **Code blocks** with language syntax
- **Columns** for side-by-side comparisons
- **Database views** for resources

Formatting Patterns

Code Blocks

Always include language identifier and explanation:

**Command:**
```bash
mkdir -p .claude/skills/my-skill
```

**What it does:**
Creates a new folder where Claude looks for skills

**Why this matters:**
Claude automatically loads skills from this location

Callout Boxes

> 💡 **Pro Tip:** You can check your skill loaded by typing `/skills`

> ⚠️ **Warning:** Don't use tabs in YAML files, only spaces

> 🎉 **Celebration:** Your first skill is live! This is a big moment.

> ⚙️ **Technical Note:** [For those who want deeper understanding]

Comparison Tables

| When to Use | Skill | Agent | Both |
|-------------|-------|-------|------|
| Repeatable task | ✅ | | |
| Need isolation | | ✅ | |
| Complex workflow | | | ✅ |
| Fresh context needed | | ✅ | |

Decision Trees

**Not sure which to use?**

Start here: Is this task done weekly or more?
├─ YES → Is it always the same steps?
│  ├─ YES → Use a SKILL ✅
│  └─ NO → Use SKILL + AGENT
└─ NO → Just ask Claude directly

Before/After Comparisons

## The Transformation

**Before (Manual Process):**
1. Step that takes forever
2. Step that's error-prone
3. Step that's boring

⏱️ **Time:** 5 hours

**After (Automated):**
1. Run skill
2. Review output
3. Done!

⏱️ **Time:** 10 minutes

💰 **Savings:** 4 hours 50 minutes per week = 250 hours/year

Quality Checklist

Before delivering formatted content, verify:

Visual:

• Clear h1/h2/h3 hierarchy
• Emojis used consistently
• Visual separators (---) between sections
• No walls of text (3-4 sentence max)
• Code blocks have language tags

Scannability:

• Can understand page in 10-second scan
• Main sections jump out
• Steps are clearly numbered
• Success criteria highly visible

Student Experience:

• Conversational tone throughout
• Action verbs in all headers
• Specific, not vague instructions
• Encouraging language
• Celebrates progress

Completeness:

• Time estimate on every section
• Success criteria after every step
• Troubleshooting expanded with details
• Next steps are clear
• Resources linked

Web-Ready:

• Works in Notion
• Works in slides (can extract)
• Proper markdown syntax
• All links functional
• Mobile-friendly (short lines)

Special Formatting for Different Platforms

For Notion:

• Use toggle blocks for optional content
• Use callout blocks for tips/warnings
• Use synced blocks for repeated content
• Add page properties (Status, Time, Week)
• Use database for resources

For Google Slides:

• One concept per slide
• Minimal text (5-7 bullets max)
• Large fonts (24pt minimum)
• High contrast
• Lots of whitespace

For Course Platforms (Teachable, Thinkific):

• Use platform's native callout boxes
• Embed videos at top
• Use accordion/collapse for troubleshooting
• Add progress indicators
• Include downloadable PDFs of key content

Integration with Other Skills

Works with:

• universal-example-tracker: Ensures examples stay consistent while formatting (companion skill in this repo)

Note: lesson-generator and course-material-creator below are illustrative of an upstream content pipeline; they are not published skills in this repo. This formatter works on any draft you give it, from any source.

• lesson-generator (illustrative): Takes its output and beautifies it
• course-material-creator (illustrative): Follows its quality standards

Workflow:

1. lesson-generator creates content (dense)
2. universal-example-tracker ensures Riley flows through
3. content-formatter makes it beautiful (this skill)
4. Result: Publication-ready content

Examples

Input (dense, text-heavy)

To create a skill you must first make a directory in the correct location where the tool looks for skills, then add a definition file containing the required metadata fields, and finally verify that it loaded successfully before attempting to use it in a session.

Output (formatted, student-friendly)

## 📋 Step 1: Create Your Skill Folder
⏱️ **Time:** 2 minutes

**Type this:**
\`\`\`bash
mkdir -p .claude/skills/my-skill
\`\`\`

**What it does:** Creates the folder where Claude looks for your skills.

✅ **You'll know it worked when:**
- [ ] The folder `.claude/skills/my-skill` exists
- [ ] Typing `/skills` lists your new skill

The transformation: one dense sentence becomes a timed, scannable step with a copy-paste command and a success check — the same content, made doable.