Modify spacings in listing (itemize/enumerate) environments for LaTeX Beamer

LaTeX
Author

Vinh Nguyen

Published

June 14, 2011

I don't usually worry about display options in LaTeX since it does a good job most of the time. However, when I write presentations using LaTeX Beamer, I make use of the itemize and enumerate environments quite often to list ideas, and the default setting in most of the templates lack generous spacing between items and between nested lists. The enumitem is the preferred method to modify spacing properties in list environments for LaTeX documents. However, Beamer has its own definitions for these environments for use with overlays, etc.

I posted questions regarding how to do so in Beamer here and here. Here is the complete solution. Place the following in the preamble of the document:

%% SPACING BETWEEN ITEMS FOR BEAMER
%% following lets me add length between items
%% http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/16793/global-setting-of-spacing-between-items-in-itemize-environment-for-beamer
% \let\oldframe\frame
% \renewcommand{\frame}{
% \oldframe
% \let\olditemize\itemize
% %%\renewcommand\itemize{\olditemize\addtolength{\itemsep}{0.5\baselineskip}}
% \renewcommand\itemize{\olditemize\addtolength{\parskip}{0.5\baselineskip}} %% this affects nested list (itemize) as well
% }
\newlength{\wideitemsep}
\setlength{\wideitemsep}{\itemsep}
\addtolength{\wideitemsep}{0.5\baselineskip}
\let\olditem\item
\renewcommand{\item}{\setlength{\itemsep}{\wideitemsep}\olditem}
%%\usepackage{enumitem} %% traditional way to modify listing (itemize and enumerate) properties...but beamer has its own definition
%% NESTED LISTS
%% http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/20654/length-between-nested-lists
\setbeamertemplate{itemize/enumerate subbody begin}{\vspace{0.5\baselineskip}}
\setbeamertemplate{itemize/enumerate subbody end}{\vspace{0.5\baselineskip}}
%% MORE OPTIONS http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/11168/change-bullet-style-formatting-in-beamer

Similar modifications for Beamer are illustrated here.