Part 0: Installation Instructions

OCTRI-BERD Workshop July 2025

Author
Affiliation

Jessica Minnier, Meike Niederhausen

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health

Published

July 17, 2025

Install recent versions of R and RStudio

Before we begin, please ensure you have the following installed:

  1. R: A recent version of R is required. You can download it from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN).
  2. RStudio: Download the latest version from the RStudio website. Quarto is built right into RStudio, making it the easiest way to get started. RStudio v2022.07 and later includes support for editing and preview of Quarto documents (the documentation below assumes you are using this build or a later version). If you are using Quarto within RStudio it is strongly recommended that you use the latest release of RStudio.

Install R packages

You will also need to install a few R packages. Open RStudio and run the following code in the console:

install.packages(c("palmerpenguins", "tidyverse", "gt", "countdown"))
  • palmerpenguins: For example datasets.
  • tidyverse: A collection of R packages for data science.
  • gt: For creating beautiful tables.
  • countdown: To add timers to your slides.

If you do not already have rmarkdown installed, please install that as well:

install.packages("rmarkdown")

Need an R & RStudio refresher?

  • This workshop is intended for people with already some familiarity with R and RStudio.
    • However, we will not be focusing on R coding. We will briefly talk about R code chunks and how to create and run them, but only with basic R code.
  • We are expecting basic familiarity with how to use RStudio, installing packages, and ideally also using projects.
  • If you would like refreshers on these topics, check out slides from our most recent Getting Started in R and Rstudio workshop from Sept 19, 2024:

Publishing webpages online

  • If you would like to publish your website online, the quickest way is to use Quarto Pub. Use the link to sign up for a free account.
    • We will also provide instructions for GitHub website hosting, but not cover this more involved process during the workshop.
  • For inspiration, you can also check out the Quarto Gallery.