PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

Apple Keynote Views

We already showed you the Slide Navigator and Outline views in Apple Keynote in an earlier post. Keynote provides two more views that we will explore within this post.

These two views are:

• Slide Only
• Light Table

Both these views can be accessed by using the options found in the View menu, as shown in Figure 1, below. To view the Slide Only view, choose the View | Slide Only option.

Figure 1: View Slide Only (or Light Table)

You access the Light Table view in the same way by choosing the View | Light Table option.

The Slide Only view is almost the same as the Slide Navigator and Outline views, other than the fact that there are no Navigator or Outline panes on the left. So, all you get to see is the active slide, as shown in Figure 2, below. This is great if you want to save a little extra screen real estate to get a larger slide view.

Figure 2: Slide Only view

Finally, the Light Table view shows you thumbnail-size previews of all slides in your presentation, much more than what the Slide Navigator can show you. Figure 3, below, shows you the Light Table view. PowerPoint users will immediately recognize this as the same as PowerPoint’s Slide Sorter view.

Figure 3: Light Table view

Since we are discussing views in Keynote, here’s a small trick. We already showed you that you can access these views through the options in the View menu. However, you can also get to these views by clicking the View button on the Toolbar; click the button and it shows you a small menu, as shown in Figure 4, below. Choose any view you want.

Figure 4: View options from the Toolbar

Filed Under: Keynote
Tagged as: Apple Mac OS X, Interface, iWork, Keynote, View

Slide Navigator or Outline in Apple Keynote

If you followed our last post on the Keynote interface, you know there was nothing mentioned about an Outlining pane or something similar, and that’s something keenly observed by a PowerPoint user.

Well, there actually is a very similar Outline pane, and it’s where you would expect it to be! Yes, it’s in the same screen real estate as the Slide Navigator. Choose the View | Outline menu option, as shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: View Outline option

Doing so changes the left pane from the Slide Navigator to the Outline. You can see both views in Figure 2, below.

Figure 2: Slide Navigator view (left) and Outline view (right)

To change back from Outline view to Slide Navigator view, choose the View | Navigator menu option.

Filed Under: Keynote
Tagged as: Apple Mac OS X, Interface, iWork, Keynote, Outline

The Apple Keynote Interface

The Apple Keynote interface is clean and simple, as shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: The Keynote interface

The interface comprises three (or four) visible areas:

• The Slide Navigator on the left side shows thumbnails of all slides in the open presentation.
• The Slide Area shows the active slide you are working on, or viewing.
• The Toolbar over the Slide Area comprises icons for commonly used commands and several other options.
• The Presenter Notes panel may not be visible, as shown in Figure 1, above. To view Presenter Notes, choose the View | Presenter Notes menu option, as shown in Figure 2, below.

Figure 3, below, shows you the Keynote interface with Presenter Notes visible. Note that this is a toggle option. So, you can choose the same option repeatedly to alternate between viewed and hidden states of the Presenter Notes panel. With the Presenter Notes panel visible, this option will be View | Hide Presenter Notes.

Figure 3: Interface with Presenter Notes

You can also hide and view the toolbar in the same way. Choose the View | Hide (or Show) Toolbar option to do so.

In addition to the interface elements described above, you might also see the Ruler and one of four floating panels called Inspector, Media, Colors, and Fonts. Also, the Toolbar may have spawned an additional bar called the Format Bar right under itself. In subsequent posts, we’ll explain these and more interface elements.

Filed Under: Keynote
Tagged as: Apple Mac OS X, Interface, iWork, Keynote

Working in a Microsoft Office-Apple iWork World

Although this topic is more of a Mac only thing, it’s also relevant if you are a Windows user of Microsoft Office and receive files from iWork users on the Mac who save to Microsoft Office file formats.

We read this article on the MacWorld site that goes into all the details of co-existing in a dual format/platform world, and understanding the pitfalls and precautions required. We must say that this is probably the best content we have seen on this particular topic, and it is must-read.

PowerPoint users will understand how Keynote imports and exports PowerPoint files, and that if there are any presentation notes in their original Keynote files, the exported PowerPoint format files won’t open in PowerPoint 2008 on the Mac although they should pose no problems in PowerPoint 2004 for the Mac, or PowerPoint 2007 for Windows! We’ve bookmarked the page. Read it here.

Filed Under: Keynote
Tagged as: Cross Platform, iWork, Keynote, Office for Mac, PowerPoint

Apple Keynote Slide Size (aka Resolution)

When you launch Keynote and choose a theme for your new presentation, or apply a new theme to an existing presentation, you can change the Slide Size of the presentation.

Now the Slide Size is actually almost the same as the resolution of your presentation and is related to the resolution capabilities of your monitor display and projector. This is not as geeky as it sounds. Just remember that the most common and safe resolution for all new projectors is 1024 x 768 pixels, so, if you never bother changing the slide size, Keynote will continue creating your presentations in this resolution. In fact, Keynote defaults to 1024 x 768 pixels. Just stay with the defaults until you get a little more Keynote-savvy.

Older projectors worked at only 800 x 600 pixels, and most of the higher-end projectors can support much higher resolutions. Of course, if you want to choose a Slide Size that’s different than 1024 x 768, you must have a compelling reason to do so. Maybe, you want to use a wide-screen aspect, or you have been asked to use a different slide size.

You can choose your Slide Size in the drop-down list of the same name, as shown in Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Slide Size in Keynote

As you can see in Figure 1, above, Keynote provides you with five slide sizes for this particular theme (Harmony). On the other hand, look at Figure 2, below, and you’ll find that this theme (Blackboard) has only two slide sizes. This makes it obvious that all themes don’t have all slide sizes.

Figure 2: Slide Size in Keynote

You’ll find a more detailed explanation of slide sizes in Keynote on the Apple site.

Filed Under: Keynote
Tagged as: Apple Mac OS X, iWork, Keynote, Resolution, Slide Size