This is the print version of this page. All content is copyright Indezine.com 2000-2026.
Thoughts and impressions of happenings in the world of PowerPoint and presentations, continuously updated since 2003.
See Also:
PowerPoint and Presenting Notes
PowerPoint and Presenting Glossary
pharus53 software solutions GmbH, a company based out of Hamburg, Germany creates ActiveSlide, a simple Flash authoring solution that uses the slide metaphor rather than the conventional stage metaphor that other Flash authoring systems use, thus making it a natural fit for PowerPoint users.
In this exclusive conversation, Tobias Windbrake of pharus53 discusses ActiveSlide including the different versions available, and how they integrate with PowerPoint.
Geetesh: Tell us more about ActiveSlide and its different editions.
Tobias: ActiveSlide is a program that easily creates interactive content. The software is not a PowerPoint add-in, but a powerful, stand-alone authoring tool. You can use it for your presentations as well as for e-learning courses and even websites.
The main advantage of this product is its ease of use. You can work with ActiveSlide as you would do with PowerPoint: You have slides (and a master slide) where you can place text, images, and shapes on. In the second step, you can visually assign interactivity patterns to your slide elements. If desired, this step is completely supported by helpful wizards. One basic interactivity pattern is that elements can be dragged. Advanced patterns allow you to use an element as a carrier (that can transport other elements), or to synchronize the movement of two elements. As interactivity patterns can be combined, there is an unlimited number of possibilities.
The product is available in two editions, Thunder and Professional. The Thunder Edition is the little brother of the Professional one. While Thunder is perfect for PowerPoint users, content developers for e-learning courses normally prefer the Professional Edition. The latter provides additional functionality, e.g. a full-featured scripting language and an export option for Java Applets.
Geetesh: How do you position ActiveSlide Thunder in the world of PowerPoint?
Tobias: Let’s put it in one sentence: With ActiveSlide you can touch your PowerPoint slides! The software allows you to easily create dynamic slides where you can drag and drop images, shapes, and even text objects. That may sound like a breathtaking effect. Well, that’s true! However, interactive slides can do much more for a presenter and his audience. I will give you a few examples:
As you can see from the examples, there are many different possibilities where interactivity can have a great benefit, for you and your audience. So, how is it done technically? You can export your ActiveSlide project as a Flash movie. After that, add-ins like the Flash Toolbar (reviewed at Indezine) make it very easy to place ActiveSlide movies on any PowerPoint slide. In this context, please allow me to announce another product of the ActiveSlide family: Shortly we will offer ActiveSlide Thunder for PowerPoint, a special product that bundles ActiveSlide Thunder and the Flash Toolbar mentioned above.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.
Filed Under:
Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, PowerPoint Flash, Tobias Windbrake
Tony Dunckel is Product Manager for Snagit, the versatile screen capture program from Okemos based TechSmith Corporation that functions more like a Swiss-Army knife of graphic tasks. We interviewed Tony more than a year ago, and Snagit already looks like a different, newer product that adds more usability and feature improvements with each release.
In this conversation, Tony discusses new Snagit improvements and usage patterns.
Filed Under:
Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Interviews, Snagit, Techsmith, Tony Dunckel
Presentations often fail to leave an impact on the audience not because of the content but because all presentations look so similar and predictable.
That’s where Ovation can make a difference. Instead of redoing the presentation all over again, you can use Ovation to enhance your existing presentations into great looking productions. This review will explore if Ovation lives up to that promise.
Filed Under:
Add-ins
Tagged as: Add-in, Ovation, PowerPoint
Mike Wilson is a founder and VP of Business Development at Instant Effects, Inc. in Santa Barbara, CA. In this Indezine exclusive article, Mike explains how recent changes in technology and choices has made advanced graphic abilities available right inside PowerPoint.
Filed Under:
Guest Posts
Tagged as: Add-in, Animation, Mike Wilson, OfficeFX, PowerPoint, Templates
Bob Mathews is Director of Training for Design Science. MathType from DesignScience is probably the foremost equation program available today. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office programs including PowerPoint.
A former military pilot, Bob came to Design Science in 1999 after teaching high school mathematics for several years. He has been using Microsoft Office since version 2. Bob and his wife Sandie live near San Antonio in central Texas.
In this conversation, Bob discusses MathType and PowerPoint.
Geetesh: Bob, tell us more about Design Science and MathType.
Bob: This year is the company’s 20th year in operation. Next April, we will celebrate the release of our first product, MathType. Both Design Science and our product line have grown tremendously over the last 20 years. We now offer 6 products, 3 of which are provided at no charge to the consumer. All of our products are related to math, science, and engineering typesetting — whether the document’s final form is a printed page, a projected presentation, or a web page.
Geetesh: How is MathType placed in the world of PowerPoint?
Bob: When you install MathType, it detects PowerPoint on your system and installs an icon onto the PowerPoint toolbar. When you’re ready to insert a MathType expression on the slide, you click the icon. MathType opens in a separate window, and you create the expression in this window. There is a link from MathType to PowerPoint, so when you close the MathType window, the equation is inserted onto the slide. You can edit the equation by double-clicking it, which opens it in MathType.
Many, if not most, of our customers who use MathType in PowerPoint also use it in Word. Clearly, the size of the font you’d use in PowerPoint will be larger than what you’re using in Word, and the font face may be different as well. MathType gives you an easy way to save different preference files so you can switch easily from one font & style combination to another. You can also set the color of your equations to be exactly the same as the color you’re using for your PowerPoint text. If you want to focus attention on part of an equation, you can use a different color for that part of the equation.
Most of us have formulas, expressions, and other special symbols & constructs we use often. MathType gives you an easy way to customize the toolbar so these commonly used items are readily available. If you want to change the keyboard shortcuts, you can do that too.
We have a free 30-day evaluation of MathType available at our website. The evaluation version loses many of its features after 30 days, but is usable indefinitely in MathType Lite mode, giving you the ability to continue to use and edit presentations you’ve created during the evaluation period.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog post or content are those of the authors or the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company.
Filed Under:
Interviews
Tagged as: Add-in, Bob Mathews, Design Science, Education, Equations, Interviews, PowerPoint
Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.