When you click on a hyperlink during a presentation, sometimes you feel like the file's host program takes forever to launch. You should prepare for this wait and have material to stall with so that there's no awkward silence.

 

But there's also another remedy to the situation I've been using for years. Before the start of the slideshow, open the host application of the file that you have hyperlinked on one of your slides, i.e.,"QuickTime". Then when it's time to launch the file or movie, the delay is greatly reduced and your presentation appears more seamless.

 

The same goes for internet links. You can open them prior to the production (especially those heavy with graphics that take longer to appear) and minimize them to the task bar for later usage.

 

Courtesy of dummiesdaily.com; edits by Donna Southard

 

To understand Web design, you first need to understand the basic relationship between clients and servers on the World Wide Web. The client-server relationship is the yin and yang that keeps the Internet running. A server is any computer that contains and distributes information. A client is the program that requests and processes or displays that information. Web servers store and serve Web pages, and Web clients (more often referred to as Web browsers) display the pages on your screen. Clients and servers are useless without each other, much like separate halves of a piece of Velcro

If you click on a slide during a slide show, the presentation may advance

to the next slide or display an animation or new item. The default settings

allow you, also, to right-click on a slide to reveal a hidden menu. From

that menu you can choose"Next" to proceed with the slide show normally;

"Go"| "Slide Navigator" to open the "Slide Navigator" dialog box;

"Go"| "By Title" and then choose a slide's title from the cascading menu;

or"Go" | "Previously Viewed"

.

These are the most commonly used methods of navigating through a slide

show, but there are a few other ways that can help you if you often find

yourself jumping back and forth among the slides in your presentation or

your mouse decides to quit at an inopportune time.

 

You can your set your right mouse button to return you to the previous

slide, while your left mouse button continues to the next slide as usual.

Simply choose"Tools" | "Options in PowerPoint"; click on the "View" tab;

remove the check mark from"Popup menu on right mouse click" in the

"Slide Show"panel and click "OK". Now when you view your slide show

you can jump back and forth quickly using the mouse buttons. And if you

ever want to return to the beginning of your presentation, hold both buttons

down simultaneously for two seconds.

 

While in the"Slide Show" view, you may use the keyboard to navigate,

simply press the arrow key that corresponds to the direction in which you

wish the slide show to proceed. To go forward you can also press"[Enter]",

"[Page Up]"or "[spacebar]". To return to the previous slide you can press

the"[Backspace]" key or "[Page Down]". To jump to the end of the show,

press"[End]"; press "[Home]" to return to the first slide of your presentation.

If you want to quit the slide show at any time, press"[Esc]".

 

Cycle through Open PowerPoint Presentations

 

If you work with many presentations at once, switching from one to another can be annoying if you use the Window menu. Fortunately, PowerPoint provides keyboard shortcuts that make this task quicker and easier. To cycle between open presentation windows, simply press [Ctrl][F6] to switch to the next presentation in the Window menu's open presentation list, or press [Ctrl[Shift][F6] to move to the previous presentation in the list.

 

 

Do you ever have more than one presentation open in PowerPoint

while you work? If so, you can resize the window of each presentation

individually, but a much easier and more efficient method is to use the

"Arrange All"feature. Simply open all the presentations you need to

work with in PowerPoint; choose"Window" | "Arrange All", and

PowerPoint resizes them automatically so that they all fit on your

screen while using the maximum amount of workspace available.

 

 

To rotate an "AutoShape" in 15-degree increments, click the

"Free Rotate"button (cursor will change to shape of the button)

and hold down the [Shift] key as you drag on your shape.

Click again on the"Free Rotate" button to turn it off.

 

Although you can rotate objects by clicking the "Free Rotate" button

on the"Drawing" toolbar, here's a quick way to flip your text in

a split second. First, choose"Insert" | "Text Box" and enter some

text. Next, click and hold on the upper-right selection handle

of your text box and drag the handle (diagonal arrow) down until it's

below the text. When you let go of the mouse button, the text flips

upside down.

 

Question: Why isn't an animated GIF placed on a slide animated?

 

Answer: Animated GIF pictures don't play while you're working on

your presentation in"Normal" or "Slide Sorter" views. To play an

animated GIF picture, you must switch to"Slide Show" view.

They'll also play if you publish your presentation as a Web page and

then view it with a Web browser.

 

The final panel in the "Slide Show" | "Custom Animation" |

"Chart Effects"property sheet ("After animation"),

lets you hide or dim the entire chart after you've revealed it

through animation. You can even place two charts on the same slide

and use one of the hide settings to make the first chart disappear

before you display the second. This lets you concentrate the focus

of your presentation even more minutely as you step through it.

 

To make your first chart disappear before you reveal a second chart

on the same slide, select the first chart. Choose"Slide Show" |

"Custom Animation"from the menu bar and click on the "Chart

Effects"tab. On the "Entry animation and sound" panel choose an

effect to make your first chart appear during the presentation. On the

"After animation"panel, select "Hide After Animation" or choose a

light shade of a color to dim the chart and click"OK". Finally,

repeat the process for your second chart.

 

Now when you play the slide show only one chart will be visible

at one time even though they are both located on the same slide.

 

As you probably already know, you can press [Ctrl] + P

to use the pen tool while in"Slide Show" view.

PowerPoint selects a default color for the pen (mine is white).

If you'd like to change the color of the pen, choose"Slide Show" |

"Set Up Show"to open the "Set Up Show" dialog box. At the

bottom of the dialog box, you'll notice the"Pen Color" drop-down list.

Select a color from this list and click"OK". When you draw in

Slide Show view, the pen will reflect the color change.

 

You've obviously noticed the wide-screen panoramic trend spreading

across the world. At the present time, everything uses a wide-screen

view, including DVD's and video games. So why not create your own

panoramic slide views in your PowerPoint presentations?

 

You can add panoramic slides to an entire presentation by changing

the height of your slides in"Page Setup". To do so, choose "File" |

"Page Setup"to open the "Page Setup" dialog box. Change the number

in the"Height" spinner box to 4 inches and then click "OK".

 

Your slides are now set up as a panoramic view. You can add

elements to these slides just as you would a normal 10 x 7.5-inch

slide, but be aware of limitations on height and possible

disproportionate presentation of graphics.

 

John Woodmansee, ANR Educator, Grant County, wanted to create

a bulleted list in which he could animate individual items. Problem

was, his list consisted of items composed of both text and a graphic.

He stumped us initially, but Leanne McGiveron figured out that if we

treat the two objects (text and graphic) as one, it works.

 

Start with a new screen and insert a text box. Type in text followed

by the graphic (or vice-versa). You may create one bullet or the

entire list. Hold down the shift key and highlight the graphic for the

bullet and then the text. Use your"Drawing" toolbar and click the

downward-pointing arrow beside the word"Draw". When "Group"

is offered as an option, click it; you now have created one object

(text and graphic) and can animate or format it as you see fit. Then

move on to your next bullet and treat it the same way.

 

After successfully using the above method, John added," In addition,

I found that if you only have one bullet point in a list that has a

graphic (e.g. - 3 points and this is the 2nd point), you can create

separate placeholders with text and have them appear at the right

time under"Slide Show" | "Custom Animation" |  "Order & Timing"."

 

Open a Word file and place your insertion point where you want the

presentation to appear. Choose"Insert" | "Object" to open the "Object"

dialog box. Select the"Create from File" tab and click the "Browse"

button. In the"Browse" dialog box, find the presentation you want

to insert and click"Insert". When you do this, the file you selected

appears in the"File name" text box of the "Create from File"

property sheet.

 

Note: If you plan on making changes to the presentation you're

inserting into the Word document, you may want to select the

"Link to file"check box. By selecting this option, a link is created

between the original PowerPoint presentation and the presentation

that appears in your Word document. If you make any changes to the

original presentation, the presentation that appears in your Word

document is updated.

 

If you think you may need to edit the contents of the inserted file within

the original application (in this case from within PowerPoint), make sure

you select the"Display as icon" check box. This will insert an icon in

your Word document instead of inserting your entire presentation.

 

When you've finished selecting the desired check boxes, click"OK" to

insert the presentation into your Word document.

 

 

Maybe you and your family took a long weekend vacation over the

recent Labor Day holiday. If so, you made sure everything you and

they would need was packed and taken along. Likewise, when you're

preparing to give a presentation away from the office, you don't

simply toss a few PowerPoint presentations onto a disk. If you did

you could be missing some important fonts and linked files.

 

To make sure you have everything you need for your next presentation,

you may want to use the"Pack and Go Wizard". It will help you

gather all the presentation files, True Type fonts, colors, graphics,

and audio clips you need for your next big presentation. To begin,

open the presentation you wish to pack. To use the

"Pack and Go Wizard", choose"File" | "Pack and Go…".

 

Note: If you haven't installed the"Pack and Go" feature,

a dialog box may appear, telling you the feature isn't currently

installed. To install the"Pack and Go" feature, insert the Office

CD-ROM and click"Yes".

 

After the installation is complete, or after clicking"File" | "Pack and Go",

the"Pack and Go Wizard" opens automatically and guides you through

the process of obtaining the files and True Type fonts you need to insure

that your presentation looks as good on the road as it does on your

computer. If you know or suspect a"PowerPoint Viewer" may be

unavailable, or that you may need to present on a Windows 95 or NT

machine, you may include the viewer with"Pack and Go" also.

 

If you make changes to your presentation after you use the"Wizard",

just run the wizard again to update the package. After you pack the

presentation, you can unpack it to run on another computer. Microsoft

PowerPoint Help can guide you through those steps.

 

If you want to apply the same animation effect to several different

objects, you don't need to select each object and change the effect

individually. Instead, you can select all the objects at once and

apply the same effect to all of them.

 

To do this, first open an existing presentation with several non-animated

objects on one of the slides. Next, choose"Slide Show" | "Custom

Animation"to open the "Custom Animation" dialog box. Click on

the"Order & Timing" tab and select the check box ("Check to

animate slide objects") next to each object you want to animate.

Note: Press the [Ctrl] key as you click to apply all at once.

 

Once the objects appear highlighted, you can choose

a"Start Animation" setting for all the selected objects at once.

After you choose to initiate the animation effects by a"mouse click"

or"automatically", you can apply the same animation effect to each

object.

 

To do this, first click on the"Effects" tab. You'll notice

that all the objects remain selected in the"Check to animate slide

objects"list. With the objects selected, choose an animation effect

and/or sound effect from the"Entry animation and sound" drop-down

list. Both effects are applied to all the selected objects.

 

When you've finished, click"OK" to apply the animation effects.

 

 

Placing a graphic bullet before a block of text is a way to

add interest and polish to your PowerPoint slides.

 

To use a picture bullet, first select the text or placeholder whose

bullet character you want to modify. Then, choose"Format" | "Bullets

And Numbering". In the"Bullets And Numbering" dialog box,

click the"Picture" button. When the "Picture Bulletin" dialog box

appears, use the scroll bar to view the bullet choices. When you find

a bullet you like, simply select it and click the"Insert Clip" button

on the resulting pop-up toolbar.

 

Note: A word of caution-keep your audience in mind and don't use too

many variables on any one slide or in a single presentation. They may

begin to concentrate

 

Credit to Microsoft PowerPoint Help© with edits by Donna Southard

found the following, with my edits:

 

Open PowerPoint.

Insert a blank slide (or create a master slide/template if you want

to use the same background photo for all slides in the presentation).

Click "Format" | "Background".

 

Under"Background fill", click the down arrow; click "Fill

Effects", and then the"Picture" tab.

 

Click"Select Picture"; find the folder that contains the picture

you want and double-click the file name. Then click"OK".

 

To apply the change to the current slide, click"Apply".

To apply the change to all slides, click"Apply to All".

 

Note: A word of caution-be sure your type is readable over

the image and any graphics or other add-ins don't conflict.

Keep your audience in mind; don't distract from the valuable

information you have to offer them.

 

If you'd like to, by default, display a black slide at the end of

your presentations, choose"Tools" | "Options". The Options dialog

box opens. Click on the"View" tab and select the "End With Black

Slide"option. Click "OK" to exit the dialog box.

 

Now PowerPoint will always display a black slide when you reach

the end of your presentation.

 

(courtesy of Land Grant Training Association, www.lgta.org

Edits by Donna Southard)

 

You can make manual adjustments for every slide in a presentation

by changing it on the Slide Master,"View" | "Master" | "Slide Master".

The Slide Master appears, with placeholders for the title, text, and

background items.

 

(Each design template is created using masters that hold the

formatted placeholders for text, as well as the background items

such as slide or page numbers, dates, and graphics. For each

design template, there is a separate master for slides, handouts,

speaker's notes, and for formatting title slides.)

 

The placeholders can be moved and reformatted as you wish. The

entire format of a presentation may be changed by simply

changing the format on the master. Changes made to the format of

individual slides do not affect the master.

 

Areas on the Slide Master may be moved, resized, or formatted

in any way that you wish. Selecting placeholders and items

within them is identical to working with a single slide. Click on

the placeholder to select it, and then press the<Esc> key, or

click a second time on the gray box outline to work with the

entire placeholder. With the eight"handles" displayed, the

placeholder can be moved, resized, or you can apply any

formatting you wish.

 

Note: Keeping in mind PowerPoint's definition of

a"paragraph," you can click within any paragraph (bulleted

item) to apply formatting to just that portion of text within a

placeholder. When you are changing text attributes, it is

sometimes less confusing to actually highlight the text you want

to change.

 

People often want to add their organization's logo or a graphic to their

presentation. Using the slide and title masters, a logo can be added

to every slide in the presentation very easily. You probably want to

begin by making room for the logo. This can be done by moving

and/or resizing the title and text placeholders. Once you have made

room for the logo (or any other image, for that matter) select

"Insert |" Picture" ("clip art" or "From File") to identify and place the

logo on the slide and title master. This image then appears on every slide.

 

To add the same text to every slide, add the text to the"Slide Master"

by clicking on the"Drawing" toolbar and choosing the "Text Box" button.

Do not type in the text placeholders. The look of text you've added

with the"Text Box" button is not governed by the master.

 

Note: Remember the saying,"Be careful what you wish for...?" That

applies when you change the Slide Master. Changing the master

changes all of the slides except sometimes, the title slide. If you

only want to change a few slides in your presentation, don't

change the Slide Master.

 

Note: Placeholder text on a master can't be replaced. You can switch

to normal view and type your text there by clicking"Normal" on the

"View"menu.

 

 

courtesy of Microsoft Help©

 

You can drag and drop text to move it around your slide. Select the

text you want to move or copy:

    To move the text, drag it to its new location;

    To copy the text, hold down [Ctrl] and drag the copy to its new

         ocation.

 

To turn off drag-and-drop editing, click"Tools" | "Options" , click

the"Edit" tab and then clear the "Drag-and-drop text editing" check box.

 

Objects you drag and drop into a placeholder assume the size and

shape of the placeholder. To prevent this, you may hold down [Alt]

as you drag.

 

Dragging a bullet point up or down moves the item within the bulleted

list. Dragging it left or right promotes or demotes the item.

 

When you choose or change a template for an existing PowerPoint

presentation, you apply a specific set of characteristics to each slide.

For example, if you select a design template and then apply a bulleted

list to a presentation, a specific set of bullets are used. If you don't

like the bullets that come with a template, you can change them in

the Slide Master (assuming you used same when creating the

presentation).

 

To do this, choose"View" | "Master" | "Slide Master". Next,

click on either the"Master text" style or any one of the levels below

it to place your insertion point in the placeholder. Next, right-click

to open the shortcut menu and select"Bullets and Numbering" to

open the"Bullets and Numbering" dialog box.

 

To change your bullets, click the"Character" button located at the

bottom of the"Bullets and Numbering" dialog box to open the "Bullet"

dialog box. Here you can select the bullet you want to use. Click"OK"

and watch the effect change.

 

There's an option in PowerPoint that lets you see the available

hotkeys/shortcuts for menu commands. If you'd like hotkey commands

to appear next to your toolbar commands, choose"Tools" | "Customize"

and then click the"Options" tab in the "Customize" dialog box. Finally,

select the"Show shortcut keys in Screen Tips" checkbox and click "OK".

 

 

Do you ever want to create a soft drop-shadow rather than the

standard"shadow" in a PowerPoint presentation?

 

First, make a copy of the object to which you'd like to apply the

effect. Select the original object and choose"Fill Effects" from the

"Fill Color"dropdown menu on the Drawing toolbar.

 

Next, select the"Gradient" tab and choose the "One Color" option.

Select a color that matches your slide background and slide the

"Dark/Light"scroll bar to the left. After you adjust the brightness of

the gradient, choose the"From Center" option in the "Shading styles"

panel; select the option in the"Variants" area on the right. Finally,

click"OK" to return to PowerPoint.

 

Resize the effect in"Normal" view and position it behind and to the

right of the copy to create the soft drop shadow.

 

Note: You may also create a regular shadow effect by clicking on

the object and using the"Shadow" icon on the Drawing toolbar.

 

Have you ever tried to move an object to a particular location, but

couldn't do it because it kept skipping over the area you wanted?

By default, PowerPoint has an invisible grid to help align objects.

 

But if you hold down the [Alt] key when dragging an object,

your object won't snap to the grid on your slide. The grid is

temporarily disabled so you can move the object to the exact

location you want.

 

You can convert clip art to a PowerPoint object so that it can be

edited or customized. Select the clip art and click"Draw"

(from"Drawing" toolbar); choose "Ungroup". Another option

is to right-click on the clip art and choose"Grouping" | "Ungroup".

 

PowerPoint automatically resizes text to fit in its placeholder.

You may disable this option by clicking"Tools" | "Options"

on the menu bar; click the"Edit" tab. Uncheck the "Auto-fit text

to text placeholder"check box.

 

You can animate pie charts using PowerPoint's Chart Effects feature

in the Custom Animation dialog box (available under"Slide Show"

on the menu bar. For example, you can have the whole pie chart spiral

onto the slide or each piece of the pie be added as applause sounds, etc.

 

This feature, however, doesn't provide an option to animate an

individual piece of a chart and its related text. If you want to animate

an individual piece, first create a pie chart. In"Slide View", select the

chart ("Tools"| "Customize" | "Drawing" | "Select Object") and then choose

"Ungroup"from the "Drawing" toolbar (you may have to add these

choices to your toolbars if you don't have them-just drag and drop).

Click"Yes" to acknowledge the message box, if needed.

 

The pie chart is now broken up into its component parts. Each pie slice

is an individual piece as is each data label. If you want to, you may

group the pie slice and its text label by clicking on the individual

pieces while holding down the [Shift] key, and then choose"Group"

from the"Drawing" menu.

 

Once all the pieces of your pie slice are grouped as you want them,

you can edit the options in the"Order and Timing" area of the "Custom

Animation"dialog box. This will animate your chart. Since each

pie piece is its own group, you can choose the exact order in which

you want each piece to appear.

 

If you work in an environment where several different

people work to create one presentation, communication can get a little

confusing. To help you, PowerPoint has a feature that lets you insert

comments directly on your slides.

 

To do this, choose"Insert" | "Comment". PowerPoint will

insert a yellow sticky note on your slide using the name that appears

under"Author" in the "File" | "Properties" dialog box

(so be sure you change this entry if/when you make a comment). You may

even format the comment by right-clicking on the"Comment" box and

choosing that option.

 

You can turn comments on and off simply by choosing"View" | "Comment".

PowerPoint saves only your changes which speeds up file-saving

but increases file size. To reduce file size, go to the menu bar and choose

"Tools"| "Options". Click on the "Save" tab and be sure the "Allow

fas saves"check box is cleared. Or, you may train yourself to click "File"

on the menu bar and use"Save As" instead of "Save".

 

Have you ever created a presentation on one computer and

displayed it on another computer? Have you noticed that

some of your bullets changed to other kinds of bullets or even

question marks?

 

If so, you're probably running into a program conversion

problem. PowerPoint 97 and 98 don't have Web bullets or

Webdings (Web bullets& Buttons, Buttons & Icons categories).

Thus, these programs convert Web bullets and Webdings into

characters they do have. This may also happen with PPT templates

that are new to PPT 2000.

 

To avoid this problem, stick with the standard Wingdings/bullets

if you aren't sure which version of PowerPoint you'll be using

for your presentation.

 

Do you ever need to hide one or more slides during a presentation?

For instance, you may use the same group of slides for multiple

appearances but don't need or want certain ones all the

time, depending on your audience.

 

You can hide a slide by clicking the"Slide Sorter View" button

(in the lower left of your PPT window) or choosing"Slide

Sorter"from the "View" menu.

 

Click on the slide you want to hide and click the"Hide Slide"

button on the"Slide Sorter toolbar". (If you do not have that

toolbar visible, go to"View" | "Toolbars" or right-click in the

gray area to the right of the menu bar; choose"Slide Sorter".)

"Hide Slide"is also available as a choice under "Slide Show"

on the menu bar.

 

After you hide the slide, PowerPoint encloses the slide number

in a box with a diagonal line through it. If you need to hide

multiple slides, hold down the [Ctrl] key, select each slide you

wish to hide, and then click the"Hide Slide" button.

 

Now that you've hidden one or more slides, PowerPoint will skip

them during the actual slide show unless you choose to display

them (you may right-click and choose hidden slides via the"Go"

command during a presentation).

If you are into using PowerPoint, there are other templates

and backgrounds (other than those provided) that can be downloaded

and imported into PowerPoint. I found many of these just by using a

search engine such as"Google" or "Dogpile".  Just type in

"powerpoint templates", for example.

 

Many of these are free and really neat!!

 

Thanks to Steve Cain of Agricultural Communications and Grant Wei of the Agricultural Information Development staff for the following:

 

Question: What do I do when a PowerPoint presentation becomes too large (40-70 MB)?

 

Answer: There are several ways to crunch your photos and reduce the chance of locking up your computer while presenting.

 

1. Use Microsoft Photo Editor, which is already installed on your machine. Open your photo in Photo Editor. Go to “File” and select "Save As". In the dialogue box, click on "More." Use the

sliding scale at the bottom to decrease the"size and quality" of the file. If you are using a 1 MB file, you have room for adjustment and the photo will still look fine in PowerPoint. With a little practice you will be able to adjust photos fairly quickly. The problem with this process is that Microsoft Photo Editor doesn't do the best job of crunching while maintaining the quality of the photo.

 

2. Another method that I like that does a good job of crunching and maintaining quality is located at a Web site. I use a

cruncher at a site called Cyber ID:

 

 

You can crunch photos and graphics. Just go to the Web site. Read the instructions on that page carefully and go to work. The up side is that photo quality is well-maintained. The down side is that if you are doing this work through a slow  connection, it will take a long time per photo.

 

3. You can purchase photo-crunching software for your machine. Commercial software that users may already have could be software packages that came with their digital cameras and/or CD recordables. Software packages such as any Adobe graphics packages, any Macromedia graphics packages, and even Corel graphics packages can achieve the same goal. For shareware solutions, the users can check out this site:

 

 

 

 

Create a text box, add text, and place the text box at

the top of the PowerPoint slide on which you want your

credits to scroll. Highlight the text/credit(s) in the

text box. Use the Custom Animation feature's Crawl and

From Bottom effects as one option to animate your credits.

(You may find Custom Animation on the Animation toolbar

or available via Slide Show from the menu bar and by then

pressing Custom Animation.)

 

When you run your slide show, in this instance, the credits

will scroll from the bottom of the screen and disappear

when they run off the top.

 

Use the Recolor feature of PowerPoint  to change or coordinate your clip art

colors with your presentation color scheme by right-clicking on your

clip art image on the slide and selecting Format Picture from the shortcut

menu. Select the Picture tab and click on the Recolor button. You may

now adjust the original color(s) by choosing new one(s) from the

Recolor Picture dialog box.

 

You may preview (click the Preview button) to see if you like the results

and adjust accordingly. Click OK when you've achieved the desired result.

In the Format Picture dialog box, you may merely press OK a second time

or choose to adjust the Color, Brightness, or Contrast and/or to crop the item

for position on the slide.

 

Using visible guides allows you to align your slide elements vertically

as well as horizontally, and it gives you much more precision when

placing the elements. To display (turn on) the moveable guides, select

"View"| "Guides". You can move a guide with your mouse by clicking

on it and dragging it to a new location.

 

If you want more than one guideline, simply click on a vertical or

horizontal guide and press [Ctrl] as you drag it with the mouse.

To remove a secondary guide, drag it back on top of the original guide.

The next time you click on it with your mouse and try to move it,

you'll find that the two guides have locked back into one line.

 

Guides are straight lines, both horizontal and vertical, used to visually align objects. You can add,

move, and delete guides. When an object is close to a guide, its corner or center, whichever is closer, snaps to the guide.

 

If the default guides (that partition your slide into four sections) aren't displayed, click Guides on the View menu.

To hide the guides without deleting them, click Guides on the View menu again.

     Note: You can temporarily override those settings if you click and hold Alt

     while you draw or drag the object.

·  You may add a guide by holding down Ctrl and dragging an existing guide, either ertical or horizontal.

 

· You may delete a guide by dragging it off the slide.

·  You may drag a guide to position it where you want to align the objects.

     Then drag each object near the guide so its center or edge automatically aligns with the guide.

You can animate an image by inserting same in an open PPT file

(Insert | Picture | Clip Art).

Select (click on) the image and press Ctrl]D to duplicate it.

 

You should now have two like images on your screen. Click on one of the images and move it

directly downward and off the bottom of the slide.

 

Right-click on the image you placed off the bottom of the slide; a shortcut menu appears; choose

Custom Animation and a dialog box of that name will open.

Click on the Effects tab and choose Fly and From Top

from the drop-down list in the Entry animation and sound area (lower left of dialog box).

 

Click on the Order and Timing tab. Select the check box next to your image in the Check to

animate slide objects box (upper left). Under Start animation (lower right), choose the

Automatically option and change the default setting from 00:00 to 00:02.

 

Now, select the first image from the Check to animate slide objects list (Picture frame 1). Set the

Start animation to Automatically once again and leave the default setting of 00:00 seconds after

previous event.

 

Finally, click on the Effects tab. For Entryanimation and sound, select Fly and From Bottom.

Now you can press Preview to see your bouncing element.

Click OK.

 

Now you may view your slide show in PPT (Slide Show | View Show). Press Enter to watch the

bouncing effect.

You may experiment with this with objects off the top

or sides of your slide for eye-catching effects.

Page dimensions for the different presentation mediums vary. Slides

and on-screen computer shows are at a 3:2 aspect ratio. Overheads have

a 5:4 ratio, and video is at a 4:3 ratio. Stay inside the center 2/3 of your

image area to avoid objects being cut off when displayed or imaged to slides.

For video, your visual safe area is 7.5"(width) by 5.25" (height) of your

image area.

Thanks to Scott Gabbard, Shelby County Educator, and Lana Johnson, Instructional Technology

Project Manager at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, (a Land Grant Training Alliance team

member) for the following tips on use of color in PowerPoint presentations.

 

The primary concern in color usage is visibility. Color must be seen when

superimposed on a background of another color. Inappropriate colors can

interfere with legibility and too many colors can distract from your message.

Use lots of contrast between foreground and background.

 

     For slides and computer screen shows, use cool colors (dark

     blues, darker grays, dark greens, and black) for the

     backgrounds as they appear to recede away from your eyes.

     Use the warm colors (yellows, light reds, and white) for the text

     and graphics as these colors appear to approach you.

 

           For overhead transparencies, use very light yellow or blue for

           the background and dark colors for text and graphics. Be careful

           with shades of gray; too fine a shade and the dots will clump

           together making your graphics look dingy; too coarse a shade

           will resemble an eye doctors' test charts.

 

Scott added more specifics:

 

     Don't use red background with green text (or visa versa). Some of

     your audience may be looking at a blank screen with blank faces. Studies

     show that 7-9% of the population are color-deficient which means they don't

     see all colors.

 

     Don't use blue on black. It looks out of focus.

 

     Use no more than 3-4 colors per visual or per presentation. Using too many colors

     or too many shades of one color confuses the audience and the message.

 

     Keep a consistent color scheme throughout your presentation.

 

     Use color to create emphasis on a particular word or graphic. However,

     very bright colors scream at your audience and tire their eyes. Be careful

     which colors you use together. Some colors will vibrate against each

     other and make the visual too difficult to read.

 

     Textures or patterns are extremely difficult to see in projected materials.

     Use solid blocks of color instead.