The PowerPoint® Blog Archives - Page 214 of 238

Other Widescreen Page Setup Options

Depending on some variables such as client preference or AV equipment available, I go with 1 of 3 options when developing a widescreen presentation.

Option 1:
– Page setup = 16”x9”
– This is the easiest to work with and tends to be the least confusing for people inexperienced with widescreen shows
– Problem is all graphics should be created at full size, not upsized from an existing 4×3 presentation

Option 2:
– Page setup = 10”x5.63” (or 8”x4.5”)
– Best size to use if have to use existing graphics from a 4×3 presentation and if client wants to reuse elements in their (4×3) presentations
– Problem is it really confuses people unfamiliar with widescreen shows and aspect ratios

Option 3:
– Page setup = 10”x7.5” (standard 4×3 presentation)
– Add black letterbox bars to top and bottom leaving a 16×9 “active” area
– Again, good for using existing 4×3 presentation graphics or need to supply images for client to repurpose into their presentations
– Also good for multi-source shows as lower letterbox area can contain quick reference syncing information (eg. L1, C1, R2 (left 1, Center 1, Right 1))
– Problem is needs to have real scaler that can cut off unused portion sent to project and a good projector as not all pixels are being used

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:52:46-08:00April 2nd, 2007|Tutorial|

Going Wide Screen

The era of the wide screen presentation is here. Computer monitors are wide screen, plasma and lcd TVs are wide screen, and wide screen projectors have dropped in price. So how do you create a widescreen presentation to use all of this great “realestate”?

1) Open a new presentation

2) Go to FILE >> PAGE SETUP

3) Here is the standard, 4×3 aspect ratio, presentation

4) Change the 10″ x 7.5″ to 16″ x 9″

Now you have a wide screen presentation set to fit the industry standard 16×9 aspect ratio.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:52:25-08:00March 31st, 2007|Tutorial|

Small Can Be Better

Here is a common element that really does not get much attention. Note the “(cont)” at the end of the header.

It is the same font, same color, same size as the rest of the headline. But it really is not a part of the headline content. When I need to add this to a presentation header I do a little formatting like this

The additional item is now non-bold and several font sizes smaller. It conveys the needed information (that this is the same topic continued onto another slide), but is less obtrusive and does not compete with, or alter the header message.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:51:33-08:00March 29th, 2007|Tutorial|

Vista and PowerPoint Add-Ins

I am grappling with Vista and its new file structure and security ‘features.’ One thing I have discovered, and this affects several add-ins for PowerPoint, PhotoShop and Dreamweaver so far is the permissions settings for the PROGRAM FILES folder. It looks like Vista has made these default to read only, or non-accessible for many add-ins. Of course this is only a problem is the add-in installs itself in the Program Files folder (which almost all do).

I can offer two recommendations:
1. Give all users full permissions on the Program Files folder (Note: this may lead to other security issues as Microsoft has seen fit to change this globally)
2. Change where the add-in is installed. Create your own folder like C:Add-Ins (Note: the application will need to know to look for add-ins here)

Ah the joys of new technology… Maybe I will be able to get back to designing presentations soon.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:50:46-08:00March 26th, 2007|Software/Add-Ins|

What Takes Up My Time…

Okay, a bit of guilt here. First I lock myself out of the blog and spend over a week figuring out how to hack into it. I have been in Seattle, San Francisco, Big Bear, Los Angeles (3Xs), Boston and Orlando in the past 3 weeks – so time has been spent traveling and working onsite at many corporate events.

But the BIG thing that has taken my time is this new computer (actually I had a number of these delivered, but this is the one I am configuring first). It is running Windows Vista Ultimate and has a ton of power (2.16Ghz Dou Core 2, 2GB ram, 512MB video card, 160GB hard drive, etc – and it is a laptop!). Vista is stunning, but I am spending lots of time working through issues with various software to assure they work and are stable.

So my time has been taken up with airplanes, taxi’s to hotels and the nuances of Vista. Stay tuned, I have a backlog of great tutorials and information series that will start showing up soon!

— Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:49:42-08:00March 24th, 2007|Personal|

It Must Be The Water

So the secret to Microsoft’s success is in the water!

One of the benefits of working at Microsoft, or being an invited guest, is that beverages are free. For the week of the MVP Summit there was a special blend of water on hand.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:48:51-08:00March 22nd, 2007|Personal|

Listening to Bill Gates

Last week was the Microsoft MVP Summit – a great time! Even more impressive was that Bill Gates himself gave a live keynote address – A definite sign that I am in good company. Hear is a photo of Mr. Gates opening statements, this would be after the ‘please no photography or video taping’ announcement (notice the hundreds of cameras being held up – mine included!).

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:48:20-08:00March 20th, 2007|Personal|

PowerPoint Contest (with Guy Kawasaki)

Slideshare, a new PowerPoint website that looks to me like youtube for PowerPoint, has announced a competition. What makes it interesting is that Guy Kawasaki will be judging.

Here is the announcement I found at The Techsplodder. But interestingly, the press release they show is dated March 19, 2007 – but today is the 18th! Click here to go to the slideshare.net website.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:47:59-08:00March 18th, 2007|PowerPoint|

I’M IN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been a great week spent as a guest at Microsoft.

It has been a painful week – due to some almost unbelievable occurances I have been locked out of the blog and unable to access it. After spending the afternoon armed with lots of notes and suggestions, and working way outside my realm of expertise (ie. PHP administration) I have successfully hacked my own blog database and given myself access once again!

Stay tuned for some delayed photos and highlights from this past week at the Microsoft MVP Summit.

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:47:18-08:00March 16th, 2007|Personal|

Align, Equal Size and Balance

On this slide the elements where nice high-resolution images. But they blend together and do not have a strong sense of balance.

The presentation I was working on involved converting all to a 16×9, widescreen, format. Having the extra space was great for this slide, allowing me to keep the images large. From a design perspective each had a black stroke applied to keep it from blending into the background, they were made equal size with the other elements on its row, the left and right elements were aligned with one another and all were equally distributed (horizontally). The overall goal was to help the images stand out as individual elements and be presented in a visually balanced layout – here is the slide developed:

– Troy @ TLC

By TLC Creative Services, Inc.|2016-11-17T15:46:35-08:00March 9th, 2007|Portfolio|