Here is a slide from a recent show that just made me cringe (presentation was supplied, so I had no editing or design input).
It does show all of the important information. But it does not have a balanced/aligned layout. It is difficult to figure out the message, text is small, and it did not animate to help show the flow. And it was a background slide for over 5 minutes…
– Troy @ TLC
Tuesday Microsoft closed a critical PowerPoint hole that that has been under attack since last month, which seems to have been directed at corporate computers to gain access to data. It did not affect PowerPoint 2007, but the patch is for PowerPoint 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, the PowerPoint Viewer, Office Compatibility Pack and Works. No Mac patch yet.
How big a deal was this? It was only the fourth time in the past 4 years that Microsoft has released just one security bulletin. To patch your computer, Run Windows Update (or you can wait for it to be part of an upcoming Automatic Update).
– Troy @ TLC
If you are using PowerPoint 2007, or any Office ’07 apps, I highly reccomend checking for Office Updates and installing the just released SP2. It has been a while in the making (announced back in October) and while PowerPoint sees some bugs resolved other applications see features added.
– Troy @ TLC
In Los Angeles this week preparing presentations for one of our larger clients, who just this past week was listed as the top earning woman of the year!
Serious – Lori and I are working for Mattel Toys preparing presentations and this really was in the L.A. times. And her (Barbie) presentations not a list of boring bullet points!
– Troy @ TLC
If you need to add a Trade mark to your text the common solution is to:
– Go to INSERT
– GO to SYMBOL
– Go to NORMAL TEXT and hunt for the trademark symbol
But there is a an easy and quick way that never has your fingers leave the keyboard. Just type “(TM)”. Done.
– Troy @ TLC
How is this PowerPoint art?
When it is created in PowerPoint with hundreds of autoshapes! Just the mustache is made up of what looks to be over 200 autoshapes (I stopped counting after 75)!
This incredible work by the UK’s Colin Neal can be downloaded from the PowerPointHeaven site. Look for the entry called “Captain Jack Sparrow.” Click here.
– Troy @ TLC
In this case Dr. Watson is a debugger for Microsoft, not Sherlock Holmes assistant.
If Dr. Watson is running and a Windows application crashes, such as PowerPoint, it creates a report with technical information that Microsoft developers use to determine what caused the crash. The key is sending the data, which I have been promised is anonymous, to Microsoft.
After spending a few days with the PowerPoint developers at Microsoft last week, like it or not, Watson reports play a HUGE factor in what gets fixed, or updated. So submit those Watson reports whenever possible – they make a difference.
– Troy @ TLC
I develop a lot of multimedia CDROM’s and these projects always begin with PowerPoint. After gathering details from client I create a mock-up of the various navigation points within the application. Then in PowerPoint make a flow diagram of what the user experience will be. This allows client to visually see my interpretation of their information before I dive into the actual programming.
– Troy @ TLC
As a quick follow up to last week’s animation sample (and response to a number of emails), here is why I used Photoshop to create the reflection vs. using PPT2007’s new reflection feature.
First, I am a HUGE supporter of Microsoft’s investment adding better visual effects tools. Further, the reflection effect in PPT 2007 is great!
But it has a few limitations…
1. Animation – when you view the entrance animation, note that the reflection comes in just a bit behind the actual lens image. This visually adds depth and another level of animation. There is no way to animate on visual effects PPT creates.
2. It’s all about the angle – PPT 2007’s reflection tool really works best on elements that are flat, or horizontal. As example:
This is the Photoshop reflection inserted as a separate image. Note the reflection starts butted up to image, and can be easily adjusted. It also was manually adjusted to have a bit less of an angle to better match the original graphic (see sample below for more visual example).
This is the PPT2007 refection effect. In this case even with it on the closest setting, there is still a gap. The angle is also based on the rectangle of the placeholder, so the reflection angle is more distorted.
Okay, so this was a really close call if it would be worth going to the extra effort in Photoshop to create separate images. But here is a more pronounced example – and what if I need the reflection on the side of the image…
– Troy @ TLC
OOPS – I HAD A TYPO, WHICH IS CORRECTED NOW (2014, not 2007)
I know there are a lot of people out there still using PPT 2003. This was very evident when talking with people at PPTLive last week. And just as way of record, all of my computers have both PPT 2003 and PPT 2007 installed.
So for all of us PPT 2003 users, here is some important news and dates Microsoft announced last week:
1. Support for PowerPoint 2003 will end October 14, 2008 unless you have upgraded to SP3 (so this means you will need SP3 to install any updates after the middle of this month). SP3 for Office 2003 can be downloaded for free from Microsoft’s site.
2. Support for PowerPoint 2003 is slated to end in April 2014 (so this means no further service packs or updates will be developed and distributed after this date).
– Troy @ TLC