Cross-Platform PowerPoint Tips

dstranathandstranathan
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I have to build a zillion PowerPoint slideshows on a Mac using OS 9 and PowerPoint 2001. They will be displayed on a Windows box with a LCD at 1024x768 for a room filled hundreds of people..



What is the best font to use? Times? Verdana? Arial?



I don't want reflow mucking up the final product!



Can fonts be embedded in PowerPoint?



Any tips or tricks for me?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    have you considered using Keynote?



    beats PP for visual quality and professional presentation in most tasks...

    - fonts, transparency, anti-aliased images and transitions way beyond MS "design"



    can dump out as QT movie, too
  • Reply 2 of 6
    cubedudecubedude Posts: 1,556member
    He said he has to use OS9, though that doesn't make any sense to me. Keynote only runs on OSX.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    curiousuburbcuriousuburb Posts: 3,325member
    ah yes... OS 9 and PP 2001



    generally speaking, headlines should be Sans Serif (Arial for PC), body text Serif (Times)



    but if you know the projector and PC box you'll be driving from,

    and, ideally, have access to the room you'll be in (lighting test),

    the best plan might be to make up a few dummy slides of each

    and get a few friends with squinty eyesight to sit in various seats as preview



    IIRC there were a few cross platform bugs mentioned in the Keynote threads as remaining from the OS9 PP2001 vs Windows version. mostly to do with PPWin allowing multiple columns of bullet points (not happy in Mac versions or Keynote), and differences in the embedded pictures (cropped and zoomed in PP don't migrate as well as images sized outside)



    there are some useful sites with 'powerpoint tips', but most fail to grasp that the content should be more important than the bells and whistles used to deliver it to the audience.



    some have templates to download that may help organize your zillions of PP files into a few stock talks



    avoid 'bouncing ball karaoke' of printing the text you plan to say. patronizing, IMO.

    show charts and graphs and discuss them. focus on the function, then form.



    YMMV, depends on the topic
  • Reply 4 of 6
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I'd be very careful when you import objects. The may break. Just the other day I was trying to edit an Excel graph on my Mac in a PP file made on my PeeCee and Poof! Crash.



    Oh! Maybe it would be helpful to stipulate that the PeeCee have quicktime.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    dstranathandstranathan Posts: 1,717member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by curiousuburb

    have you considered using Keynote?



    beats PP for visual quality and professional presentation in most tasks...

    - fonts, transparency, anti-aliased images and transitions way beyond MS "design"



    can dump out as QT movie, too



    NO. All my clients use PP on PCs.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    dstranathandstranathan Posts: 1,717member
    Some of the PPT files my PC clients are giving me all all kinds of .exe and .dll files attached! Yikes...
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