Notes on Using PowerPoint: a Presentation Authoring Program

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Creating a Slide
• Definitions used in Power Point
• Adding Charts to a slide
• Adding video Clips to a slide
• Adding audio clips to a slide

• PowerPoint

  Introduction PowerPoint uses the metaphor of a slide. Under the Insert Menu, you have tools to place text, graphics, video, and sound on your slide. You may think of each of these different formats as objects.  You may place a fair number of objects on each slide, depending upon the memory of your computer.  To view an explanation of any of these terms, you only have to click on the underlined word.  Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) then jumps you to the appropriate place in this text for your explanation.  Click here to return to table of contents.

• • Definitions

    • Template: a formatted blank presentation slide.  You may choose from a number of templates any time you add a slide.
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    • Slide: a full screen, approximately 640 X 480 pixels, graphic which may have text, pictures, graphs, spreadsheet information, drawings, or video animation
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    • Pixel: a measure of thenumber of usuable dots on a vga screen
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      Chart is visualization of data in a spread sheet in the form of a line, pie, column, xy, or scatter graph.

    • Graphic: picture or video or animation in one of these file formats: .gif, .tif, .jpg, .bmp, .avi, .mov,mpeg
    • • .gif is the old standard for internet developed by Compuserve
      • .tif is the standard used by media and desktop publishing
      • .jpg is the newer format devleoped by Jet Propulsion Lab: better compression than .gif and uses less bandwidth
      • .bmp is the windows bit map picture file format
      • .avi is the older audio/visual file format for motion video with audio
      • .mov is the quick-time format created by Apple
      • .mpeg is the latest compression codex for audio/video digitization.
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    • Format is the setting of color, texture, and size of
    • • font: the characters, usually given in points; where 72 points = 1 inch; characters may be formated for size; color; attributes such as subscript, superscript, underline, bold, and italics; shading within the outline of the character; and shadow of the outline of the character;
      • background; color, texture, and perhaps the importation of a picture or other object;
      • frames about text or objects may be formated for width of line, color, shading of the line, and attributes such as shadow;
      • size of slide, page, or window if the slide opens up a movie window;
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    • Transitions is the way the program goes from one slide to another; in other terms wipes, fades, or cuts:
    • • Wipe is when a new slide or black wipes across the slide in front of you;
      • Fade is when the slide fades to black or another color and then has a transition to another slide;
      • Cut is when one slide is turned off just as another is turned on, jumping from one to the other without any transition.
      • Transitions may be timed slow or fast.
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    • View indicates what you see on the screen:
    • • Slide view means you see the slide on a screen where you can modify or create it: IMPORTANT: templates may prevent you doing certain things to the slide.
      • Outline view is an outline of your presentation by words.
      • Slide sorter is thumpnails of your slides in order. By rearranging the thumbnails, you can rearrange the slides.
      • Slide Show displays the slides in the order with transitions, audio, and in sequence, using either a timer or manual slide movement.
      • Notes or pages allows you to make notes to yourself about each slide.
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    • Show sequence has three modes:
    • • Timer allows you to set the time the slide is displayed before the show moves on to the next slide: not recommended for you presentation.
      • Manual allows you to control the movement to the next slide by a mouse click.
      • Interactive allows your audience to view loops or sequences, to move forward or backward through your slides, and even to iput information to your show such as text to be viewed later.
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    • Files allows you to save your show, load your show, or set up slides. You will be concerned with save and load primarily.
    • • Save transfers the file from the computer's memory to its hard-drive and overwrites with a prompt any previous versions.
      • Save as allows you to change the name of the show, create a different version, and save it under a new name. Generally, you use this command if and only if you want to modify the show for a different purpose.
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    • Draw allows you to group and ungroup objects.
    • • The Draw Toolbar has tools to draw simple shapes and objects:
      • • A is the graphics text tool: it allows you to place text as a graphic object rather than a text object, which means it can be rotated and other neat stuff.
        • The straignt bar on a slant is the straight line draw tool allowing you to draw, guess what, straight lines.
        • The rectangle tool looks like a box.
        • The circle or ellipse tool looks like an ellipse.
        • The curved line is the tool to draw curvers.
        • The polygon tool is clicked once for each point of the polygon and then draws the multisided figure with an irregular shap.
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• • Creating a Slide

    • Either choose a template from the gallery or blank presentation.
    • Design the slide with some combination of text and graphics.
    • Generally, the graphic should be above the text.
    • Bring up your new slide and decide to use one of the AutoLayout or start from a blank slide (the last layout under AutoLayout is the blank slide.)
    • • To insert text into your slide
      • • Click on one of the text sections on an AutoLayout Slide or
        • Goto Insert on the Menu or
        • Click on the A on the Draw menu on the left side of the edit window.
        • Type text in the box created on your slide.  Use Format or the buttons on the Toolbar to format your text.
      • To insert a graphic into your slide
      • • Click on one of the graphic sections on an AutoLayout slide or
        • Goto Insert on the Menu
        • • Choose your graphic element
          • • Picture
            • Graph
            • Table from Microsoft Word
            • Chart from Excel
            • Clip art
            • Object
          • Adjust the size of the graphic element using your mouse
          • Note:  you may have to select the graphic element.
      • You can also draw simple lines and shapes to emphasize or high your text and graphics.
      • • To do so, select one one of the shapes such as a line or box from the Draw menu to the right of your edit window.
        • Using your mouse, select an area on the slide where you want the Draw object.  You may have to drag your mouse to create the shape.
        • By selecting the shape again, you may change its properties such as size, color, and shape.
    • To get the best displays on our television monitors, avoid blends and odd colors. The patriotic colors of red, white, blue work very well if you give them a black background. The colors blue, black, and dark green work well on a white background. The color gallery may be the best choice for this as the program will automatically create the best colors for you.
    • • Slide Color Scheme will get you to a screen with standard colors that you can set for your whole presentation or change from slide to slide. Be sure to look at these colors before you go too far.
      • Color is the trickiest part of presentations at this time because the VGA monitor on your computer can display such as finer resolution than the television monitor we use for projections.
    • Apply a transition to your slide when you finish creating it.
    • • Transitions may be found under the menu item Tools.
      • Build Slide text is another transition tools which applies just to text and has many of the same transition as you have for the whole slide.
    • After you have made a number of slides, run your slide show to see if it has continunity and looks o.k.
    • • Slide sorter under view allows you to modify the sequence of your slides. Simply highlight the slide, put your mouse arrow on it, hold down the button, and move in front of the slide you want to follow it.
  • Write either an outline or script to go along with with your slide show.
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• • You may INSERT or COPY an Excel chart or other spreadsheet chart.

To INSERT an Excel chart (graph), you have several choices.

• On the taskbar is an icon that stands for Excel.  You may click on this wizard and follow instructions.
• The easiest way to insert a graph is to create one in Excel or another spreadsheet, SELECT the graph, and COPY it to the clipboard.  Then return to Power Point, put your cursor in your side, and PASTE the graph from the clipboard.
• If you have a spreadsheet different from Excel, then the procedure is quite familiar.  SELECT the menu item INSERT and scroll in it to OBJECT.  Click on OBJECT to bring up the scrolling list of objects.  CLICK on your graph.  When the windows comes up either OPEN your file or browse to the file name.  Double click the filename to import the chart into your slide.

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• • The ability to include a video clip in your slide.
  • Find the menu item INSERT. Under this item is a command, OBJECT. Click on OBJECT. A scroll box comes up with many, many choices of objects. To include a video into your slide, scroll through the list of objects until you come to Movie Clip (.AVI). Click on Movie Clip (.avi). When the next screen comes up, OPEN the .avi file that is your video clip.
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• • The ability to add digital sound to your slide.
  • Find the menu item INSERT. Under INSERT, find the command OBJECT. SELECT Object. When the next screen comes up, OPEN a .wav file. The .wav files if your sound. When you open the file you add a sound to your presentation.
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