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Page 115 of PowerPoint tutorials, presentation essentials, personality interviews, and PowerPoint news.
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Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint
October 4, 2012
Stylizing text is one of those features that is grossly overlooked or entirely over-used in PowerPoint -- and either of those situations can be a shame since PowerPoint allows you to do so much to text with its powerful WordArt feature. Before we proceed further, you must know that WordArt has nothing to do with Microsoft Word and is a totally independent feature in PowerPoint. What WordArt does to the text is similar to what PowerPoint's Shape Styles do to shapes. WordArt Styles are a collection of some prebuilt text styles which you can instantly apply to your text. These WordArt Styles are all Theme-specific, so if the presentation's Theme is changed, any WordArt applied also reflects the changes accordingly.
Learn how to apply WordArt Styles in PowerPoint 2010 to stylize your text.
October 3, 2012
As part of our Segment Polygons series, we bring you this Segment Square slide: a square divided into four equal triangles emerging from its center. Use this Segment Square in your presentation to illustrate a concept with four categories or sub-sections – or even a variation of the classic four square matrix. Each individual segment is a separate shape that can be filled in with a picture, a gradient, a solid fill, or any of the other PowerPoint fill types. In the example shown in the download presentation, we used all four pictures related to fauna. Use this Segment Squares graphic in your presentation and share your feedback with us!
Download and use these slides in your presentations.
October 3, 2012
The default appearance of your text in PowerPoint depends upon its font type and size. By default, these choices are based on the Theme which is applied to your presentation. So if you use PowerPoint's default Office Theme, then anything you type into a text object may be in the Calibri typeface. Still, you can easily change the Theme Fonts set altogether for your presentation, and all text instances will change to the default typefaces of the new Theme or Theme Fonts set. Also, you can override these defaults and choose a typeface that is different -- or even a different font size. In this tutorial, we use the terms typeface and font type interchangeably – let us now explore how you can choose different font types and change the font size of the selected text on the slide.
Explore how you can change font types and sizes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
October 2, 2012
We get you several concept slides this week -- there's a new Polygon series with segments. The first slide in this series is a segmented triangle. We also bring you an eight segment circle to finish our Segment Circles series. There's an amazing article by Tom Mucciolo called Presentations Perspective -- Tom talks about how presenting anf PowerPoint have evolved over the years. We then discuss the new Presentation Gallery in PowerPoint 2013, and how that version now defaults to widescreen 16:9 slides. There's a review of Raptivity 7.3, an elearning product. Enjoy reading this issue and share your thoughts with us.
October 2, 2012
In a previous tutorial, we learned how to view and edit Properties of the current presentation in PowerPoint 2010. All the Property fields are saved as metadata -- this can be very useful in cataloging and searching presentations and individual slides. In addition to editing or adding the Property content in Backstage view, you can also bring up the same Properties with the the Document Panel, an interface option within PowerPoint 2010 which directly appears above the active slide, and below the Ribbon. Additionally, you can use the Advanced Properties option.
Learn how to view and edit advanced presentation properties in PowerPoint 2010.
October 1, 2012
Animation is movement – and nothing captures attention of the human eye like a “little” movement. More movement does not get more attention – in fact too much animation results in distraction. Even if you decide to use just a wee bit of animation, that can still be an approach that will go astray if your animation is not relevant to your slide content. Also animation needs to be part of your story – something that you plan from the moment you develop your slide content – and not something that you add at the last moment to bring in some pizzazz! Clearly there are a few guidelines that you must be aware of before using any animation in your slides – here are some thoughts to get you started.
Explore guidelines that will help you use animation more effectively in your slides.
October 1, 2012
We already explored how PowerPoint 2013 defaults to widescreen slides in all new presentations. However, you can change your presentation's aspect ratio from widescreen (16:9) to standard (4:3) -- and also do the reverse. PowerPoint 2013 has some features up its sleeve that make these changes of aspect ratios easier to understand -- and some quirks too! This tutorial will help you understand both scenarios better.
October 1, 2012
Sometimes, you may need some dummy text to quickly add to your slides so that you can ascertain how some body of text looks or fits within a certain text box or placeholder. Microsoft introduced an undocumented feature in PowerPoint 2011 that lets you achieve this with just a few keystrokes, and once you are used to these shortcuts, you'll learn to appreciate them so much!
Learn how to insert dummy text in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
September 29, 2012
As part of our segment circles series, we bring you this 8 segment circle graphic that you can use to effectively explain any idea in your presentation that comprises 8 components/elements. Each individual segment is a separate shape that can be filled in with a picture, a gradient, a solid fill, or any of the other PowerPoint fill types. In the example shown, we used all 8 pictures related to food. Similarly, when you use this 8 segment circle in your presentation, try to use pictures that are related to each other.
Download and use this concept slide in your presentation.
September 28, 2012
Raptivity 7.3 enables you to quickly create learning interactions. You can choose from over 180 learning interactivity templates and add games, simulations, brainteasers, interactive diagrams, virtual worlds, etc. All these interactions can then be exported to various formats -- most of the newer interactions support HTML5 output that's iPad friendly. Additionally, you can enhance the repertoire of interactions by adding more packs to your Raptivity installation -- these packs need to be purchased separately.
Learn more about Raptivity 7.3, a product that enables you to quickly create learning interactions.
September 28, 2012
When you open PowerPoint 2013 for the first time, you'll see that all slide examples in the Presentation Gallery are in widescreen aspect ratio with 16:9 proportions. This is in complete contrast to the typical standard slides with 4:3 aspect ratios that you saw in all older PowerPoint versions. For many of us who are living in a world with widescreen displays and projectors, this may be a blessing -- but many others may not feel as blessed! Worse, there's no obvious way for you to change these defaults so that you can always have 4:3 slides rather than 16:9. Microsoft probably made this change since widescreen is the common format for current displays nowadays -- but to provide no option to choose a aspect ratio at the time of creating a slide is akin to providing zero control to the user.
Learn about PowerPoint 2013's default 16:9 widescreen slide option.
September 28, 2012
Presentation properties (metadata) are the details about a presentation that include specifics such as title, author name, subject, and keywords that identify the document's topic or contents. It is important to specify relevant values for the presentation Properties fields, so that it can be easily organized and identified. Populating the Properties fields also helps you search for particular slides more efficiently later.
Learn how to view and edit current presentation properties in PowerPoint 2010.
September 27, 2012
When launched, PowerPoint typically 2013 opens a Presentation Gallery that provides several ways to start your next presentation using a template, a Theme, a recent presentation, a not-so-recent presentation, or even a blank presentation.
Does the PowerPoint Presentation Gallery not show up when you launch PowerPoint 2013? No worries, you can also access this gallery after launching PowerPoint 2013 by choosing the File | New menu option.
Explore the new Presentation Gallery in PowerPoint 2013.
September 27, 2012
When you use PowerPoint or any other Microsoft Office program, you can work with a particular object only if it has been selected. For example, you need to select a shape to make changes to that particular shape on your PowerPoint slide. Similarly, you must select a chart to edit it. And yes, you can select a text container object such as a text placeholder, a text box, or even a shape -- and then make changes to its position, formatting, size, etc. However, this changes the entire text container, and leaves the actual text content largely unchanged. To make changes to the actual text, you first need to select the text and then make changes by using the options available within the Home tab of the Ribbon or within the Format Text dialog box.
Explore various ways of selecting text in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac.
September 26, 2012
After our successful Segment Circles series, we bring you the Segment Polygons series. We start with this Segment Triangle slide: a triangle that includes three equal, perfectly sized segments that you can use to effectively illustrate “three-in-one” or “one-for-three” relationships. Each individual segment is a separate shape that can be filled in with a picture, a gradient, a solid fill, or any of the other PowerPoint fill types. In the example shown in the download presentation, we used all three pictures related to nature. Use this Segment Triangles in your presentation and share your feedback with us!
Download and use these slides in your presentations.
September 26, 2012
When you are working on a PowerPoint presentation, the AutoSave option, if enabled, automatically saves your file at the specified time increments. This way you get to replace your current file with an earlier version. This can be very useful if you want to go back to the state of your slides an hour ago, or even two hours ago without having to use any Undo option.
Learn how to restore earlier versions of your current presentation in PowerPoint 2010.
September 25, 2012
We start this issue with an unconventional approach to no-bullets presentations – let’s give you a hint, a conversation replaces the bullets. We then provide you with an amazing seven segment circle graphic that’s completely PowerPoint ready – just copy and drop it in your next presentation to edit, modify, and play with. Did you know about the lengths that people would go to – just so that they are in proximity to their iPads? Learn more about that too! Then you get to read how you can create better slides for a PechaKucha or Ignite presentation. And then there's a review of a large collection of PowerPoint charts and diagrams. Have fun reading this issue and share your thoughts with us!
You May Also Like: Learn PowerPoint 2011 for Mac: Font Collections | Learn PowerPoint 2013 for Windows: Set Standard 4:3 Aspect Ratio as Default
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