PowerPoint problem number 1: how to play it properly on another
computer?
By Rudolf Boogerman, visual artist, multimedia epert. -
27 October 2006
MS Powerpoint is a good presentation application, not because
it excells in its features, but because it is widely used by managers
and marketing people all over the globe. It is easy to use, no steep
learing curve unless you use the advanced options like incorporating
video etc... As long as you use PowerPoint very conservative, i.e.; keep
it very simple, you will experience little problems, but as soon as you
want to create a professional and appealing presentation, the problems
start.
What nobody tells you is that PowerPoint has compatibility issues when migrating
a presentation to other computers.
Below I sum up some typical problems
that can give you a real headache when you have only half an hour to
fix things before you have to start a projection for hundreds of viewers!
I have been there, sweating like hell while changing all slide transitions
just in time to start the show for 650 people, the general manager breathing
in my neck, wanting to strangle me in fact, but I made it in time. My
honour and that of the company involved was saved :-)
Animated slide transitions
The problem begins when you use the advanced animated transitions and
then want to play the presentation on a computer that has another
version of MS Office or PowerPoint - or worse - no PowerPoint
installed at all.
Several things can happen: it does not play at all, or suddenly your
beautifull transisitons don't work anymore as they should and you can't
get it fixed, even if you fiddle on the host machine.
Help, what happened to that font?
You have this great font on your PC but the computer on which the
PowerPoint presentation must play doesn't have it. You have no
idea how to install a font or you are not allowed to install a font
because you have no admin provileges on the computer. What
now?
Platform dependency
Another horror: you created the PowerPoint on a Mac and it has
to play on a PC! Hey, what happened to my transitions, fonts,
why is that text higher up in here? Etc...
Microsoft's solution: the Standalone viewer
Microsoft offers a standalone viewer that is supposed to solve
the problem of version incompatibilities. That stand-alone
viewer is a joke!
It was made in 1997 and never worked as it should. Microsoft
knew that and announced that they would not update the viewer anymore. That's
a big help, isn't it?
What it boils down to,
your current PowerPoint version will not play properly on another
computer that has no PowerPoint installed or not the right version.
Right, but Is there a solution?
Thanks to the urgent questions of several art directors from advertising
agencies who experienced all these problems with PowerPoint,
I began to investigate ideas to work around the problems and solve
them for once and for all. And YES, I found a bullet
proof solution!
The solution: convert it to something else
it is surprisingly simple: You buy a converter that converts your
PowerPoint presentation into a Flash animation while keeping the
same navigational ways to work with the presentation ensuring that
your sales managers or marketing people can work with it without
having to learn a thing.
I tested out 8 converters that did the job and only one came out
on top: FlashPoint.
All others failed in one or more areas. The most common error is
that animated slide transitions are not properly converted, often
resulting is shaky, amateuristic transitions. Another
one is that the software developers thought to improve the navigational
system by adding an ugly navigation bar at the bottom that also
shows up on projection screens. Not a pretty sight!
FlashPoint has also a navigation bar, but at least you can opt for
the regular PowerPoint navigation, invisible with the arrow keys
on your keyboard, as it should.
Advantages?
98% of the computers have a Flash plugin, so you can be pretty sure
that the host machine will
be able to play it. And if they don't, FlashPoint also
creates a real standalone application for you that plays perfectly
on its own, no strings attached, no nasty surprises.
I was really happily
surprised with the result when I converted several complicated PowerPoint
presentations I made. No font issues, no slide transition changes,
it plays as if it is the original PowerPoint presentation playesx from
the originating computer.
in short, just wonderful!
Added bonus: play it on the web!
It was something I wasn't even looking for while on the hunt for
a perfect solution, but you can play your presentation on the web
as well because the converted Flash file is lighter in weigth then
the original PowerPoint. In
fact is it substantially lighter and therefore really suitable to
show on your website.
Minor points?
As with everything, there are a couple of minor points: The
standalone player does not automatically play full screen. Not
a big problem, as soon as you start the presentation, you can go
to "View" and select "Full Screen", but it would
be handy if it maximized automatically. Another thing is that
there is no standalone version for Mac.
In fact, you must use FlashPoint on a Windows machine
to convert the PowerPoint presentation. For Mac users that is a
problem, but not forever as Mac is migrating to Intel.
A last flaw is that the standalone version resizes the images to
make them lighter in weight. While this is fine for the
regular Flash version, I wish it didn't for the standalone player
because that is not used on the web and has therefore no restrictions
on weight.
By resizing, the quality of images deteriorate when played
fullscreen. Most
people won't notice, but I do and that is enough for me to tell the
developers of Flashpoint to do sometihng about it. :-)
They
promissed me to look into this.
free
for 15 days!
You can try out the software for 15 days. I suggest you do
that before you purchase. The software claims to cover 99%
of all transitions but you know Murphy's law, don't you? If you have
that 1 transition that you really love and it doesn't work out with
FlashPoint, it's a waste of time, isn't it?
So, go ahead and try it. If you are happy with this solution, drop
me a line or even better, buy it here. :-)
FlashPoint Buy Options
 |
$49.00 Educational/personal/Non profit License |
|
$120.00 Commercial License |
After we received your payment, you
get a license key sent by e-mail to activate your trial version as
a full version.
No
need to download another version of FlashPoint.
I hope this article was useful to you.
Rudolf Boogerman
Raboo Design can consult you on various subjects regarding web
design and multimedia, what programs to use, short cuts, problem
solutions and ideas to get you on your way.
Rudolf has vast experience on Windows and Mac issues that he can
share with you personally. Many advertising agencies consult
him regularly on key issues related to visual communication. He
also solves your technical problems with email forwarding,
FTP, rented shopping systems, autoresponders, newsletter systems,
etc..
An
example:
A client wanted didn't want to have to deal with yet another
email account although the new email address was already printed on his stationary
and business cards. Rudolf proposed to forward the new email address
to his regular email address. The client agreed and Rudolf dealt with
this technical detail the same day by going into the control panel installed
by the hosting provider of the client. Total cost:
only $22.75 USD.
A problem solved
by Rudolf can save you thoussands of dollars for just $60.00/hour!
For more info: [email protected]
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