presentations
Work
9:29AM Angus Kidman | PowerPoint straddles the presentation software market like a colossus, but if you only occasionally dabble in building presentation decks, then the terminology can seem pretty confusing. Microsoft’s Crabby Office Lady blog runs through the basics for people who think placeholders belong on the dining room table. More »
PowerPoint Terminology Explained For The Confused
9:29AM Angus Kidman | PowerPoint straddles the presentation software market like a colossus, but if you only occasionally dabble in building presentation decks, then the terminology can seem pretty confusing. Microsoft’s Crabby Office Lady blog runs through the basics for people who think placeholders belong on the dining room table. More » 
Design
When To Use Bar Charts Instead Of Pie Charts
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Pie charts look cooler than other kinds of charts. They’re based on pie, after all, and seem less accountant-like than bars, bubbles and lines. They are, however, often a very wrong way to represent subtle but important differences. More »
Design
10:30AM Angus Kidman | What’s the most commonly encountered issue with PowerPoint? Turns out it’s not designing poor presentations or objects not lining up properly. More »
Fix Common PowerPoint Problems
10:30AM Angus Kidman | What’s the most commonly encountered issue with PowerPoint? Turns out it’s not designing poor presentations or objects not lining up properly. More »
Design
Google Docs Presentations Updates, Improves
1:45AM Adam Pash | If you’re the adventurous sort who’s ready to ditch PowerPoint for a web-based alternative, Google Docs isn’t the only option, and in many cases, it’s probably not the best option, either. More »
Work
Present.io Sets Up No-Software-Needed Web Presentations
3:00AM Kevin Purdy | Drop.io is taking on the likes of WebEx, GoToMeeting and all the other webinar/web conference/meeting apps out there with presentation.io, a service that lets you upload, describe, and manipulate files for anyone with a browser. More »
Design
Prezi Makes A Zooming Map Of Your Presentations
12:00AM Kevin Purdy | Prezi is a Flash-based online presentation maker that doesn’t believe all slides are the same. Prezi allows creators to zoom in, slide over, play videos, animate, and do other eye-catching stuff with your information. More »
Design
Zamzar Converts Powerpoint Into Easy-To-Share Images
4:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Ever wanted to extract Powerpoint slides as images for embedding elsewhere? Try Zamzar. To convert the file, simply upload the file (ignoring the obnoxious popup ads), choose PNG format, and enter your email address to receive the link for the converted files—it took a little while for the files to show up, but the conversion process worked perfectly—all ready for you to embed or email the files. An alternative method for converting and sharing Powerpoint is to simply upload the file to Google Docs, and then use the PDF export option to download and share with friends—or you can use Google Docs to embed presentations on your web site or blog. Thanks, Nick! Zamzar More »
Work
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Producing a chart in Excel in Office 2007 doesn’t require much more than selecting a suitable set of numbers and clicking on the appropriate chart icon (on the Insert tab if you’re ribbon-phobic). However, making that chart look presentable can be a bit more work. On the official Excel blog, developer Robin Wakefield discusses some of the techniques available for making charts look more professional, serving as a useful reminder that under the automated processes there’s some serious tweaking possible if you have the time and inclination. (There’s also a very non-MS admission of how the introduction of Themes in Office 2007 might have created as many problems as it solved.)
How to Create a Professional Chart using Excel 2007 [Microsoft Excel Blog]
More »
Produce Better-Looking Charts In Excel
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Producing a chart in Excel in Office 2007 doesn’t require much more than selecting a suitable set of numbers and clicking on the appropriate chart icon (on the Insert tab if you’re ribbon-phobic). However, making that chart look presentable can be a bit more work. On the official Excel blog, developer Robin Wakefield discusses some of the techniques available for making charts look more professional, serving as a useful reminder that under the automated processes there’s some serious tweaking possible if you have the time and inclination. (There’s also a very non-MS admission of how the introduction of Themes in Office 2007 might have created as many problems as it solved.)
How to Create a Professional Chart using Excel 2007 [Microsoft Excel Blog]
More »
Design
Use Office’s SmartArt For Simple Illustrations
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Next time you need to make a list look a bit fancier than bullet points on white pages, Microsoft Office’s SmartArt tool can fill in for your awkward Photoshop skills. Online Tech Tips details how. SmartArt works around your text or data to add colour schemes, connecting illustrations, and different styles of organising frames. Most of the designs aren’t ostentatious or smack of border art; just a way to spiff up your text for display in a PDF or pasting into a larger illustration. Hit the link below for a screenshot walkthrough of a typical SmartArt case. How to use Office 2007 SmartArt [Online Tech Tips] More »
Design
