Google wants to wrench your World Wide Web browser app into an all - purpose app . As if einsteinium - ring armor , word processing , spreadsheets , and programing were n’t enough , you may now also create presentation without leaving your web browser , thanks to Google Presentations .
I took a face at the other Google vane applications — Docs , Spreadsheets , Calendar , and Gmail — in The Google Office . Since that clause was published , Google added the Presentations app to its Web - base productivity suite . Here ’s a look at what you’re able to expect from this Web - based counterpoint to PowerPoint and Keynote .
As with Google Docs and Spreadsheets , Presentations does not yet work in Safari — at least not Safari 2.Safari 3offers partial support , and Google says it ’s working on full support for Apple ’s web browser app . In the meantime , you’re able to use a Mozilla - found web browser app , such asFirefoxorCamino . Bysigning up for Docs & Spreadsheetswith a Gmail story or other Google account statement , you mechanically get accession to presentation as well .
Using Presentations
Google Presentations puts a basic presentation editor mighty in your WWW web web browser window .
The layout of the Presentations window guess that of PowerPoint or Keynote : a scrolling list of sliding board thumbnails on the left field , with the main editing area on the right ; formatting controls are on the toolbar at the top . If you ’ve ever created a presentation in another program , most of the controls in intro should be ego - explanatory . And if you ’ve never used another presentation software before , you may foot up the basic principle of Presentations in minutes .
Getting StartedTo produce a new presentation from the main Google Docs page , choose Presentation from the down - up New menu . Once in Presentations , you’re able to do the same matter by choosing New from the soda water - up File card . you’re able to also spell an live PowerPoint ( .ppt ) presentation — though not a Keynote presentation — by choosing File - > Upload a File from the bulge out - up menu . Like Google Docs word central processor , Presentations also get you einsteinium - mail documents to a special address to import them .
redact a PresentationPresentations offers a canonical choice of text format controls : take among six fonts , 14 sizes , and four styles ( bold , italic , and underline , in addition to manifestly ) , plus a limited pallette of foreground and background colour . you may add clickable links to any text , adjust indents and conjunction , and create bulleted or numbered inclination . Add a computer graphic by clicking on the Insert Image connectedness . you’re able to move or resize graphics and text boxes by clicking and dragging , or nudge them using the arrow key on your keyboard . To move an image or text edition box onward or backward , decently - click ( or ascendence - click ) on it and choose the appropriate command from the contextual menu .
By fall into place on the Change Theme link , you may choose among any of 15 preset combinations of background graphics , baptistry , and colors . background from spell PowerPoint presentations generally appear approximately as you ’d wait , but the only other way of life to use a usance background figure is to place the image manually on each slide .
you could add a slide by clicking on New Slide and choosing any of five standard slide layouts . After selecting an existing slide in the tilt , you could change its view by clicking on Move Slide Up or Move Slide Down ; other links let you delete or duplicate sloping trough .
deliverance and ExportingAs you work on your document , introduction mechanically saves it periodically in your Google Apps depot place ; you could also select Save at any time to save directly . Exporting presentations , however , is quite limited : if you choose File - > Save as Zip , Presentations download to your computer a .zip archive containing your presentation as a serial of linked HTML file . Those files also require a Mozilla - compatible web browser for video display . Printing directly from Presentations is affirm , albeit with modified control over print setting .
Revisions and CollaborationUnlike PowerPoint and Keynote , Presentations lets you return to any previously make unnecessary rendering of your written document ; each variant is heel on the Revisions yellow journalism . presently , however , there ’s no way to compare revisions or see precisely what ’s transfer .
Presentations also include collaboration features ; as in Docs and spreadsheet , you may press Share to invite others to regard the presentation online or even make changes in real time . If you need to make your finished presentation available to anyone on the Internet , come home on Publish and then on Publish Document ; Presentations then gives you a URL that anyone with a supported web browser can employ to watch the presentment .
bear witness a PresentationWhen you ’re ready to submit your slide show , clack on Start Presentation . A fresh windowpane appear , zooming out almost to the full tiptop and width of your display , though Presentations does n’t cover your Dock or bill of fare stripe . You step through slides by come home on arrow buttons or using the arrow keys on your keyboard . A collapsible pane on the right-hand side of the window shows any other masses presently catch your presentation online . you may participate in a alive confabulation with your audience by type in the field at the bottom of that window glass ; the schmoose copy appears above it .
What’s missing
If you ’re used to PowerPoint or Keynote , you ’re bound to feel Presentations has a farsighted inclination of drop features . It volunteer no aliveness of any kind , include transitions between slides and sequential exhibit of schoolbook boxes within a slide . There ’s no outline mode ; no charts , table , boundary line , or drawing tools ; no impost bullets ; no area for presenters ’ notes ; and no on - screenland timekeeper or other display aid . And you ca n’t make your presentment fill the entire CRT screen , meaning there will always be at least some potentially distracting on - screen component .
Who it’s for
presentation is ideal for storing an exigency musical accompaniment of your PowerPoint presentations — even if your laptop computer is stolen on your way to a big group meeting and no one else has PowerPoint , you ’ll still be able to give at least a rudimentary adaptation of your presentation . It ’s also an easy style for multiple people to collaborate on a ready - and - foul presentation . And it ’s a commodious , lowly - bandwidth method to partake a presentation ( or even present it interactively ) over the cyberspace .
But make no error about it : in its initial version , Presentations is extremely light on feature , and wo n’t replace PowerPoint or Keynote for the serious presenter any sentence soon .
[ Joe Kissell is the senior editor program ofTidBitsand the writer of the vitamin E - bookTake Control of Upgrading To Leopard(Take Control Books , 2007 ) . ]
