Since its surprise unveiling in January 2003 , Keynote (; April 2003 ) has draw a cadre of loyal fans who ’ve worked around the programme ’s limit to craft sensational presentations . Microsoft upped the ante last year with PowerPoint 2004 (; August 2004 ) , a warm ascent that delivered dashing graphics ; a smoother workflow ; and Presenter Tools , a control panel for on - screen slide show . And just when it seemed that Keynote might die on the vine , Apple unveiled Keynote 2 . This raw release fills in many of the former version ’s gaps — and adds a few new wrinkle .

Animation Options

Animation builds determine how text and graphics enter and exit the CRT screen , and Keynote 2.0 ’s new Build Inspector options give presenters much more control over them . To help you manage complex physique chronological sequence , a sliding panel heel all the animations that you ’ve programmed for a slide . you’re able to program any build to set about on a shiner get across or from zero to 60 seconds after the previous animation , and you’re able to define the precise length of each spiritedness . Keynote also now supports simultaneous builds , during which two objects can appear or go away at the same sentence .

Instead of the previous version ’s five speed options , Keynote 2.0 lets you specify a accurate length for any build or transition . However , Keynote still miss the ability to originate a soma when you press a specified schoolbook or pictorial object — there ’s no room to make a corner disappear by press it , for example . And you still ca n’t apply builds to master chute , so you ca n’t change all your sloping trough championship builds from dissolve to twirl in one step .

Other new options are geared toward automated or interactive presentations ; they ’re ideal for kiosk or computing gadget - based grooming textile . Keynote ’s novel Document Inspector pill lets you program a slide show to start mechanically when it give , or loop topology when it ’s over . If you want a presentation to race neglected , you’re able to limit meter for reflex slide transitions and bod that would normally necessitate a mouse click to play . Keynote also lets you take a soundtrack that cross one or more lantern slide ( that plays until the music is over ) , an often - requested feature .

Like PowerPoint , Keynote allow you insert links to other sliding board in the same show , links that open another Keynote presentation , or tie-in that open your World Wide Web web browser to display a Web pageboy . ( You ca n’t create a link that opens another software or document , though . ) Web View , another new feature of speech , inserts a snap of any Web page directly onto a slide . When you execute the slide show , Keynote mechanically update the page if your computer is connected to the Internet . Unfortunately , you ca n’t surmount the shot or zoom in on a specific natural action , and Web View refused to work at all on two of my three Macs until I created a new substance abuser account . ( Apple is aware of this problem . )

Drawing and Media

The Mask tool , a much - needed addition , let you draw a rectangular window over an spell image ; you could then reposition the image inside the window , so you do n’t have to crop the persona first . Keynote ’s expanded Shapes palette disport six fresh shapes , and you could now figure text into an target simply by clicking on it and typing . Alas , Keynote still miss a Bézier bender puppet , so you should use a separate drawing curriculum for anything beyond simple illustrations . And Keynote still does n’t get you resize grouped objects — to change their sizing , you have to ungroup them first , an plaguey extra step .

Keynote 2.0 ’s tight consolidation with Apple ’s iLife applications get it gentle than ever to add sound , images , and movies to your slides . The new Media internet browser provides exigent access to your iTunes and iPhoto libraries and your Movies pamphlet , although it does n’t rent you designate any other research locations . Surprisingly , Keynote still gives you less control over imported QuickTime moves than PowerPoint . Unlike PowerPoint , Keynote does n’t permit you to begin playing a movie by snap on it , nor can you commence and stop playback in mid - current . Support for scroll QuickTime VR panoramas is also lack .

Keynote ’s expanded repertoire of eye confect let in new sloping trough transitions like Droplet , an eye - catch upshot that assume wavelet in a kitty of water , as well as several new text edition physical body . Two of the novel transitions — incinerate and Flash — aren’t support on Macs with older video cards , however . ( They ’re list one by one in the bug out - up menu in the Slide Inspector ’s Transition tab . )

Help for Presenters

admit a cue from PowerPoint , Keynote has a Presenter Display lineament that allow you monitor your presentation and continue a step ahead of your audience . But Keynote leapfrogs PowerPoint by letting you make up one’s mind which elements ( current slide , next chute , or speaker unit ’s notes ) to show . An optional timekeeper displays either the go by fourth dimension or the fourth dimension remaining in the slide show , along with a digital clock . Presenter Display work only if the reminder on which you show the presentation is n’t mirror , so it wo n’t work on iBooks , and you ca n’t use it to practice your presentment unless you connect a projector or a 2nd monitor lizard .

Keynote 2 squashes a bug that kept the cursor invisible throughout a lantern slide show . However , you ca n’t draw on the cover while a presentation is run , so you ca n’t apply an electronic whiteboard or tablet to annotate playground slide . Unlike PowerPoint , you have to use a separate program to record a vocalisation narrative for your presentment .

Export Controls

In gain to QuickTime , PowerPoint , and PDF export alternative , Keynote now lets you export presentations as a series of double or as a Macromedia Flash movie . ostentation export is only adequate for quick - and - dingy jobs , though — among other problems , sonant bead phantasma are n’t render dependably and schoolbook alignment sometimes put up . If you ’re planning on establish your intro on the Web , you ’ll still have to do it manually , because there ’s still no HTML export . And Keynote has a glitch that also plagues Pages — exported PDF data file are missing their drop phantasma when see in Adobe Reader .

Macworld’s Buying Advice

Several skip from Keynote 2.0 ’s feature article list are particularly frustrating . For example , Keynote still miss a right slide sorter that allow you display rows and columns of coast at various levels of enlargement . For maturate boomer with declining eyesight , like me , Keynote ’s single column of tiny thumbnail is almost useless . Only time will state whether this unexampled version is less finical than its herald , which occasionally balked at spread presentations for no ostensible reason . So far , I have n’t encountered any difficulties with corrupt files , although there have been scattered reports of problem inApple ’s Keynote treatment group .

Despite its limitation , though , Keynote 2 is a greatly improved app that lets you project intro that look safe than the best that PowerPoint has to put up . And Keynote ’s clean , approachable interface makes it easy to get your work done quickly when there ’s a deadline loom .. I ’m hoping that Keynote ’s inclusion body in iWork ’ 05 will mean more - frequent updates . In the interim , though , Keynote 2 is worth every centime of iWork ’ 05 ’s price .