The assignment seemed straightforward : to compare PowerPoint 2011 ( ) with Keynote ’ 09 ( ) by creating the same presentation in each . ( Macworld did the same thing a few years ago , compare PowerPoint 2008 with Keynote ’ 08 . ) But the more I work with each app , the clear it became that such feature - for - lineament comparisons really miss the point .
Both programme have some remarkably cagy put-on up their respective sleeves — and some evenly singular deletion . As a resultant , they take dramatically different approaches to many steps in the presentation - creation process . The inquiry , then , is n’t so much which one is best overall , but rather which one has the specific Seth of bells and whistle you necessitate for the kinds of introduction you make .
( Note : I set out to includeGoogle Presentationsin my comparison . But that on-line app is so surprisingly rudimentary in its capabilities that direct comparisons with PowerPoint and Keynote would be meaningless . )
PowerPoint 2011 offers 31 entrance effects, versus 17 in Keynote ’09, but Keynote’s effects tend to be more striking.
Working with slides
When it add up to creating a intro , both PowerPoint and Keynote offer a extract of themes that admit completing backgrounds , baptistery , gloss , and styles ; you may initiate from one of these or make your own theme . Within a root , you may pick out from among numerous layout , such as a title of respect plus bullet or a caption photo , for any give slide . In either coating , adding a Modern slide with the same layout as the previous one is as wide-eyed as selecting the survive slide and press Return .
If you want a different layout , PowerPoint lets you add a unexampled microscope slide with a establish layout in one step , by choosing it from the pop - up New Slide control on the Ribbon ’s Home pill . But in Keynote , you must create a new slide first and then apply a unlike victor to it — either using the Appearance tabloid on the Slide examiner , or by displaying the master slide in the sidebar and dragging a overlord onto the fresh slide . This two - step cognitive operation is awkward , especially when you must repeat it many clip .
When building slides with numerous objects , such as a series of nontextual matter that will occupy the same spot on the coast in sequence , each software offers its own eddy . Both let you change an object ’s front - to - back stance using command such as Arrange - > Bring Forward or Send Backward .
Keynote ’09 lets you animate a table easily, yet gives you cell-by-cell control if you need it.
In Keynote , you could go further by using a Smart Build to set up a serial of graphics , including invigoration between them , and reorder them by drag and drib . That ’s useful , but PowerPoint ’s new Arrange - > Reorder Objects command is even better . It display a 3D view in which each object on your slide ( not only graphics , but also textbook corner , table , chart , and so on ) is on a disjoined layer ; you may then dawn and drag to reorder the layer .
Working with graphics
Even if you ’re a active speaker , adding graphical elements to your presentation can help keep the hearing ’s interest and illustrate your detail . In either computer program , you may exhibit a media web web browser that lets you stick in picture and television from your iPhoto , iMovie , and iTunes libraries ; PowerPoint also includes a pick of several hundred piece of music of time art . Once you ’ve added a graphic element , you’re able to apply various change and transformations , such as adding a shadow or reflection , modify opaqueness , or adjusting contrast and tint .
PowerPoint put up a much greater variety of effects ( which can also lend oneself to text , tables , motion-picture show , and other demonstration elements ) , including 3D rotation and esthetic filter much like those in Photoshop ; Keynote offers neither , although it does a well job of give the effects it does have approachable and pleasing to the eye .
PowerPoint 2011 propose 31 entrance effects , versus 17 in Keynote ’ 09 , but Keynote ’s effects tend to be more striking . Both applications now let you mask an image with a physique — that is , obscure the part of an effigy that are n’t part of the shape you select . Keynote gives you a pick of 12 such Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ; PowerPoint offers well over 100 . However , I found it comfortable to position the mask and resize both the masquerade and the underlying image in Keynote , whose user interface is vindicated and simple-minded .
On the other mitt , I found PowerPoint ’s Remove Background tool to be far more efficacious than Keynote ’s Alpha tool . Both let you selectively mask out the ground of images , but PowerPoint ’s interpretation is much better than Keynote ’s on photos with complex setting , often requiring just one or two clicks to isolate the field of study . Keynote ’s Alpha work well when ground are largely uniform in vividness and is more intuitive to use , but requires ho-hum fiddling when the background is not uniform or when the foreground and background are similar in color .
Although both practical program let you easily summate tables , 2D or 3D chart , and shapes such as boxes , circle , and arrows , PowerPoint also offers SmartArt , a collection of templates for creating complex arrangement of interrelated shapes such as flowcharts , process , and organizational chart with just a click or two . To achieve a comparable effect in Keynote , you ’d have to create and format each grammatical constituent shape severally — a time - eat up project . ( Of course , if you ’ve never felt the need to include such a computer graphic in a presentation , SmartArt may be the solution to a nonexistent problem . )
For art - heavy presentations , specially when the graphics require considerable handling , PowerPoint provides skillful - quality results , and with much less endeavor , than Keynote .
Transitions and animations
Transitions from one sliding board to the next can be as uncomplicated or as flashy as you want , in either app . Both have a all-embracing variety of 2D and 3D changeover upshot , and I found them or so equal overall in ocular wallop . Keynote has a selection of textbook and physical object effects that allow a chute ’s scope in seat while changing its cognitive content ; one such is the much - hype Magic Move transition , which automatically moves and/or resizes objects without requiring each one to be animated separately . PowerPoint has no exact analog for Magic Move , but create a comparable range of burden with its survival of the fittest of seven Dynamic Content conversion .
Keynote ’ 09 let you animate a board easy , yet gives you cell - by - mobile phone restraint if you need it . Both PowerPoint and Keynote supply a great many ways to animate item-by-item objects on a slide . you’re able to apply a peculiar effect when the object appear or disappears , as well as intermediate effects for emphasis such as changing size of it and splay . PowerPoint offers intimately twice the number of entrance , exit , and accent event as Keynote does ; Keynote makes up for a smaller measure with more visually telling effects such as Comet , Flashbulbs , and Flame .
In both applications programme , you’re able to animate an object by specifying a way for it to journey — anything from a simple line to a complex hand - drawn squiggle . In Keynote , an physical object ’s path can be broken into section defined by changeover points ; for each section , you could individually trigger movement and adjust the speed , if you care .
By demarcation , in PowerPoint each path ( disregarding of how many point it has ) represent a individual continuous move , so if you desire the object to interchange speeds , you have to add multiple paths . PowerPoint forces you to opt one of only five preset vivification hurrying for any track , while in Keynote you’re able to arrange the accurate duration of meter the aim takes to traverse each segment . Keynote also makes it simpler to combine brio essence , such as spin while move along a path — you could do it in PowerPoint , but it takes more work .
If you want to animate the contents of a table — for instance , having each cell appear individually , with an accompanying flash — you’re able to determine this up in Keynote in a duet of clicks . PowerPoint has no way to reanimate tables , so bring the same issue would mean creating a separate text stoppage for each board cell and practice the desired animation burden to each one individually .
Overall , Keynote ’s transitions and animation are more whippy , loose to practice , and more visually appealing than PowerPoint ’s .
Presenting and sharing
In PowerPoint 2010 , you may opt File - > part - > Broadcast Slide Show to upload your presentation to Microsoft ’s waiter in a way that lets you present it hold out to other people . After you ’ve partake it , PowerPoint gives you a URL you could distribute to witness , who can then unfold the presentation in their connection browsers ; as you ill-use through the sloping trough on your Mac , all the spectator can follow along . Although this mental process forge , it assumes you have some self-governing means of communicating with your audience — for example , setting up a conference call in Skype so they can hear your voice as well as watch the slides .
Keynote trust on iChat for outside presentations rather than building a broadcast capability into the app itself . After depart a television confab with a distant substance abuser , you’re able to drag your Keynote presentation into the iChat window , set down it on the “ Share with iChat Theater ” recording label . Your presentation then grow to fill most of the display , while the live video image shrinks to a small box in the corner , and two - way sound and telecasting continue uninterrupted while you work through your slides . ( Although you may divvy up a PowerPoint data file using iChat Theater , it shows only a still image of each slide , much as in Quick Look ; animation , transition , phone , and other special effects are absent . )
Both applications let you share demonstration data file online as well . In PowerPoint , you could choose File - > Share - > Save to SkyDrive and lumber in with a Windows Live ID ( free to produce , if you do n’t already have one ) to lay in the filing cabinet on Microsoft ’s server . you may then lumber in at www.live.com to view or edit the Indian file online , and to divvy up it with others you designate . In Keynote , you’re able to choose Share - > Share via iWork.com to upload your presentation to Apple ’s server — again , optionally designating those to whom you grant memory access . But I find both solutions inapt and unnecessary ; if I want to share a display either in public or in camera , I ’d be more inclined to expend a generic single file - sharing shaft such as Dropbox .
For live presentations , I reckon the two applications equally good ; for remote presentations , Keynote ’s superior integration with iChat Theater makes it the clear achiever .
The bottom line
you’re able to create telling , professional presentations in both Keynote ’ 09 and PowerPoint 2011 , and can do so more easy , and with more pizazz , than in the previous versions of each . But each has its unique strengths .
For quickly building a complex presentation with multiple playground slide layouts , PowerPoint has the edge ; it also has superior graphics handling , soft - to - use flowchart , and loads of 3D option . If you require to enliven tables , move objects along a complex path , give a intro remotely using iChat Theater , or wow your audience with amazing transitions and effects , Keynote is the better choice . I ’m beaming to have both .
aged contributor Joe Kissell is the senior editor in chief of TidBits and the author ofMac Security Bible(Wiley , 2010 ) .
