Comments on: Mac presentation software, not PowerPoint or Keynote?

Question: Mac presentation software, not PowerPoint or Keynote?

stefnet — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:25:36 -0800

Are there any decent Mac "presentation software" programs for out there that are not PowerPoint or Keynote?

By: nathan_teske

nathan_teske — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:36:06 -0800

Well it really depends on what you want to do. e.g., If you're just doing simply slideshows and don't care about fancy transitions, you can author as a PDF and play back in Acrobat Reader.

By: travis vocino

travis vocino — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:41:26 -0800

On the other side, if you want to get really fancy, Macromedia Flash works well.

By: stefnet

stefnet — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:46:24 -0800

Ah! Acrobat or even Preview will fill my needs perfectly. My past presentations have involved either the low-tech overhead transparencies or the full video shebang, neither of which will be appropriate for this thing I have to do for a class. So I'm out of the loop on all of this middle range stuff. I'm loath to use PowerPoint and don't need all of its hoopla anyway.

Thanks!

By: dasibiter

dasibiter — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 19:07:31 -0800

There is also Open Office which exports to pdf, powerpoint, etc... and happens to have somewhat straightforward presentation utility.

Not sure if there is build for OS X or not.

By: advil

advil — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:30:58 -0800

If you want to do LaTeX, there are a bunch of options available, that all would result in pdf. I've seen the beamer class in particular recommended as being easy to use.

There is an X-windows version of open office for OS X (there are working on a native port). I tried to use it and it caused one of the two really hard crashes that I've had on my ibook - the kind where a friendly message comes on your screen and says "you must turn off your computer now" in about 8 languages. YMMV.

By: filmgeek

filmgeek — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 05:47:42 -0800

Why is keynote bad?

It will make the "PDF stuff" look good (if you lay it out), handles full screen video, and is very "mac" vs. powerpoint (which isn't horrible, just not great.)

By: oraknabo

oraknabo — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 05:52:54 -0800

Dude, Hypercard!