HINT: New computer users may be unfamiliar with some of the terms used in this column. If you come across something you are unfamiliar with, you may wish to go to the Computing With Bifocals Index for help.

I mentioned in my last column that I was really excited that Apple had come out with a new presentation software package called Keynote. Steve Jobs announced it at Macworld San Francisco and gave copies to all the attendees at his keynote address. There are three major pluses to this application. When making a presentation of any kind, it looks much more sophisticated that Microsoft PowerPoint. It is easier to use than PowerPoint, and it lends itself to personal use as well as to business use. For this column I am going to walk you through each step necessary to create 1 slide using Keynote to give you an idea of some of the options you have. Note: Your computer must be running OS X to use Keynote.

Making a Fun Page for a Slide Show

1. Open Keynote by double clicking on the Keynote icon.

2. First you see a basic Keynote page, but immediately a window will open that asks you to choose the theme you wish to use. (After becoming familiar with the application you can create your own additional themes.) Click once on your theme choice and then click on "choose theme."

3. As soon as you choose you will get a page that features your chosen theme along with all the information you need to create your presentation. For this example I have chosen "Fun Theme" so my new page looks like the image below. The area on the left of the window will display each slide as it is created.

4. For this exercise I want to create a slide containing a picture. Therefore I need to select a different "master slide" using the Inspector. The Inspector gives me the following choices. All I have to do is scroll down to the one I want and release the mouse button. The new master format instantly opens.

5. I have chosen the Master Slide for Vertical Photo. My work space now looks like this.

There are only 4 more steps necessary to complete this slide. When this work page opens, the first thing I see is a selected area (note the line and the small white boxes). I double click inside that area and a cursor appears, letting me know I can key in text. When that part is finished, I need to move my cursor to the smaller box, click once to let the application know that is where I want to be and add additional text when the cursor appears. Then I need to insert an image.

6. There are two ways to get an image and add it to my slide. I can drag and drop any image I have saved in iPhoto or I can take any image that has been saved on my desktop in one of the following formats ( PIC, GIF, TIFF, JPEG, PDF, MOV) and drag and drop it onto the slide. My iPhoto image will automatically be a JPEG image (as set up by iPhoto). If you, as a new user, are unfamiliar with these different designations, it is not something that you have to worry about at this point.

Once the picture is in place and sized to your satisfaction, go to the Arrange pull-down menu and choose "Send to Back." Any edges falling outside the frame will become invisible. That means your image will look as if it has been professionally cropped and edited to specially fit your slide. Pretty slick, no?

Completed Slide
(Click the image for the full-sized image
We also have a 600 pixel-wide image)

The last required step is choosing a transition style (the method by which the slide appears). If you do not make a specific choice, the slide will simply move as would any other slide in any other slide show. However, one of the beauties of Keynote is the choices you can make concerning this issue.

While you have the chosen page in open mode, open the Inspector and click on the slide image on the Inspector tool bar. Click on the "Transition" pull-down menu and scroll down to the transition method you want to use and release the mouse button. Your chosen method will be demonstrated for you in the top section of the Inspector. You may try as many as you wish until you have the one you want.

Your slide is finished. To create the next slide simply click on the "New" button in the top left corner of the window and a new slide will open. Choose the master slide you want, and go from there.

But suppose you are not completely happy with the slide you have finished? For instance, I don't like how the picture looks inside the frame. I can't change the frame, but I can change the background to be white to match the edges of the picture. To do this I once again open the Inspector, clicking on the slide button. When I choose "Background" and then "Color Fill" I get a box that shows the current color. To change it I click on the box and the "Color" option opens. I choose my new background color and close the color options and the color changes.

Suppose I still don't like the results? I can change the whole thing by choosing a new theme by clicking on the Themes option in the tool bar. The new theme is automatically changed and now I can have a slide that looks like this with no additional effort on my part.

This discussion really only touches on the very basics of making a dandy slide show. You can have parts of a page appear or disappear from the page at your direction. You can add a movie to any page of the slide show. There are built-in systems that allow you to quickly create tables or graphs, and again, you can have parts appear when you wish, have graphs wherein a part of a pie-chart moves out of the circle for special attention, and rearrange your slides using drag and drop techniques. There are several options for each theme style that allows you to change the background color while retaining the integrity of the design. Finally you can import an existing PowerPoint slide show with one click. It moves over intact, even retaining the same backgrounds and styles chosen originally.

That is all there is to it. To continue making slides, click on the plus mark button labeled "new" in the upper left hand corner of the open Keynote window. A new blank slide falls into place and you are ready to continue.

Keynote comes with a complete users guide and a fold out short cut reference, plus registered users are entitled to 3 months of user support from Apple.

Copies of Nancy's book Tips, Hints, and Solutions for Seasoned Beginners Using Apple Macintosh Computers With OS X are available in PDF download versions  for US$9.57 and in print version for $18.15 plus $4.00 shipping.   To view sample pages and get ordering information visit the September 14, 2004 column.

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Check out Nancy's complete index of all her columns for the most complete list of tips anywhere. The list is categorized and is a great reference when you are looking for help! A Capacious Catalog Of Computer Tips

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Nancy has a Master's degree in Human Services Administration and prior to her retirement she worked for almost 30 years in field of mental health and mental retardation. She has been a Mac user for 11 years, and has recently developed an avocation of teaching basic computer skills in both group and one-to-one settings.

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