Lesson 3

Printing and Special Enhancements

Description

The first two lessons covered a lot of basics in creating a slide set. This lesson discusses another important skill you will need -- printing options. It also addresses changing the layout and appearance of slides, both individually and for the entire group. Lastly, you will learn some other options that can be used when creating slides for a "live" presentation running on the computer.

Objectives

1. Learn the print options for a slide set, to print regular full page slides and various types of handouts.
2. Learn how to add simple text annotations to a slide.
3. Learn how to change colors, text size, or object placements on one slide.
4. Learn how to select either the layout or background layer of a slide and make changes that affect multiple slides.
5. Learn how to add a logo or image onto the background.
6. Experiment with applying transitions to slides and to bulleted items when a slide show is played.

Printing Options

What Can Be Printed?

Before looking at the "Print" dialog box, you need to know that there are various items that can be printed through Presentations:

The option you select when printing depends on your situation and preference.

Printing Basics

You can bring up the "Print" dialog box either by clicking on the [Print] button on the Toolbar, or by selecting FILE on the menu bar, then Print.

There are various "Tabs" in the dialog box. The main "Tab" is Print. From the Print Tab you select the type of item to be printed and number of copies. There is a button here for [Print Preview], which shows you what the output will look like before printing. This button is especially useful when you are printing handouts, speaker notes, or audience notes and do not know how many slides per page you want. Press the <Esc> key to exit out of Print Preview and return to the "Print" dialog box to print.

The Current Printer list box lets you select from the various Windows printers installed for your computer.

When Printing Slides with Color Backgrounds

If you are using Presentations to print traditional overheads or material for a poster display, you will want to be able to print in color to get the best effect. If you have a noncolor printer, your printer will translate colors into shades of gray.

There are two options you should consider selecting from the Details Tab in the Print window:

• "Print background" lets you choose whether or not a background will print; even if you have a color printer, you may want to print the slides full page in color and then the handouts without the background, since this prints much faster (and is cheaper to duplicate).
• If you select "Print background", then another option is available -- "Adjust image to black and white." This adapts the color by converting text to solid black, and rendering objects in shades of gray. If you do not adjust to black and white, then the slide is printed in color (or shades of gray on a noncolor printer). Even the color background will print in shades of gray.

Exercise 1

Open the "newsletter tips" file from earlier lessons, or a slide set you have created. Experiment with options under the "Print" dialog box. Change the print item to "Handouts" and select 6 per page. Use the [Print Preview] button to see the results. Press <Esc> to go back to the "Print" dialog box. Change the number of slides to 4 per page and again use [Print Preview]. Again, press <Esc> to get out of the preview mode.

Print a single full page slide using your regular printer with the "Print Background" option selected on the Details Tab. Then print it with the "Print Background" not selected. If you entered speaker notes for your slides in Lesson 2, print a few slides using this format.

Adding Special Text Boxes

As already stated, this lesson series is not addressing how to create original art work using Presentations. However, there is a "drawing" feature that needs to be covered, since it could be very useful for many slides -- adding text boxes to a slide. For example, the title slide now just gives the title and subtitle. It would be helpful to add your name (or the presenter's name) and affiliation to this slide.

Text boxes have to be added in the Slide Editor View. The button to create a text box is called the [Text Object Tools] . It is found on the Toolbar. Clicking on the down arrow next to the [Text Object Tools] shows you four icons to pick from:

	Create a text box
	Create a text line
	Create a bulleted list
	Add special effects to text - also called TextArt

Your choice depends on the type of text box you want. You can opt to use a text box even if you only want to type one line; it has to be used if you want multiple lines that are treated as a group.

When you select the text box or the bullet list, the mouse pointer changes to the hand holding the box. Drag with this pointer from left to right on the line where you want the box to start. When you release the mouse button, the insertion point is inside the box. You can use buttons on the Property Bar to change the font style, font size, and justification or click on the [Foreground Fill Color] button to change the text color. Then type the text. If you pick text box, the text wraps to the next line if you reach the right edge of a box, similar to typing in a text box in WordPerfect. You can also press <Enter> to go to the next line. [Justification] for the text includes Left, Right and Center.

Since the text box is a graphic element, any information typed here will not appear in the Outliner View.

Exercise 2

Open the "newsletter tips" file in Slide Editor View. Go to Slide 1. Click on the [Selection Tool] button on the Toolbar. Click once on the Title area and note the size of font by reading the Property Bar. Click once on the subtitle area and note the font size.

Now click on the [Text Object Tools] and pick [Text Box] . Drag the top of the box on the slide where you want your name and affiliation to appear. When the insertion point appears inside a box, use the [Font Size] button to change the size of the font and pick a color using the [Foreground Fill Color] button that will go with the color scheme. Click on justification and change the justification to Center. Now type in at least two lines, one with your name and one with your affiliation. Click away from the box. Save this new version of "newsletter tips."

You may find text boxes useful for annotating charts you create, to help explain some data patterns, or they may be used to add an annotation to a complicated image on a slide.

Editing a Slide

Changing an Individual Slide

So far you have worked with the default fonts, colors, sizes that are affiliated with a particular layout. You may need to make changes to a particular element on a slide, like make the font larger or smaller, change the color, or style of the font. You can move an element on a slide, like drag a bulleted list to the right side of the slide. To make changes in a single slide, you need to work in Slide Editor View and make the active slide the one you want to change. Click the [Selection Tool] button on the Toolbar and then click on the element you want to change. You can use buttons on the Property Bar or the Toolbar, or select items under FORMAT on the menu bar. Changes made here only affect the active slide.

The placeholders are pre-established areas on a layout for holding a particular type of information for the slide. The placeholder can be selected in Slide Editor View and you can treat it like a graphic box in WordPerfect. That is, you can drag the box to change its position, drag a handle to change its size, press <Delete> to delete the placeholder, and cut, copy and paste the box to other slides.

Exercise 3

Since the next series of exercises are designed to allow you to explore options (and you may not like the effect of these options), you need to make a copy of your current slide set. Open the "newsletter tips" file and use FILE, Save As and save it as "Lesson 3 tips." This is the file we will use in this exercise, and your original file will remain intact.

You should be using the Corners background, taken from the Business category. If this is not the background in use, change your background using the [Master Gallery] button on the Property Bar.

Move to Slide 11, about graphic accents. You need to be in Slide Editor View. The title on Slide 11 goes to two lines, which is okay, but if you made the font smaller it would fit on one line across the slide. Click on the [Selection Tool] button on the Toolbar and then click once on the title area of the slide. It will have handles around the element. Now click on the [Font Size] button on the Property Bar to bring up the "Font Size" list box. Change the font size to 36 point. Click on the [Foreground Fill Color] button and select white from the color pallette.

Click on the corner of your slide and you will see the changes. Drag the title box lower so there is less space between the title and the text area.

Go to Slide 2, on Introduction. The bullets here are short lines and you could move the text to place an image to the left part of the slide. Select the bullet area and drag it to the right. If you want, place a graphic image in the left area.

Go to Slide 4, about the grid. Select the bullet area and then drag left on the middle handle at the right side. What happens to the text in the bulleted area? Click on the [Undo] button  on the Toolbar, if you want to change it back.

Save this version of "Lesson 3 tips."

Working with the Layout Layer

Every slide normally has three layers that make up the slide. The bottom layer is called the background. When you select from a gallery, you are selecting the bottom layer for your presentation. Over the background layer is the layout layer. This controls the general position and type of content for each slide. The layout layer determines the fonts and placement of the elements in a template, like the title, subtitle, bulleted chart, etc. The slide layer is the top level, and it is the layer you have been working with so far.

In Exercise 3 you changed elements in a slide that only affected that slide, because you were working in the slide layer. If you wanted to make global changes to multiple slides, you would make changes to the background or the layout layers. To select one of these other layers, you need to be in Slide Editor View, and then click EDIT on the menu bar.

You will see a checkmark in front of Slide Layer. Click on Layout Layer or Background Layer to work with one of those levels in the slide. Unlike working with the slide layer, making changes in the layout or background layer changes some or all of the slides in your set.

Exercise 4

Except on the Title slide, you have not used the subtitle placeholder for your slides. Get in Slide Editor View and find a Bullet Chart slide, like Slide 2. Click on EDIT, and select Layout Layer. A general layout will appear and the specific text for Slide 2 disappears. Select the subtitle area and press <Delete> to delete this element. Click on the bulleted area and drag it closer to the slide's title area

As another example, all the titles are centered. Select the title placeholder, then pick FORMAT from the menu bar, Justification, and select Left. The title in the box will be left justified.

Click on EDIT, on the menu bar and change back to the Slide Layer. Scroll through your slide set to view them. All bullet chart slides have been changed.

Save this version of "Lesson 3 tips."

If you start changing the layout layers, like changing headings from centered to left, you would need to make changes in all the slide templates you used. For example, in your slide set you used Data Chart, Bullet Chart, and Text templates. Each layout style will have to be edited and changed to have a consistent look in the slide set.

Working with the Background Layer

Making a change to the background will change the background in all your slides. Perhaps the most practical example of this is adding an organization logo in the corner of each slide. Although you could use INSERT, Graphics, Clipart on each page and add the image that way, it would be a lot of work. It is simpler to change to the Background Layer, add the image to the background, and have it appear on all slides.

Exercise 5

Get in Slide Editor View and change the layer to Background (select Background Layer from the EDIT menu). The corners background appears. The diagonal shapes in the top left and bottom right corners are part of the background.

Click on INSERT, Graphics, Clipart. Drag the image from the scrapbook to the bottom right corner of the background layer. If you have an organizational logo, place a copy of that image in the corner. Otherwise, use one of the images in the Clipart collection, like WORLD3 or RIBB0002. Resize the image if you wish.

Click on EDIT, on the menu bar and change back to the Slide Layer, and view your slides. Are there any places where the image is interfering with the text? These are issues you need to consider when placing items on the background. Save this version of "lesson 3 tips."

Finding Other Backgrounds

Presentations does have other backgrounds besides those found in the Master Gallery. To find them, however, you have to be editing the background layer. When the Background Layer is selected, several buttons appear on the property bar. Two of the buttons on the property bar are Background Gallery and Master Gallery buttons. You have already used the Master Gallery, but the Background Gallery shows other backgrounds grouped in categories like Blue, Gray, Teal, Red and several backgrounds from the master gallery. Just like applying the other backgrounds, find one that appeals to you and click on [OK]. The option in the dialog box for "Keep current graphic objects with the new background" should normally not be selected. For example, if it were selected, when you had used the Corners background, the diagonal shapes in the two corners are left in the new background, which would probably interfere with the new background.

Exercise 6

Get in Slide Editor View and click Edit, Backgroung Layer to change the layer to the Background Layer. Click on the Background Gallery button on the Property bar. Find a category that interests you and select one of the backgrounds in that category and click [OK]. Change back to the Slide Layer and scroll through your slide set to see how it looks. You may save this version of "Lesson 3 tips" if you want.

Depending on how Presentations 8.0 was installed on your computer, there may be even more backgrounds available to you.

You may copy any of these folders from the Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 CD to your hard drive using Windows Explorer. Assuming E is the drive for your CD-ROM, you'll find the background folders on the CD in:

E:\COREL\SUITE8\GRAPHICS\BACKGROUNDS

Choose the folder(s) you want and copy them to

C:\COREL\SUITE8\GRAPHICS\BACKGROUNDS

Changing the Background Color

There are several items related to backgrounds not discussed in this introductory lesson, but a common question that arises is how to change the background color on the slides. Most of the backgrounds use a gradient pattern, mixing two colors. To change the color background, you have to be in Slide Editor View, and have selected the Background Layer. Then, right-click on the background and pick Page Setup from the QuickMenu; or pick Page Setup under FILE on the menu bar. A tabbed area in the resulting dialog box is for Page Color. One of the items is Fill Style, and there are four choices -- Pattern, Gradient, Texture, and Picture. Depending on which of these are selected, there are different selections under Category.

To make a gradient background a solid color, select Pattern , pick the solid pattern, and then pick for the pattern color the color you wanted. Changes made here to the page color would affect all the slides in the set.

Special Features for Live Demonstrations

None of these next features are required in a slide show, and, in fact, would be used only if you are creating a live talk, by running the presentation on a computer and projection device.

Applying Transitions to Slides

Slide transition refers to what happens on your screen when you go from one slide to another. The default is no transition, which means one slide disappears and the next appears, as you play your slide show. To see the transition effect, you have to actually play the slide show. So far in the "newsletter tips" set, the Normal transition has been used.

You can apply a transition to a single slide or multiple slides using the Slide Editor View. Click on FORMAT on the menu bar, then Slide Properties, Transition. The "Slide Properties" dialog box will appear. You can select from a list of over 50 transitions. If you select a transition and click on [OK], that transition is applied to the current slide. There is an option in the dialog box to "Apply to all slides in slide show." Another selection in the dialog box affects the speed of the transition, and yet another (for direction) is activated only on certain types of transitions.

Exercise 7

Work with the "Lesson 3 tips" file so you can feel free to experiment. Open the file in the Slide Editor View and go to Slide 1. Click on FORMAT, Slide Properties, Transition and examine some of the types of transitions. Just a little experimentation here will clarify what "transition" does.

Be sure to check out these transitions:

• dissolve
• mosaic
• sweep
• slide in from corner
• slide our to corner
• circles
• clock

Select a transition that you like and then check the box to apply it to all slides. Close the dialog box by clicking on [OK]. Use the [Play Show] button on the Property bar and play your slide show. Notice what happens as you go from slide to slide. Remember, you can stop the show by pressing the <Esc> key.

Rather than apply a transition to all slides, or one by one, you can get in the Slide Sorter View and select multiple slides, by holding down the <Ctrl> key as you click on the slides. With multiple slides selected, you can then apply a transition to only those selected slides.

The Slide Sorter View is useful if you want to quickly see the transitions applied to your slides. It is the only view mode that displays the transition being used for a given slide.

Exercise 8

Get in Slide Sorter View and select Slide 1, hold down the <Ctrl> key and select the last slide. Apply another transition to those slides, by selecting it from the slide transitions list.

In Slide Sorter View you will see a reference to each transition below each slide. Play your slide show with the new transitions added.

There are no fixed rules on whether transitions are good or bad. A lot depends on your audience and the tone of your presentation. If you use transitions, it is probably better to use only one type in the slide set, and have another type only in key places, like if you are going into another section of the show. You need to use transitions with caution, especially multiple types of transitions in the same show, or your audience will start watching the transitions and not pay attention to what you are saying!!

Applying Transitions to Bullets

Another visual effect you can easily create is applying animation or transitions to bullets. This effect displays each bullet item separately as the slide is played. That is, first you see the title, then pressing <Enter> or clicking with the mouse has the first bullet appear, then clicking again has the second bullet appear, etc. This can help keep the audience's attention on what you are saying, rather than letting them "read ahead" on the slide.

Change to the Slide Editor View and select a bulleted chart area. Click on FORMAT, Object Properties, Object Animation to access the "Bulleted List Properties" window. Select either (1) Animate object in place, then click an effect, and its direction (if available) and speed; or (2) Animation object across screen, then click an effect, and its direction (if available) and speed. Within this same dialog box at the bottom right are options of "Display one at a time" (each bullet item is presented separately); "Highlight current bullet" (with previous bullets on same slide dimmed), and "Display in reverse order" (placing bullets from bottom to top on the slide).

You do not have to apply bullet transitions to all bulleted slides in your talk. You can select certain slides for this effect, if you want.

You basically have to experiment with this feature and determine which (if any) should be used. It depends again on your audience and the tone of the presentation. If, however, you are applying transitions between slides, you may just want to use a Normal transition for the bullets.

Exercise 9

Use the "Lesson 3 tips" slide set, and get into Slide Editor View. Go to Slide 2, the Introduction slide, and select the bulleted area so it has handles. Click on FORMAT, Object Properties, Object Animation. Select "Animate object across screen" and click the Fly In effect and Left to Right direction. At the bottom right of the dialog box, check "Display one at a time." Click [OK] to close the dialog box, go back to Slide 1 and play your slide show, for several slides at least. What is your reaction to "animating" the bullet information? Save this version of the slide set, if you want.

If you are printing overheads or making 35mm slides, applying transitions to bullets has no effect. You can "fake" this effect by making several copies of a bullet slide, and on the first slide in the "series" have just one bullet, on the next slide, add in the second bullet line, etc., until all of the bullets are appearing.

Adding Sounds

You saw in the "Slide Properties" dialog box an option for applying sounds to slides. This is much like applying transitions. Use of sounds to "announce" a particular slide is another way to get attention and its use would depend on your situation and audience. You would, however, usually never have a sound attached to every slide, but only selected slides at important transition places. To apply a sound to a particular slide, get in Slide Editor View and have the slide you want to use active. Click on FORMAT, Slide Properties, Sound on the menu bar. The "Slide Properties" box appears with the sound page selected.

You can apply sounds from .WAV files, .MIDI files or a CD. WAV is a sound format developed by Microsoft and used extensively in Microsoft Windows. There are 15 .WAV files that are found in the \COREL\SUITE8\SOUNDS folder on the installation CD. Typically WAV files are sound effects or someone speaking. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a communications standard created by electronic musical equipment vendors. Thus, MIDI files will be some type of music. There are 12 MIDI files in the \COREL\SUITE8\SOUNDS folder on the installation CD. To use musical CDs, you must have a CD player and sound hardware compatible with Windows 95 MPC standards connected to your computer.

There is an optional exercise at the end for working with sounds, if you want.

Command Summary

Summary

The "Print" dialog box lets you select various types of printouts, including full page slides, thumbnail versions of each slide on handouts, and speaker notes. Consider not printing the background, especially if you do not have a color printer. The [Text Object Tools] button on the Toolbar can be used to add annotated text boxes on the active slide. There are three layers that make up a slide: the background layer, the layout layer, and the slide layer. Changing the slide layer only changes the active slide. Changes in the background layer or layout layer affect all or selected slides. These layers are selected through the EDIT menu item. Slide transitions affect how one slide disappears and the next slide appears when you play your slide show. You can have multiple transitions or one transition for the entire slide show. Bulleted lines in a bulleted chart can also have transitions applied, so that each bullet item appears individually as you give your presentation. Sound clips can be added to slides as well, to help draw attention to parts of the presentation.

More Exercises and Questions

10. What is the difference between selecting Slides in the "Print" dialog box and selecting Handouts?

11. If you print your slides as overheads and then have to change two slides, how do you print just those two changed slides?

12. In the "Print" dialog box, why would you select to not print the background in a slide set?

13. Give some examples of why you would want to use the [Text Object Tools] button on the Toolbar.

14. How do you change the font color on the title of a slide on just one slide? How do you change the font color on the title of a slide for all of the bulleted slides?

15. How many layers does a slide have? How do you change from layer to layer?

16. How could you add your organization logo to all slides in a slide set?

17. What is the purpose of a slide transition? How do you apply a transition effect to all of your slides?

18. Why would you consider applying a transition to bulleted text in your slide set? When would this feature not be useful?

19. Go back to the good copy of "newsletter tips" and save it as "practice file." Use this practice file and get to the Slide Editor View. Select the background layer and add a small text box in the lower left corner that gives your organizational affiliation. (You will have to use the [Text Object Tools] button on the Toolbar to create this text box.)

20. Using this same "practice file," bring up the Layout Layer on one of your bulleted chart slides. Select the bullet area and make the font slightly smaller. Check out several slides to see the effect.

21. Using the "practice file," get in Slide Editor View, and select the bullet area on one of your slides. Use FORMAT, Object Properties, Object Animation to bring up the "Bulleted List Properties." Apply a transition to all of your bullets and select the box "Highlight current bullet" at the bottom right of the dialog box. Click [OK] to close the dialog box and play your slide show, for a few slides at least.

22. If you have created your own slide set, print handouts for your file.

23. Do some more exploring of the additional backgrounds under Background Gallery, when you are working with the Background Layer. You will have to apply a new background to get an accurate sense of its effect. If you do not like the background, just do not save the file.

24. This exercise will only work if you have multimedia/sound card capability. If you want to try, the worst thing that will happen is you will get error messages when you try to play a sound. You can apply sound on your machine, even if you cannot hear it, and take the file to another machine which does have sound capability and play the file there.

Using the "Lesson 3 tips" file or "practice file," get in Slide Editor View and go to Slide 1. Click on FORMAT on the menu bar, then Slide Properties, Sound and select either the WAV box or the MIDI box. Click on the browse icon (like a folder) to tell Windows 95 to look for the sound files. Select a file in the listing and click on [Open] to place the file in the sound window. When you are back in the "Slide Properties" dialog box, with a reference to the sound file, click [Play Sound] to hear it. Click [Stop Sound] to stop the playing of the sound. Click on [OK] to save this sound with that particular slide.

Now, go back and play your slide show from the beginning, and you should hear the music or sound effect. Notice that after the music starts playing, you cannot stop it simply by moving to the next slide. The clip of music will play until it is finished.

© 1997 - May not modify or copy without the consent of the authors.