PowerPoint should grow up
capt kirk@discussions.microsoft.com the capt kirk
product manager does not seem to be doing the job.
My company produces extensive presentations for use in court. Attorneys like
the "simplicity" of PowerPoint's slides, that is, the ability to insert,
delete and move their slides. This compels me, despite higher service fees
charged to my clients and therapy costs resulting from the sadism inherent in
the product, to use PowerPoint.
Inevitably attorneys want to insert a graphic, add a highlight, animate a
motion, insert a video deposition, etc. The quality and functionaly of the
tools provided in PowerPoint begin to degrade rapidly at this point.
If I were the PowerPoint Product Manager I would:
- provide USER DEFINABLE keyboard shortcuts for ANY AND ALL FUNCTIONS
- provide the ability to script ACTION sequences with keyboard shortcuts.(
Why must I click 17 times to make a simple insert graphics and position it? I
don't get paid by the click and frankly it causes carpal tunnel syndrome.)
- provide layer control
- provide the ability to lock and unlock a layer or element
- radically improve the ability to import and play video files such as
MPEG2, MPEG4 with start and stop controls. PowerPoint is so inconsistent in
this area as to be sadistic for a user on a deadline.
- provide ANTI-ALIASES fonts. C'mon, you can do it.
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Austin Myers
If I were in charge I would do it differently than MS, and of course
differently than you. <g> I guess that's the problem, everyone would drive
the bus differently. I too often wish PPT did more, but then I look at the
dev time it takes to put together something a Flash animation or to to make
changes and I'm glad PPT is simple.
As to multimedia, yeah it can be a problem, but if you want to simplify it
and add some new features take a look at PFCMedia as an option. (Hey it's
it free download, ya got nothing to lose.)
Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team
Solutions to Multimedia in PowerPoint www.pfcmedia.com
TAJ Simmons
just sometimes powerpoint can make them not so smooth when they are
animated.
TAJ
Jeff Chapman
> - provide USER DEFINABLE keyboard shortcuts for ANY AND ALL FUNCTIONS
Interestingly enough, there is a Japanese-language graphics program
compatible with PowerPoint created by JustSystems called "Hanako," which
allows the user to define keyboard shortcuts and menu keys for just about
every function in the system, including zoom levels (!). Files can be saved
and opened in PowerPoint format. ... Oh yeah, and Adobe Illustrator CS
allows for some limited shortcuts to be created (albeit CTRL and SHIFT key
combinations are unusable).
Also, menu and shortcut keys are fully definable in MS Word too.
I always wondered why PowerPoint got the short end of the stick?
(Or Visio, for that matter)
Was there some product development decision that necessitated the omission
of keyboard shortcut assignments in PowerPoint? Cost-cutting? Or just plain
oversight (could it be)... ?
- Jeff Chapman
Jeff Chapman
Actually, PowerPoint DOES allow you to assign letter strokes to menu
commands, and it also allows you to rearrange menu items as you like.
So it's a little incorrect to say that PowerPoint doesn't do keyboard
shortcuts. If you right-click on a toolbar, click Customize and then the
Commands tab, you will be able to assign the majority of PowerPoint
functions to a toolbar or to a menu. You can take that one step further,
by right-clicking on the stuff that you drag into toolbars and menus
from here and assigning shortcut letters.
This might save you from full-blown carpal tunnel syndrome, anyway...
Even in PowerPoint, the Keyboard is your Friend.
- Jeff Chapman
"the capt kirk" <the capt ki...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:41AC5647-6881-4A13...@microsoft.com...
Steve Rindsberg
I always figured it was because people bought Office instead of Word standalone
because that way they got Excel at a better price. Or for Excel and got Word
at a better price. Oh and look. We get PowerPoint too!
How many people buy PowerPoint for its own sake or pop extra for Office because
that way they get PPT and a great deal on Word or Excel?
I don't know the answer, but if I were a bettin' man, my money'd be on "None or
as near none as makes no difference".
If it doesn't drive many sales, it's not going to get as much of the dev
budget. Some of the good ideas eventually filter down (and on good years, the
bad ones get filtered out first)
-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Landy
"Jeff Chapman" <jap...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eE96b%23gUFH...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Hmmm, the bit about keyboard shortcuts got me thinking some more...
> Actually, PowerPoint DOES allow you to assign letter strokes to menu
> commands, and it also allows you to rearrange menu items as you like.
> So it's a little incorrect to say that PowerPoint doesn't do keyboard
> shortcuts. If you right-click on a toolbar, click Customize and then the
> Commands tab, you will be able to assign the majority of PowerPoint
> functions to a toolbar or to a menu. You can take that one step further,
> by right-clicking on the stuff that you drag into toolbars and menus
> from here and assigning shortcut letters.
>
> This might save you from full-blown carpal tunnel syndrome, anyway...
> Even in PowerPoint, the Keyboard is your Friend.
Jeff,
Could you explain how this is done. I've tried following the instructions
in help
but cannot seem to get it to work. I wish to assign shortcuts to
superscript and subscript -
I have the buttons added to the toolbar, but can't see an option to add
shortcuts to these.
The help describes using an "&" followed by te required key for the
alt-shortcut,
but it doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong?
cheers
Bill
Jeff Chapman
> superscript and subscript -
> I have the buttons added to the toolbar, but can't see an option to add
> shortcuts to these.
> The help describes using an "&" followed by te required key for the
> alt-shortcut,
> but it doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong?
> cheers
> Bill
You'll have to do a right-click on the button you created,
and then click Customize. The pop-up Customize menu will display.
Ignore it, and do another right-click on your button. Make sure
that "Image and Text" is selected. Finally, click Close on the
Customize pop-up menu.
If you have done this correctly, your button should now show the
name with the shortcut letter (key) that you have assigned as
an underlined character. You should now be able to type ALT+[your key]
to activate that button.
However, there is a caveat. If you have already assigned that shortcut
letter to another VISIBLE menu item or button name on the screen,
PowerPoint will not know which to use, and will simply use... neither.
So you will need to choose your shortcut keys wisely. ;)
Either that, or you can throw your button into an existing menu
on the menu bar by holding ALT, clicking and then dragging the button
where you want it to go. Then you will need two keystrokes to
activate the command, but still it may save some clicking and extra
time.
Please post again if you have more questions.
- Jeff Chapman
Landy
The help missed out the bit about choosing "image an text"
for the icon. Rather wierd that this option has to be selected -
it makes the toolbar rather "ugly", and in theory is not necessary.
It certainly isn't necessary in Corel products I use.
cheers
Bill
"Jeff Chapman" <jap...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:OWdmFEq...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
Jeff Chapman
for shortcuts to frequently used items. You could even assign
a macro to a toolbar and then assign a keystroke to it, so
that multiple operations could be conducted with a single
keystroke. If the text on the button was hidden, you would
be forced to remember the ALT+key combination for each
and every button on the screen, which could be a real
nightmare, so that's why the ALT+keystrokes only work
for visible buttons on the screen. It's not quite like assigning
any keyboard shortcuts you want to any button or function,
but at least it gives you more flexibility.
- Jeff
"Landy" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:uBa%23QLqUF...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
PPTMagician
http://officeone.mvps.org/ppsctmgr/ppsctmgr.html
--
Thanks,
Glenna Shaw
PowerPoint MVP
http://www.pptmagic.com
John O
> > superscript and subscript -
> > I have the buttons added to the toolbar, but can't see an option to add
> > shortcuts to these.
> > The help describes using an "&" followed by te required key for the
> > alt-shortcut,
> > but it doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong?
> > cheers
Hey Jeff....I just found this old thread, and I want to do this, but it's
not working.
> You'll have to do a right-click on the button you created,
> and then click Customize. The pop-up Customize menu will display.
> Ignore it, and do another right-click on your button. Make sure
> that "Image and Text" is selected.
How do I choose/enter a shortcut key? (I'd like Ctrl-d, but how do I find an
unused combo if that one is actually doing something?)