Essentials of PowerPoint: Interface

Menus and Toolbars-- Many controls are found in menus (along the top of the window) and toolbars (movable collections of icons) and those controls work the same way in PowerPoint that they work in other programs: select the text or object, then click the control.

Outline Pane-- down the left side of the window, this gives a preview of the appearance of each slide or the of the text on each slide (depending on which tab is selected)

Task Pane-- down the right sid eofthe window, this shows various collections of controls for slide properties. By default, the task pane will contain the New Presentation taks pane; others include Insert Clip Art and several dealing with slide appearance.

The Slide-- In the middle of the window is the large rectangle which shows objects that have been added the the slide and that shows the limits of the display. Any objects (or parts of objects) that fall outside the white rectangle will not show up on the display when the presentation is run in Slide Show view.


Introduction Essentials The Interface Organization of Presentations Working with Text Working with Graphics Backgrounds Moving Slides Action Buttons Slide Transitions Animations & Sounds Resources	The Interface Becasue it is a Microsoft product, many of the controls used when creating a presentation are familiar to those who use use Word. When creating PowerPoint presentations, authors use Normal View: Menus and Toolbars-- Many controls are found in menus (along the top of the window) and toolbars (movable collections of icons) and those controls work the same way in PowerPoint that they work in other programs: select the text or object, then click the control. Outline Pane-- down the left side of the window, this gives a preview of the appearance of each slide or the of the text on each slide (depending on which tab is selected) Task Pane-- down the right sid eofthe window, this shows various collections of controls for slide properties. By default, the task pane will contain the New Presentation taks pane; others include Insert Clip Art and several dealing with slide appearance. The Slide-- In the middle of the window is the large rectangle which shows objects that have been added the the slide and that shows the limits of the display. Any objects (or parts of objects) that fall outside the white rectangle will not show up on the display when the presentation is run in Slide Show view. Figure 1. The PowerPoint Interface in Normal View (click the image for a detailed view)

created: June 2005 last updated: June 20, 2005 © 2005 Gary L. Ackerman http://www.taconic-learning.net