PowerPoint 2008
February 16, 2009 Filed in: News
PowerPoint 2008 for the Mac is,
unequivocally, an improvement over PowerPoint
2004. I finally managed to pick up a copy last
month, and I’ve been putting the software
through its paces looking for improvements over
its predecessor as well as for areas in which
the application can still grow. As a disclaimer,
I should admit that I usually use Keynote as my slide software, and
PowerPoint only comes out when the situation
demands it. I’m not as familiar with PowerPoint
as I need to be for a detailed review, so view
this entry as a simple overview of my
impressions as I worked with PowerPoint 2008.
Toolbars in PowerPoint 2004 and PowerPoint 2008
Slide navigation in PPT 2004 and PPT 2008
The interface still has its problems. Some toolbars still float, and the Formatting Palette may behave strangely with Exposé and Spaces, but PowerPoint on the Mac now looks like an application rather than a collection of unconnected toolbars and windows that happen to talk to one another. It’s a big step in the right direction.
The Elements Gallery in orange and graphite.
The Formatting Palette has also seen some improvements, but the tool (while a welcome alternative to multiple toolbars) is growing cluttered. The Object Palette has added more shapes and can now directly access the Clip Art library without opening a separate application, and the Custom Animation Palette makes it easier to manipulate text and image builds while avoiding dialog boxes. I’m also a fan of the updated Reference Tools which let you search Encarta and bilingual dictionaries among the usual sources.
PowerPoint 2008 features new styles for images that seem to be a direct reaction to the way Keynote handles images. The image features leapfrog what Keynote is capable of but some of the flexibility is not readily apparent.
Quickly adding an image effect.
I use Picturesque to prepare images like this for use in Keynote, but PowerPoint 2008 all but negates the need for a third-party image editor to add fanciful styles and effects to your images. The only drawback comes with fine-tuning the images, which requires opening a separate dialog box. Fortunately, the adjustments you make in the dialog box happen to the image live, so it could be worse.
The final great bit about PowerPoint 2008? As you can see in the screenshots of the Slide Navigator, PowerPoint now supports widescreen presentations without having to manually adjust slide proportions. This is a good thing in my book.
A Whole New Look
The first thing I noticed when launching the new version of PowerPoint is that the application sports a new look. Unlike PowerPoint 2004, it looks like it belongs on the Mac. The previous version sported numerous floating toolbars, had no option to view slides as thumbnails, and had a great deal of nonstandard interface elements. PowerPoint 2008 goes a long way towards fixing many of the interface oddities that have been part of PowerPoint for Mac since Office 2001.
Toolbars in PowerPoint 2004 and PowerPoint 2008
Slide navigation in PPT 2004 and PPT 2008
The interface still has its problems. Some toolbars still float, and the Formatting Palette may behave strangely with Exposé and Spaces, but PowerPoint on the Mac now looks like an application rather than a collection of unconnected toolbars and windows that happen to talk to one another. It’s a big step in the right direction.
Notable Improvements and Additions
As Office 2007 for Windows sports a new Ribbon interface, Office 2008 for Mac gains the Element Gallery, a top-level place to find things like slide themes, transitions, slide masters, charts, and Word Art. Any elements you choose form the gallery are immediately applied to your current slide to let you see exactly how it will look. By default, the Elements Gallery displays in orange, which can be visually distracting, but you can change the appearance to graphite in the application preferences.
The Elements Gallery in orange and graphite.
The Formatting Palette has also seen some improvements, but the tool (while a welcome alternative to multiple toolbars) is growing cluttered. The Object Palette has added more shapes and can now directly access the Clip Art library without opening a separate application, and the Custom Animation Palette makes it easier to manipulate text and image builds while avoiding dialog boxes. I’m also a fan of the updated Reference Tools which let you search Encarta and bilingual dictionaries among the usual sources.
PowerPoint 2008 features new styles for images that seem to be a direct reaction to the way Keynote handles images. The image features leapfrog what Keynote is capable of but some of the flexibility is not readily apparent.
Quickly adding an image effect.
I use Picturesque to prepare images like this for use in Keynote, but PowerPoint 2008 all but negates the need for a third-party image editor to add fanciful styles and effects to your images. The only drawback comes with fine-tuning the images, which requires opening a separate dialog box. Fortunately, the adjustments you make in the dialog box happen to the image live, so it could be worse.
The final great bit about PowerPoint 2008? As you can see in the screenshots of the Slide Navigator, PowerPoint now supports widescreen presentations without having to manually adjust slide proportions. This is a good thing in my book.
Quibbles and Bits
PowerPoint 2008 is not without its problems, but whatever drawbacks there are stay pretty minor.- Microsoft still loves dialog boxes. The situation is improving, but anytime a dialog box opens, part of your work is obscured.
- Transitions are not as smoothly animated as Keynote’s, and many happen too fast by default.
- Floating toolbars look even more out-of-place now that the main application window has been fixed.
- Changes made to one master slide in a presentation affects all master slides.
- Toolbars and palettes often do not function correctly in Spaces.