Present your keynote with Keynote

Keynote 1.0.1
Create stunning, high quality presentations with Apple’s Keynote.

By Michael Vallance
Mac Users Group Singapore
www.macuser.org.sg

Microsoft’s PowerPoint may be the ubiquitous presentation software in business and education but with the same background designs, graphs, transitions and distracting sounds, the meetings and lectures can get extremely boring.

Apple, renowned for its award winning designs, has introduced its own presentation software called Keynote. What strikes you when first opening Keynote is, unlike PowerPoint, the interface is uncluttered and typically Apple user-friendly. No manual required, the first time user can simply navigate the labelled icons that provide access to common presentation functions.

The first slide
To begin in Keynote the Themes icon is clicked to view 12 gorgeous and customisable templates for an aesthetically superior presentation. The Master slide is then ctrl-clicked in the Slides pane and a new slide inserted. By selecting the Masters slide icon a number of typical slide formats are offered such as ‘title and bullet points’ or ‘title and vertical picture’, etc. For slide management the alt/option key can be pressed thereby indenting selected slides into a hierarchy. Then, like an outline, slides can be hidden while the presenter gets to work on one section of the presentation at a time.

The Inspector
The Inspector palette is opened for increased customisation. Data can be easily inputted to a chart and automatically converted to a choice of graph types. QuickTime movies are added by simply dragging the file onto the relevant slide.

The slide show
Keynote has a range of OpenGL-rendered 3D slide transitions such as the cube. When presented to an audience that have seen their fair share of PowerPoint, this feature alone will ensure their attention.
Keynote’s slide show control is basic but this may be viewed by novice computer users and experienced presenters as a positive trait. It is simple to navigate slides forward and backward but Keynote does not enable the presenter to jump ahead, missing slides.

Keynote to PC
To share the finished presentation with PC colleagues, Apple’s Keynote can export as a QuickTime movie, PDF or PowerPoint file. However, the latter will lose some of the transitions if they are not available on the PC and the graphics will never be as crispy clear as on the Mac.

Missing features
Keynote is missing some important features though. It cannot directly import spreadsheets. There are no math formulas and science symbols unless they are imported from, say, AppleWorks. Also missing are ‘rehearse timings’ and the ability to create a self-running slide show. Although MP3 can be added to individual slides, Keynote does not allow background music. However, as Keynote’s file format is XML (Extensible Markup Language) expect developers to create add-ons.

To leverage the power of OS X and OpenGL, Keynote ideally requires a G4 iMac or PowerBook and at least 8 MB VRAM (32 MB recommended). Keynote will run on G3 iBooks.

Verdict
If you are looking for an excuse to buy a cool iMac or a functional PowerBook and want a basic yet powerful tool to give captivating presentations, then Keynote should be your choice. This is, after all, the point of supportive and powerful presentation software: to enthral, to entertain, to inform and to impress. At the next conference make sure you are giving the Keynote.

Rating: 4 out of 7
+ Intuitive, simple to use
+ Gorgeous graphics
+/ - Basic control

System requirements:
Mac OSX v10.2
128 MB RAM
8 MB of video memory
Price: $179

Contact: Apple Centre
Tel: 6462-2755 or 6238-9378
www.asia.apple.com/keynote

Michael Vallance is from the Mac Users Group of Singapore. Its website is at www.macuser.org.sg