free presentation software

free presentation software

The Benefits of Using Free Presentation Software

1. Introduction

There are many benefits of using free presentation software as its name implies. The fact that it is free means a lot because the user will not spend a single dime to use the program. This is ideal for those who are on a tight budget and cannot afford to buy a very expensive yet efficient program. You can do an online search of these free presentation software, you can find plenty in the results and easily install. Most free presentation software tools do not require installation and can be run directly from an internet browser which makes interesting options.

2. Ease of Use

Free presentation software offers a wonderful selection of animation options, such as fade and zoom, giving the impression of user actions in terms of emphasizing important information. The slideshow can be previewed at any time by clicking on the ‘Slide Show’ button near the upper right of the screen. This way, the user can be sure that he or she likes one design before applying it to all the slides. Using the free presentation software such as Open Office’s Impress to work on your PowerPoint slides means more presentational mobility. That is, you can work on a laptop to prepare your presentation, and then run and modify it using a full install of Impress at a later date using a projector. Animated and interactive graphical user interface (GUI) elements such as sliding toolbars, mouse-over tooltips, and context-sensitive floating toolbars can be a distracting eyesore. However, many users find it much easier to navigate between slides and edit presentation content with these features available. Finally, free presentation software is guaranteed to have a non-linear editing interface. With PowerPoint, you can edit things in various weird orders, possibly resulting in a more confusing and poorly constructed presentation. Non-linear interfaces force the user to move objects with a proper sense of order, thus allowing for a more organized and ultimately better finished product.

3. Customization Options

Customization is a major factor in why people use presentation software. In open source software and proprietary software, customizability is what makes their package different from others. Open source software tends to offer a lot of customizability to target the technical users who like to play around with settings to get the look and feel that they want. Proprietary software offers lots of added packages or presets to enhance its look and feel. Open source software might have a steeper learning curve on understanding how to change the settings as they tend not to be as direct as in proprietary software. One of the most simple yet best preset customizations is the ability to add company templates. All presentation software packages support some kind of template as it is a very important feature. This allows users to create a company template and libraries and then pass it around to all employees, allowing them to create presentations on the fly, saving the company’s style of presentation. Open source software might require that the templates be copied into the actual program package’s directory. The implications of this would be that the templates would not be shared on network installs of the software. However, this is a simple programming fix that could allow the specification of a templates directory. Overall, this is beneficial for companies as it effectively saves the company’s style of presentation. Customizability of the template can usually be done by editing XML files or by using an editor provided by the software. Such settings allow the changing of page element positions, colors, background, font, etc. Step sorter/view settings are quite useful for controlling the layout of a presentation while editing it. This should not be confused with the “view” setting of the program itself. Step sorter is an implementation where you can see a miniature version of slides in a window, which can be used to rearrange slides. This is often used in conjunction with a setting that specifies the number of slides visible on a single page. Finally, customizability of keyboard shortcut settings or redefinable mouse button settings can greatly enhance the speed and efficiency of creating presentations for some users.

4. Collaboration Features

Collaboration features are numerous using free presentation software. Google Docs is account-based, meaning one person with the invitation link to edit will be one editor. When editing a PowerPoint or a Keynote, the person who originally created the file has it stored onto their computer where they have to upload it onto a file sharing service or send it via email. However, with a Google Doc the file is automatically saved onto the Google servers and can be accessed by any of the collaborators by just searching the file title within the documents list. Editors are also easily recognizable by small cursor icons displaying which person is typing where. In a PowerPoint or Keynote, edits can override each other if two people happen to be working on the same slide. With Google Docs, any and all changes are saved and are viewable both chronologically and by specific time through the revision history feature. Finally, if real-time communication is necessary, a Skype call or other messaging service can be used in conjunction with the file to allow complete and easy access to everything. But with the chat feature in Google Docs, communication is simplified and more efficient. A collapsible window holds a chat that pertains only to the edits being made within the document, thus keeping a record of what was said about certain changes.

5. Cost Savings

There is no question that usage prices for Microsoft’s PowerPoint have actually been a substantial consider its comprehensive software application use worldwide. This is fixed with discussion software application moving far from the standard license based purchase towards either a membership based design or entirely online availability. In context for contrast, PowerPoint’s series of costs can be found in at: $109.99 annually (Office 365 membership) and a single purchase of $139.99 for PowerPoint 2013. For a complete $249.98 a year, this currently is not viable for lots of little companies and individuals who are trying to spend as low as possible and get the very best worth for cash. Free discussion software application supplies a practical option to pricey software application using a comparable series of animation and unique impacts services without the large cost. With the term “you get what you spend for” in mind, the appeal for totally free software application transcends with lots of people recognizing the minimal value of buying pricey products. Amongst all customers, university student are more than likely to gain from this software application as packages like Microsoft workplace have actually been suggested by trainers, numerous trainees wish to keep a copy of their projects for future recommendation. oftentimes providing their own laptop computer as a discussion source, totally free software application gets rid of reliance on USB drives and the setting up of 3rd celebration software application on public computer systems frequently limited by rigorous admin gain access to.