POWER POINT CDs

byTed Peterson
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I have been asked to transfer a number of slide shows to CDs by PSA. After trying a number of ways to do this I came up with using Power Point. This is a program in the Office group of programs from Microsoft. With a large number of different programs on the market and I have worked with most of them. I came up with this program since it could easily do what I wanted to do.
The main thing that this program can do is, you do not have to have the Power Point program on your computer to read the CDs. You do need the program to be able to make the CDs. The program costs about $200.00 (depending on where you buy it). The Power Point program is easy to use to create a Power Point program..
What you need to start with is a layout of what your program will be about. Lay out the program, listing the order that your pictures are to be shown and what you would print with each picture. The text has to be in .txt format as it will not work with .doc format.
The next thing you need to do is scan your pictures. As you are putting them on a CD you will want to scan them with a low resolution. The pictures have to be scanned in .jpg format as .tif or, .bmp will not work. With the pictures in .jpg format and the text in .txt format an 80 slide show will take only about 10 meg of space. If you are not going to make a CD, you could place it on a Zip disk.
You are now ready to make a Power Point show when you have all the text typed out and all the slides scanned. If you want to you can enter the type as you go along but it is better to have it typed out before.
When you are ready to start, you click the Power Point icon. A menu will show. Click on "blank Presentations". Then click OK. A new menu will come up with a large group of squares. Click on the right hand bottom roll that has a blank white square. It will then show up with a black border around it. Click OK. At that point a large white screen will come on.
You are now ready to start. The first thing that you will want to do is set the background. Click on the right mouse key and a menu will come on. Click on "background". You can use any color. The best is dark blue, gray, or green. If you want to, you can set it up so it is darker on the top and botton and lighter in the center. Click on the white place on that menu.
At this point you are set up to start. With the large white screen showing, click on "insert" listed on the top listing. When the menu comes on, click on the top item called "New slide" You will then have the menu showing the large number of squares that had the one with the black border around it. Click on OK and you will have the first blue ( or other color) background showing.
At this time click on "insert" and then go down about 12 lines you will see a listing "pictures". Click on this and a new menu will show. On this menu you will see "from file". Click on this and bring up your listing of pictures. Click on the one you want and then click on "insert".
At this time a small picture will be in the center of the large blue screen. Click in the picture and move it around as you will see little squares on all the corners. Move it to the top and then make it any size you want by going to any corners and drag the square.
Then go to "Notepad" on your computer and bring up the .txt part that you want on this slide. Accent the part you want and using the right mouse key click "cut".
At that point go back to the Power Point screen and click "paste". The text part will come up in the center. Move it so that it is under the picture or to the right or left. You will make changes to the shape by moving around the border and when you see a double pointed arrow move it.
To change the color or type face you accent the text. To change the type face go to the top and change the face or font. To change the color go below the screen and you will see a large A. To the right is a small symble, click on it and a menu will show up. Click on the color you want and the black A will change to the color wanted. From then on each time you have text on that Power Point show click on the white (or red) and the program will change all accented text.
If you want to enter text without going from a file, etc. go to "insert" and click on "add text item". Click on this and then go to the blue (or other color) and right click. Where you clicked start typing. To change color or type face do the same thing as above. You can have a large number of different items on one screen.
When you have the slide the way you want it to be go to the top and click on "insert" and click on "new slide".
When you have the complete show done, save it as a "Presentation file" That way you can go in and change or add to the show by opening the file. When you have it complete, save it as "PowerPoint Show" That way it will make a good show and other people that have it cannot copy any of the pictures off to use.
A Power Point program can be made fast and easy. You have a 1,2,3, etc. system to do and if you follow the listing nothing can go wrong. If you need help contact me.
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