Monday, October 9, 2000		Learning Computers

Microsoft power point

Microsoft Power Point (MS Power Point) is a powerful software in Microsoft Office, which has a number of uses. Normally, people install complete Microsoft office suite, with Power Point, but hardly use this feature-packed software, as they do not know much about it.

But those who know swear by its features and performance and can tell about its wide range of uses. Basically, the programs discussed until now like MS Word and Excel are application software, whereas Power Point is presentation software that can be used in any kind of presentation, including business presentation, project presentation or for educational purposes. Like other MS Office components, this software too has a user-friendly interface and thus does not require any special skill or training for its efficient use. However, a brief orientation is always necessary for using specialised software like Power Point. For understanding this software it has been divided into two parts.

1) Main features

2) Uses and applications

1) Main features: Microsoft Power Point is easy to use software, which uses templates and wizards to guide through the steps involved in choosing the correct layout in finally making a presentation. The presentations are stored in the form of slides, which are combined together to form a slide show of the presentation. Once the Power Point is opened, an auto content wizard opens up on computer screen that gives the option to use the auto-content wizard, template, or an existing presentation.

Once an appropriate option is selected, further steps model the presentation. The Power Point has full compatibility with other components of MS Office like Word and Excel. Thus, whatever is done in Excel or Word can be brought in Power Point and thus can be used in the presentation. Moreover a link can be created with other software, including Excel and Word, using Pastelink function. This is a wonderful feature, which enables automatic updating in the presentation as and when the source file gets updated. For example, if you create a presentation with some data and statistics, which has been paste -linked to MS Excel and whenever, the data in Excel will change, the change also gets reflected in Power Point.

Thus you need not update information as and when it gets updated in the source file. The same applies to the charts, graphics and pictures. You can even create a chart directly from MS Excel data and can thus give a live presentation, as the chart automatically changes with the corresponding changes in Excel data. Pastelink is applicable to all other software, which supports DDE links.

Another great feature of Power Point is its compatibility with the Internet. Since the Internet is a very critical factor today for any business, profession or education and jobs, thus full compatibility with the Internet is essential. By having compatibility with the Internet, whatever is done in Power Point can be transformed into HTML, the language of the World Wide Web. To save presentation in the HTML format, you must select this option from the file menu i.e. " save as HTML". This will open up a "save as HTML" window on the computer screen, which is actually an automatic wizard to help save the presentation in the HTML format.

This software is all about creativity, and thus gives enough scope to apply creative thoughts and ideas in making the presentation truly outstanding. In order to make the presentation better; one can add voice to the slides, which will thus make it more interactive and powerful. The voice is synchronized with the slides in such a way that it looks like a background commentary to the presentation. Depending upon the requirement of the project, one can also add music in the presentation. Moreover, animations can also be used to make the project more meaningful and self-explanatory. These could be in the form of a cartoon character or the movement of slides.

For example, you can define how data will flow in the slide. Thus, if you prefer the heading to come from top and the body text to come from bottom, it can be easily defined in the Power Point presentation.

There are several other methods of data flow, besides the two mentioned above, which you can choose depending upon the need of the presentation. Moreover, it also has compatibility with other multi-media software like Macromedia, using which one can create magic in the presentation by adding lively animations and thus, add a lot of value. You can also add Clipart, organisation charts, scanned images, movies, WordArt etc. to your presentation.

Use the template wizards to add designs and customised designs to the presentations. In fact, there is a utility under the Format menu on the Menu bar, which deals with the slide layout, slide colour scheme and backgrounds. All these items are customised and choose the option from a large database of choices.

2) Uses and applications: Like features, the uses and applications of this software are also countless and immense. However, we will concentrate only on those practical applications, which might be useful in the real world applications. You can put this software to any use, which involves graphical presentation of data. It is especially tailor-made for presentations and self-description slide shows.

Mostly students find this software useful; they can create projects and presentations. Businessmen, who send the sample of their products to their prospective customers, can now send it using Power Point, as they can create a complete catalogue of their product by scanning the photographs and by adding narration to each photograph, in voice or text. Further value addition can be done by using multimedia utilities like sound and animation, which can help in carrying the message of the presentation to the clients. For businessmen, this software can also be used for the purpose of making business/corporate profile. Businessmen can create a slide show of their corporate profile and can send it to their counterparts in any part of the world. This will not only save the cost, but will prove to be equally effective. Job seekers can use is for sending bio-data (resume) to their prospective employers through e-mail.

PowerPoint can be used to create a resume that can highlight area of specialisation. You can also create an interactive resume, which may sufficiently highlight the career landmarks to the prospective employer in a most effective way. As another use, create a digital photo album and preserve memories forever. In each and every slide, you can store a photograph in the order you want and can also add voice to explain the context of the photograph. Once you run the slide show, it will give you the impression that as if you are watching a movie. By digitalising photographs, you can also share it with others.

These were a few applications, where Power Point can add a lot of value. However, this is not the end. But using your imagination you can even find a lot more new practical applications.

— Roli