Inconsistent results when saving as web presentation

[dje]

I work at a school and at times need to take PPT presentations created
by others and save them as HTML to put on our web site. I am dealing
with mostly Macs with a handful of PCs. We have different versions of
browsers plus some teachers are on OS X while others are on OS 9. I
do the majority of my work from home on a PC. With all the
combinations of platforms and browsers, I have to test in many
situations and have noticed major problems.

The latest presentation looked very pixelated saved in OS X. I have
used different versions of Windows to do the save as HTML, and the
Windows XP gave me the best results. However, viewing on anything
other than a PC using IE produces presentations with missing parts
such as info from text boxes, and misplaced navigational controls. If
I use Netscape to view on the PC, it shows it in three different
sections, with the presentation behind just 1/4 of the screen and the
controls in one corner, text scattered around...a big jumble.

Most of the presentations have a combination of text, backgrounds,
JPGs and GIFs.

I have tried the different options when saving such as which browser
versions to work with, full screen, save with navigation controls,
etc. I have tried several combinations.

What is the secret to getting a PPT saved to web that will perform
adequately under all situations, or is this asking too much? I
haven't found much help with online resources. My main goal will be
to have them look good on a Mac, since we have 400 of them in the
school, and that seems to be where the largest problem is.

Thanks for any insight you may have.

DJE

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi dje,

I've had uneven results with the Save As Web Page feature. In some
presentations it works wonderfully. Others not quite perfect.

For sure, the only browser that works well on the Mac with presentations
saved as web pages is Internet Explorer. It would be much better if the
feature worked with Safari, OmniWeb, Opera, iCab, etc.

I usually choose to let use PowerPoint use PNG format. Sounds like
you've already experimented with various combinations of the other settings.

-Jim

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

What is the secret to getting a PPT saved to web that will perform

adequately under all situations, or is this asking too much? I
haven't found much help with online resources. My main goal will be
to have them look good on a Mac, since we have 400 of them in the
school, and that seems to be where the largest problem is.

It depends on how much of PPT's animation and other higher-end features you
need to preserve in the HTML. The more you want to hang onto, the more
platform/browser-specific the HTML seems to get.

If you don't need animations, have a peek at http://ppt2html.pptools.com for a
possible solution. There's a free fully functional demo available. It's a
Windows-only add-in, but you mentioned you've access to Windows PCs.


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Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
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