Stuff missing from PPT 2007 Beta2

[SteveP]

I find several things we rely upon missing in PowerPoint 2007, and some other
odd quirks.

1. Cannot add buttons to the ribbon, particularly the add/decrease line
spacing buttons.

2. Line spacing adjustment does not allow kerning less than 1.0 lines

3. Cannot edit master backgrounds of some legacy PowerPoint shows.

4. The "Animations" tab on the toolbar is a misnomer. It should be
"Transitions", since except for one pane, it's all about transitions, not
animations. Animations, meaning animating elements inside of a slide, should
be its own ribbon with the same treatment as transitions (nice).

5. In general, you really should do something about locking transitions and
other timed events to a real-time clock. In the past transtions and
animations have been tied to processor clock speed, so if you run it on a
faster computer, everything speeds up. Likewise a slower computer makes
everything run slower. This produces unpredictable results in distribution.

6. And while I'm rambling, why can't we play a DVD chapter???

More to come...


Steve P.

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[SteveP]

Sorry. I meant "leading" not "kerning" (been away from typography too long).
Aha! The Exactly button. But still the up/down buttons were a whole lot
more convenient!

As far as the masters, this one file has filled rectangle as a background
that doesn't take up the whole screen, two logos on the bottom and line of
text at the top in the master. They are uneditable in 2007, but edit fine in
2003. (Client's going to be using them in 2003, so it doesn't really matter,
but it's the principal of the thing.)

Steve P.

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

1. Cannot add buttons to the ribbon, particularly the add/decrease
line

spacing buttons.

You can, just not very easily. You either need to learn some XML (called
RibbonX) or use a 3rd party add-in. For more on both topics, take a look
at my website. Note that I am currently working on updating everything
on it to work with B2TR and organizing it better.

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
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Office 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR):
http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/09/18/43
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[Echo S]

I find several things we rely upon missing in PowerPoint 2007, and some
other
odd quirks.

Steve R's got you covered on the other stuff, so...

6. And while I'm rambling, why can't we play a DVD chapter???

http://www.pfcmedia.com -- check into PFCPro for this functionality.

 

[alayne]

When you use Exactly for line spacing, it doesn't allow you to decrease
the leading. 0pt is the minimum, and then it only lets you increase by
6, 12, 18, 24 etc. That's not "exact" at all! How do I squash my
paragraph??? Arg!

 

[Echo S]

Use .8 or so in the Exactly setting box.

(FWIW, I know this dialog sucks -- it may be good for Word users, but it
sucks for PPT users. Unfortunately, my complaints weren't enough to get it
changed. Ah, well, maybe next version. At least we have the behavior still.)

 

[Echo S]

Oh, yeah, meant to mention you can type in the leading box, too. I usually
just type in 9 or 15 or whatever. (I'm not a big fan of the default 6-pt
setting, either.)

What really frustrates me, though, is the lack of a Preview button -- or
live preview with this dialog. So I have to close the box, check the
results, reopen it and make changes, lather, rinse, repeat. It's trial and
error, and it really sucks. The settings aren't even what we're used to
(they're set in points instead of lines), so it's even harder than
necessary. AND it's two clicks to get to that dialog, even though I added
"line spacing" to my QAT. (So here's a hint -- add the Paragraph [dialog
launcher] to your QAT instead so you can open that dialog with one click.)

Sorry about the mini-rant, but this dialog box really does frustrate me. I
suppose you couldn't have guessed that?! LOL!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

Use .8 or so in the Exactly setting box.

(FWIW, I know this dialog sucks -- it may be good for Word users, but it
sucks for PPT users. Unfortunately, my complaints weren't enough to get it
changed. Ah, well, maybe next version. At least we have the behavior
still.)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/

When you use Exactly for line spacing, it doesn't allow you to decrease
the leading. 0pt is the minimum, and then it only lets you increase by
6, 12, 18, 24 etc. That's not "exact" at all! How do I squash my
paragraph??? Arg!

 

[Echo S]

3. Cannot edit master backgrounds of some legacy PowerPoint shows.

You know, it just occurred to me that you may be running into something
another user ran into last week.

Basically, when you're in 2007 Master View, you should notice one master
slide and then a bunch of slide layouts related to that slide.

Some things on the individual slide layouts won't be editable, because they
inherit their stuff from that slide master. So either edit it on the slide
master, or cut it from the slide master and paste it onto the individual
slide layouts as appropriate.

It's unfortunate that there aren't really many visual cues to tell you that
you're on a slide layout when you're in the slide master view, and not on a
slide master. If you see a dotted line beside the slide thumbnail you're on,
it's a slide layout. Scroll up to find the associated slide master. (I find
it especially easy to lose my place if I'm working with more than one slide
master, because that generally means a lot of layouts so it's a really
extended task pane!)

 

[Echo S]

In case you missed Echo's point amid all the flying lather (Hey Echo ...
chillpill
time! <g>) just type the value you want into the combo box (in points).

But type the line spacing in lines in the line spacing box after choosing
"Exactly" from the dropdown. If you need your lines closer together, type .9
or .8 in there. Much smaller than that, and you'll cut off the ascenders and
descenders of most fonts.

Then type the size in points in the space before box to set the size between
"paragraphs."

 

[Echo S]

I dunno kiddo. I type .9 there and get a jumbled mess. In old
typesetter's
terms, 24/24 or "set solid" (meaning 24 point type on 24 point leading) is
as
tight as you'd normally want it. 24/.9 is a bit ... er ... extreme. ;-)

Ah, crap. Choose "multiple" from the dropdown, not "exactly." Then type in
..8 or .85 and see if that doesn't do it.

See, you're supposed to do what I mean, not what I say!