Digital Presentations and Multimedia Basics
Slides and structure
A presentation is built on a slide master that stores theme, fonts, colours and placeholder positions; changes made there reach every slide using that layout. Layouts decide which placeholders appear (title, content, two-content, picture). Use Slide Sorter to reorder slides and speaker notes for the script the audience should not see.
Media basics
Raster images (JPG, PNG, GIF) are pixel grids and lose quality when enlarged; vector images (SVG) scale cleanly. JPG suits photographs, PNG suits screenshots and logos needing transparency, GIF suits simple animation. Video is usually MP4 (H.264); audio is MP3 or WAV. 16:9 is the standard widescreen ratio.
Motion and delivery
A transition moves between slides; an animation moves objects on a single slide. Both should support the message, not decorate it. Keep text sparse - the widely quoted 6x6 guideline is six bullets of six words - and add alt text to images for screen readers.
Worked example
A company logo must sit on a coloured slide background and stay sharp when projected. Reasoning: a JPG would bring a white box around the logo, and a low-resolution bitmap would blur on a large screen. Use a PNG with a transparent background, or an SVG if the projection software supports it, then place it on the master so it appears on every slide.
Traps
- Calling a transition an animation, or the reverse.
- Stretching a small image to fill the slide; resolution falls.
- Reading slides aloud word for word instead of using notes.
- Assuming a background change on slide 1 affects other layouts unless it is made on the master.