alternative to powerpoint (by adobe or macromedia?)

[excalibur313]

I want to make really nice presentation but powerpoint drives me crazy because of its lack of features and how difficult it is to do non standard stuff. I have creative suite and studio and I was curious if one of those programs would be appropriate for making really spiffy slides. (I only have experience with photoshop, dreamweaver, and a little flash.) I'd like this to look really slick and professional (I wouldn't even really mind copying pictures I make into powerpoint if it looked good enough) and I don't mind getting my hands dirty learning a new program.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

I want to make really nice presentation but powerpoint drives me crazy because of its lack of features and how difficult it is to do non standard stuff. I have creative suite and studio and I was curious if one of those programs would be appropriate for making really spiffy slides. (I only have experience with photoshop, dreamweaver, and a little flash.)

I LOVE Keynote. A lot. And it's only 79 bucks (comes in a package with Pages...which I like less...but anyway!)

It allows you to export to a number of different file types AND allows you to make, I quote, "really spiffy slides".

Anyway, I'm giving a 90 minute presentation tomorrow, and thanks to Keynote, it's going to go really well!

 

[excalibur313]

Hmm you're right that keynote is really fantastic. The only thing is that I sort of sold my mac and have a macbook on order so in the meantime I have to limp along with a dell (deep sigh). There are some imacs on campus but I'm not sure if they have keynote and working from the comfort of my own room would be nice if possible.

 

[mrgreen4242]

Well, you could try OpenOffice Presenter... if it's just for a month seems like a waste to buy another application. You'll get a demo copy of Keynote with your MacBook, so you can try that when you get it.

 

[excalibur313]

Well I already have designer, illustrator, indesign, golive, imageready, etc because the difference between the student price of photoshop and the complete suite was less than $100 so I just bought it. (the same with studio) I haven't even used them because I'm not really sure about all their features. You have a good idea that I should just try the open office version though, thanks.

 

[RacerX]

Well I already have designer, illustrator, indesign, golive, imageready, etc because the difference between the student price of photoshop and the complete suite was less than $100 so I just bought it.

If that includes the full version of Acrobat (Standard or Pro), then you can assemble your presentation in that and have it play on any system with Adobe Reader installed. Acrobat offers a couple dozen transition effects, and you can save your PDF so that it'll open in full screen mode when launched.

Acrobat has had this ability since at least version 3 as I recall.

For me it has always been easier to build my presentations in graphics and layout apps and then use Acrobat to make the final presentation.

 

[Damien]

I would go for Flash then. If you can use it correctly it can create very very slick presentations

 

[excalibur313]

Damien- That is a really good idea

RacerX- So what program would be best suited for making each slide? Photoshop or is there one that is better suited?