A presentation program is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show. It typically includes three major functions: an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted, a method for inserting and manipulating graphic images and a slide-show system to display the content.
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History
The original presentation graphics software ran on computer workstations, such as those manufactured by Genigraphics, Autographix, and Dicomed. It became quite easy to make last-minute changes compared to traditional typesetting and pasteup. It was also a lot easier to produce a large number of slides in a small amount of time. However, these workstations also required skilled operators, and a single workstation represented an investment of $50,000 to $200,000 (in 1979 dollars!).
In the mid-1980's, developments in the world of personal computers changed the way presentations were created. Inexpensive, specialized applications now made it possible for anyone with a PC or Macintosh to create professional-looking presentation graphics.
Originally these programs were used to generate 35mm slides, to be presented using a slide projector. A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device to view photographic slides. As these programs became more common in the late 1980s, several companies set up services that would accept the shows on diskette and create slides or print transparencies. A floppy disk is an increasingly Obsolete data storage medium that is composed of a disk of thin flexible ("floppy" Magnetic storage medium encased A transparency is a thin sheet of transparent flexible material typically Cellulose acetate, onto which figures can be drawn In the 1990s dedicated LCD-based screens that could be placed on the projectors started to replace the transparencies, and by the late 1990s they had almost all been replaced by video projectors. The 1990s collectively refers to the years between and including 1990 and 1999 A video projector takes a Video signal and projects the corresponding image on a Projection screen using a lens system
The first commercial computer software specifically intended for creating WYSIWYG presentations was developed at Hewlett Packard in 1979 and called BRUNO and later HP-Draw. The first software displaying a presentation on a personal computer screen was VCN ExecuVision, developed in 1982. VCN ExecuVision was the first Presentation program for the personal computer This program allowed users to choose from a library of images to accompany the text of their presentation. A slide from this software is visible at left.
Features
There are many different types of presentations including professional (work-related), education, entertainment, and for general communication. Presentation programs can either supplement or replace the use of older visual aid technology, such as Pamphlets, handouts, chalkboards, flip charts, posters, slides and overhead transparencies. A pamphlet is an unbound Booklet (that is without a hard cover or binding) Text, graphics, movies, and other objects are positioned on individual pages or "slides" or "foils". The "slide" analogy is a reference to the slide projector, a device that has become somewhat obsolete due to the use of presentation software. A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device to view photographic slides. Slides can be printed, or (more usually) displayed on-screen and navigated through at the command of the presenter. Transitions between slides can be animated in a variety of ways, as can the emergence of elements on a slide itself. Typically a presentation has many constraints and the most important being the limited time to present consistent information. A presentation program is supposed to help both: the speaker with an easier access to his ideas and the participants with visual information which complements the talk.
Many presentation programs come with pre-designed images (clip art) and/or have the ability to import graphic images. Clip art in the Graphic arts, refers to pre-made images used to illustrate any medium Custom graphics can also be created in other programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator and then imported. Adobe Illustrator is a vector-based drawing program developed and marketed by Adobe Systems. The concept of clip art originated with the image library that came as a complement with VCN ExecuVision, beginning in 1983. Clip art in the Graphic arts, refers to pre-made images used to illustrate any medium VCN ExecuVision was the first Presentation program for the personal computer
With the growth of digital photography and video, many programs that handle these types of media also include presentation functions for displaying them in a similar "slide show" format. Digital photography is a form of Photography that utilizes Digital technology to make Digital images of subjects Digital video is a type of Video recording system that works by using a Digital rather than an analog video signal For example, Apple's iPhoto allows groups of digital photos to be displayed in a slide show with options such as selecting transitions, choosing whether or not the show stops at the end or continues to loop, and including music to accompany the photos. iPhoto is a software application made by Apple Inc exclusively for their Mac OS X operating system
Similar to programming extensions for an operating system or web browser, "add ons" or plugins for presentation programs can be used to enhance their capabilities. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text images videos music games and other information typically located on a For example, it would be useful to export a PowerPoint presentation as a Flash animation or PDF document. The File format SWF (acronym of " Shockwave Flash "pronounced swiff)a partially open repository for multimedia and especially This would make delivery through removable media or sharing over the Internet easier. Since PDF files are designed to be shared regardless of platform and most web browsers already have the plugin to view Flash files, these formats would allow presentations to be more widely accessible. In Computing, a platform describes some sort of Hardware architecture or Software framework (including Application frameworks, that allows
Certain presentation programs also offer an interactive integrated hardware element designed to engage an audience (e. g. audience response systems) or facilitate presentations across different geographical locations (e. Audience response is a type of interaction associated with the use of audience response systems to create interactivity between a presenter and his/her Audience. g. web conferencing). Web conferencing is used to conduct live Meetings or Presentations over the Internet. Other integrated hardware devices ease the job of a live presenter such as laser pointers and interactive whiteboards. A laser pointer is a portable pen-sized Laser designed to be held in the hand and most commonly used to project a point of light to highlight items of interest during a An interactive whiteboard is a large interactive display that connects to a Computer and Projector.
The increasing use of video projectors in churches has prompted the development of many worship presentation programs with specific features such as built-in bibles and a database for song lyrics. A video projector takes a Video signal and projects the corresponding image on a Projection screen using a lens system A worship presentation program is a specialised Presentation program designed for displaying images (primarily song lyrics during some forms of Christian worship.
Programs
The most commonly known presentation program is Microsoft PowerPoint, although there are alternatives such as OpenOffice.org Impress and Apple's Keynote. Microsoft PowerPoint is a proprietary Presentation program developed by Microsoft. OpenOfficeorg Impress, a part of the OpenOfficeorg Office suite and developed by Sun Microsystems, is a Presentation program similar to Keynote is a presentation software application developed as a part of the IWork productivity suite (which also includes Pages and Numbers In general, the presentation follows a hierarchical tree explored linearly (like in a table of content) which has the advantage to follow a printed text often given to participants. Adobe Acrobat is also a (less) popular tool for presentation which can be used to easily link other presentations of whatever kind and by adding the faculty of zooming without loss of accuracy due to vector graphics inherent to PostScript and PDF. Adobe Acrobat is a family of computer programs developed by Adobe Systems, designed to view create manipulate and manage files in Adobe's Portable Document Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points lines, Curves and shapes or Polygon (s which are all based PostScript ( PS) is a dynamically typed concatenative Programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982
Another kind of presentation programs are Mind Map programs which may be convenient to adapt a presentation dependent upon the reaction of the audience. A mind map is a Diagram used to represent Words, Ideas tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea It is based on a similar hierarchical tree but the tree can be explored, accessed and developed at each node according to the presenter's talk. They offer printings of any subtree and also include the faculty of move and zoom. Its typical use is for lectures.
The concept of IBM personal computer based presentation graphics originated with VCN ExecuVision that was introduced commercially in 1983. VCN ExecuVision was the first Presentation program for the personal computer
See also
- Adobe Persuasion
- AppleWorks
- Astound by Gold Disk Inc. Adobe Persuasion (formerly Aldus Persuasion was a Presentation program developed for the Macintosh platform by Aldus Corporation. AppleWorks refers to two different Office suite products both of which are now discontinued
- Authorstream
- Beamer (LaTeX)
- DVD Slideshow Builder
- Google Docs which now includes presentations
- Harvard Graphics
- HyperCard
- IBM Lotus Freelance Graphics
- Apple Keynote
- KPresenter
- Macromedia Action!
- Macromedia Director
- MagicPoint
- MatchWare Mediator
- MatchWare OpenMind
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- OpenOffice.org Impress
- PicturesToExe
- Scala Multimedia
- Screencast
- ShowLogic
- SongPro
- Umibozu (wiki)
- VCN ExecuVision
- Web based presentation tools
- Worship presentation program
- Zoho
- Presentations in HTML format: Presentacular, PreZentit, HTML Slidy,
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