In Powerpoint, slides must be advanced slide by slide. However, as I sit right now in computer science class, the bottom 1/4th of the projector screen is hidden behind the row of computers in front of me. I do not enjoy standing up just so I can type 'Static methods cannot reference instance variables, because instance variables don’t exist until an object exists'
My idea: Add a feature to powerpoint that would allow you to scroll through slides vertically, so any material at the bottom would gradually work its way to the top. Been done with overhead projectors, so why not in powerpoint?-- Baker^-1, Jan 07 2004 your idea is novel. but you know as well as me it will never fly. i'll just remain commentless.-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 07 2004 Too late, [nw].
I thought you could do this already, but I tend to stick to marker-and-transparency brand of presentation.-- Detly, Jan 07 2004 It's entirely possible to have the content scroll in any direction if the slide is set up that way. Why not ask the teacher to fix the aim of the projector or make the image smaller so it's visible to everyone. As a former instructor, I know I would want to know a student was having difficulty viewing a slide.-- phoenix, Jan 07 2004 erm I quite like this.. a kind of powerpoint creep. nice one [^-1].-- neilp, Jan 07 2004 i am reminded of the opening of Star Wars, scrolling like that would make it interesting, also with background music!-- benlevi7, Jan 07 2004 This sounds like what Adobe does with PDF files. You can switch to "continuous" scrolling. Avoids that page 'flip'. [+]-- Klaatu, Jan 07 2004 Powerpoint has a "credits" animation method which will scroll the text.-- waugsqueke, Jan 07 2004 [Baker^-1] You ran into one more reason not to use Power Point. Ask the teacher to print to PDF and just scroll through the PDF document.-- kbecker, Jan 07 2004 The powerpoint slides were teaching materials from the textbook, and modifying them would be time-consuming for her.-- Baker^-1, Jan 07 2004 [Baker^-1] If you have access to a Mac no need to manually convert. Macs use PDF as a core technology.
So give your PPT file to a Mac (running OSX).
Open Powerpoint (Office for Mac is actually better than the XP version).
Select print, but then press "save to pdf".
This will create a PDF file that can then be viewed with 'continuous scrolling' on.-- timbeau, Jan 20 2004 +1 for the idea, but -1 for attracting tedious mac comments.-- benjamin, Jul 23 2004 Line up the projector properly accounting for sightlines. Don't put any important text/graphics close the edge of the slide where they may fall off the screen/be overscanned by a badly syncing projector. Stay well clear of the corners- many collapsable screens of the FastFold type have rounded off corners to prevent rippling. Keep ambient lighting down and use high contrast colours for text and graphics. Now 99% of projection problems are fixed already. I'll [+] for a good solution to a common problem, but I'll [-] as it's the wrong solution, kinda like putting in earplugs instead of turning down the volume.-- wagster, Jul 23 2004 Presentation packages probably use the metaphor of 'slides' because they were initially designed to be used by people who created slide shows. The metaphor has stuck, probably longer than is useful. I've not idea if this is already possibly with existing presentation packages, bbut on the assumtion that it isn't, have this croissant-shaped scroll- bar.-- st3f, Jul 23 2004 Sorry, anything with the word "Powerpoint" in it seems like a bad idea.-- joeforker, Jul 23 2004 random, halfbakery