Powerpoint is a presentation software package made by Microsoft. It is a versatile program that is able to make a variety of presentations. There is the normal Powerpoint format that can be clicked through at will or automatically, but there are also three other ways to present your information. Powerpoint can also make movies, webpages and even simple PDFs.
Powerpoint
Video of the Day
The normal method of making a presentation is to save it as a Powerpoint file. A Powerpoint file can be viewed on any machine with Powerpoint or a Powerpoint reader application. The presentation advances to the next slide every time the space bar or mouse button is pushed. Alternatively, the slides can be made to advance automatically. This is the most widely used presentation format for Powerpoint.
Video of the Day
Movie
Powerpoint is also capable of encoding the slides as a movie that automatically plays through the slides. This works like any other movie and is the least complicated for people to use. The movie can even be uploaded to YouTube or another movie site to share on the Internet. However, the movie file cannot be edited in Powerpoint; you have to change the original Powerpoint file and make a new movie if you want to make any changes.
Website
Powerpoint is capable of making a HTML file out of the presentation slides. This HTML file can then be placed on the web as a website. It will automatically play through the slides like the movie. This makes the presentation accessible to anyone who has an Internet browser and not just to those with the Powerpoint software. However, you need to review your presentation on multiple browsers to make sure there are no glitches.
The most simple form of presentation is the PDF. Powerpoint can save the slides as individual pages and then compile the pages into a PDF file. Any computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader can then open the PDF file and display the presentation. The user has to scroll manually, as PDF does not allow automatic page-turning.