Alan L Tyree wrote: > I have to put together a presentation and I would like to use a LaTeX > based solution. I have had a look at Michael Wiedmann's page that lists > a lot of solutions: > http://www.miwie.org/presentations/presentations.html > Has anybody had any experiences, good or bad, with any particular > solution? Other people at this thing will be using Powerpoint, so I > would like to look as good as they do.
The above site is excellent. I have used mainly the seminar.sty and prosper package. Both are excellent. The propser has more control over the PDF file and can do slide transitions and you can use colour more easily. The seminar package has more control over things like creating smaller slides like 4 to an A4 page which can be printed out to hand out to people or use as a cue for yourself. One general suggestion i have is to avoid anything that looks like a PowerPoint (PP) presentation. Two reasons; I dot think that those styles are very professional or laid out well. The background yakes away impact from the content. 2. Such PP styles are now like the descending flight of ducks on the wall. They are over cliched and over used. Eg for the prosper example (Figure 1.5) they have a screen shot that looks like a PowerPoint Presentation. That's what to avoid IMO. But you can use prosper and make your own style quite easy. Its an excellent package. For the last presentation I made in January at a conference I preented a summary of a Web based cave database. I used an off white background, and black text (Utopia). At the bottom for those that were bored I put a short bit of data extracted from the actual database of funny cave names. That was done in a smaller font and at a gray of 75% so it didnt detract from my main text. I presntation like that might stood out amoung the others precisely because it was low-key and had more contrast. Things that are nice about prosper is that you can embed PDF commands like telling Acrobat to open up as full screen, slide mode when you click on the .pdf file (Windows and Mac OSX only). Interestingly the organiser asked me how I did that. Others had to start acrobat and then use the menus to set it while the audience waited. mgp looked quite nice but you need your own laptop running Linux to use it. Also make sure it uses nice fonts that are smooth and not bitty. I like prosper or seminar as you can make PDF which any PC will display. **** Make sure they have Acrobat 5.0 installed and get them to test your PDF beforehand *** !!!! All of the above though depends on what you are presenting and what the audience expects. !!!! Mike -- Mike Lake Uni of Technol., Sydney UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. ======================================================================== -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
