From the OpenOffice.org Start Center’s Create a new section, select New Presentation. You’ll run through the wizard, beginning with an Empty presentation. Select this option and click Next to go into the Slide selection part. There’s not much going on in here, so ensure that the Slide design section is set to and that the output medium is set to Screen. If you install any additional templates from the Web, they too will be accessible from the Slide design section. The main part of the window is given over to a preview of, well, a blank slide, so click Next to move onto the default transition. Use the Effect drop- down list to choose Fade smoothly, and make sure the duration is set to Medium. With these settings, the transition from one slide to the next will take under a second and won’t be too jarring or flashy. In the lower section, leave the option at Default, because this means the slideshow will be advanced when the presenter either clicks a mouse button, presses the spacebar, or manually advances with an onscreen icon.
The presentation takes you through the initial presentation design. To create
a blank presentation, just choose Create on the first screen.
a blank presentation, just choose Create on the first screen.
It’s also possible to create automated slideshows by selecting Automatic, with the first timing setting how long each slide will be displayed and the second one setting the length of gap between one presentation and the next. The automatic presentation tools could be used to build an advertising slideshow (or series of slideshows) to be displayed on a screen in a building’s foyer. Finally click Create to launch the application and get editing.
Tip Another way to begin a presentation is by creating an outline in Writer and making that the foundation for a new presentation. To do this, create an outline in Writer using the Heading styles to define the main points of the presentation. Click File --> Send --> Outline to Presentation to open up Impress with the outline already added to the outline section (see the later section “Presentation Structure” for more on the outliner).
