Powerpoint and the Web

  • Thread starter Thread starter Stephen Glynn
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Stephen Glynn

Can anyone give me a rundown of the pros and cons of using Powerpoint to
put a presentation on the web rather than using a series of simple
HTML pages with a link to the next page on each one? It would be nice
to use some of Powerpoint's animations but it's by no means vital that I do.

Steve
 
Can anyone give me a rundown of the pros and cons of using Powerpoint to
put a presentation on the web rather than using a series of simple
HTML pages with a link to the next page on each one? It would be nice
to use some of Powerpoint's animations but it's by no means vital that I do.
Click to expand...

It'd depend on what you want to compare, so maybe you can fill in a few more
details.

For instance, do you mean to put a PPT or PPS file on the web as is, or a PPT
presentation saved as HTML?



--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
Steve said:
It'd depend on what you want to compare, so maybe you can fill in a few more
details.

For instance, do you mean to put a PPT or PPS file on the web as is, or a PPT
presentation saved as HTML?
Click to expand...

I'm a complete newbie at this so I'm really not sure of the implications
of the two options. I've got, or will shortly have when I've finished
writing it, a presentation of about 80 slides in Powerpoint 2000. It's
a training presentation that will be mostly used in-house. However,
since it's of general interest we want to stick it on our website. I
see that one of the options is to 'Save as web page', which I've just
tried doing on my pc and viewing it through both IE and Mozilla and it
looks and works OK, though admittedly not completely as I expected.

However I know that there are various problems with turning Word
documents into HTML using Word's own functionality (to be strictly
accurate the people who host our website have told us not to because it
apparently gives them various headaches) and it wouldn't cause me a
great deal of extra effort to do the thing in HTML to start with and
have our people view it in-house on IE -- ie not bother with Powerpoint
at all.

I'm just wondering what the pros and cons of each option are.

Steve
 
Stephen Glynn said:
I'm a complete newbie at this so I'm really not sure of the implications
of the two options. I've got, or will shortly have when I've finished
writing it, a presentation of about 80 slides in Powerpoint 2000. It's
a training presentation that will be mostly used in-house. However,
since it's of general interest we want to stick it on our website. I
see that one of the options is to 'Save as web page', which I've just
tried doing on my pc and viewing it through both IE and Mozilla and it
looks and works OK, though admittedly not completely as I expected.

However I know that there are various problems with turning Word
documents into HTML using Word's own functionality (to be strictly
accurate the people who host our website have told us not to because it
apparently gives them various headaches) and it wouldn't cause me a
great deal of extra effort to do the thing in HTML to start with and
have our people view it in-house on IE -- ie not bother with Powerpoint
at all.

I'm just wondering what the pros and cons of each option are.
Click to expand...

Well, PPT's HTML is definitely not my area of expertise, but I'll toss in my $.02 anyway. :-)

Using PPT's Save as Web Page is a quick alternative for those who need to publish a presentation on the web, but who don't have the time or knowledge to create the file in HTML.

One problem with it is that it tends to create bloated HTML code, and, depending on the options selected when saving as webpage, the user may need to have the Office Animation Run-Time add-in installed in order to see the animations in the HTML. (This can be the case if you are using PPT 2002/2003 to create the presentation and have used animations exclusive to those versions -- and the person viewing doesn't have PPT/Office 2002/2003 installed.)

Also, as you've seen, the presentation -- again, depending on what's in the presentation -- may not look and act as you expect it to once it's been saved as webpage.

In short, if were you and had the ability to do the thing in HTML, I'd just do it in HTML. Or I'd use Steve Rindsberg's PPT2HTML tool to do it for me to save time. http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/ppt2html/index.html
 
I'm a complete newbie at this so I'm really not sure of the implications
of the two options. I've got, or will shortly have when I've finished
writing it, a presentation of about 80 slides in Powerpoint 2000. It's
a training presentation that will be mostly used in-house. However,
since it's of general interest we want to stick it on our website. I
see that one of the options is to 'Save as web page', which I've just
tried doing on my pc and viewing it through both IE and Mozilla and it
looks and works OK, though admittedly not completely as I expected.

However I know that there are various problems with turning Word
documents into HTML using Word's own functionality (to be strictly
accurate the people who host our website have told us not to because it
apparently gives them various headaches) and it wouldn't cause me a
great deal of extra effort to do the thing in HTML to start with and
have our people view it in-house on IE -- ie not bother with Powerpoint
at all.

I'm just wondering what the pros and cons of each option are.
Click to expand...

Putting a PPT file on the web and linking directly to it:

Pros:
- Easy to do; upload the file, add the link, done
- User can view original PPT in full fidelity
(they ARE viewing the original after all)
Cons:
- User must have PPT or must download/install a free viewer
- Must download entire file before they can view anything
- Behavior of link click will depend on whether they have PPT and
browser settings; it's a bit unpredictable
Misc:
- User can edit/print file at will
That may suit your needs or not

Putting PPT's own HTML on the web

Pros:
- Relatively easy to do; must upload an html file plus
a folder of supporting files. More complex than above but
not rocket science
- Viewable in browser; no need for plugins/viewers/Powerpoint
- Does fair job of preserving animations and such

Cons:
- No control over what HTML looks/behaves like. It is what it is.
- HTML not always friendly to non-MSIE browsers

Handrolled HTML

You'll have to evaluate that yourself; if you're fluent in HTML you can easily
export the PPT images to a series of image files and write HTML around that, but
it takes some work. As Echo mentions, our PPT2HTML add-in automates that for you
and lets you create your own HTML "templates" that control what the html output
looks like. It might work quite well for you; there's a free fully-functional
demo at http://get.pptools.com and lots of how-to at http://ppt2html.pptools.com

Neither this nor most handrolled HTML would support animations, but you've said
that's not a big issue. PPT2HTML will do slide transitions and timings, though.
 
I agree with what Echo and Steve have said, but want to add a couple of
other points:
1) If your web host doesn't like Word's HTML, they are going to hate
PowerPoint's. Even more files are created and they are harder to read and
follow.
2) If you use sounds in your presentation, you will need to do some hand
editing of the HTML to get the sound to run. Even then, it probably won't
run the way you want it to. (Sound in PPT as default runs only within any
given slide. If you have sound that needs to run across slides, you have to
attach it to the frame instead of the slide.)
3) If you gather data during the presentation, it won't work the way you
expect when translated to HTML.
On the flip side:
If you do make separate PPT and HTML versions, you will need to keep both
updated when you change either. If you are the only one controlling the
source for the two, that isn't a problem. However, I strongly recommend you
document the mapping between the two.

My opinion? If it isn't absolutely necessary to have the HTML be PPT based,
make it separate and do a document tracking map. My second suggestion would
be to look into Steve's PPT2HTML, because it will solve some of the problems
and yet you can still keep the two versions consistent. If you are going to
go with PPT's HTML, check out the relevant sections of the PPT FAQ:
WEBifying
Put your PowerPoint-generated HTML on the web
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00241.htm

Browser compatibility
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00171.htm

Optimize PowerPoint's HTML for Netscape Navigator
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00139.htm

Make PowerPoint 2000 HTML open full screen
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00148.htm

Making PowerPoint 2002 (XP) HTML open full screen
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00428.htm

Get rid of the outline pane and navigation controls in HTML from PowerPoint
2000 and up
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00442.htm

Sounds won't play across multiple slides on the web
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00303.htm

How to create HTML without frames
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00181.htm

Control how the browser opens PowerPoint files
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00189.htm

Everything there is to know about PowerPoint's HTML
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00322.htm

Convert PowerPoint to Flash
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00147.htm

Using the Web Publishing Wizard
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00602.htm

--
Kathryn Jacobs, Microsoft MVP PowerPoint and OneNote
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint - Available now from Holy Macro! Books
Get PowerPoint answers at http://www.powerpointanswers.com
Featured Presenter at PPT 2004 - http://www.pptlive/com


I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived
 
1) If your web host doesn't like Word's HTML, they are going to hate
PowerPoint's. Even more files are created and they are harder to read and
follow.
Click to expand...

True, but on the other hand, why should the web host know or care? It's not
their job to read the things or to make sure they work, just to serve the files
up when asked. Complaining about the HTML is a bit out of line for a hosting
company, IMO.
3) If you gather data during the presentation, it won't work the way you
expect when translated to HTML.
Click to expand...

Or more broadly: Using macros in the presentation? Don't convert it to HTML.
It's not going to go there.
My second suggestion would
be to look into Steve's PPT2HTML, because it will solve some of the problems
Click to expand...

It's hard to find fault with that advice. ;-)


--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
Steve said:
True, but on the other hand, why should the web host know or care? It's not
their job to read the things or to make sure they work, just to serve the files
up when asked. Complaining about the HTML is a bit out of line for a hosting
company, IMO.




Or more broadly: Using macros in the presentation? Don't convert it to HTML.
It's not going to go there.




It's hard to find fault with that advice. ;-)


--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
Click to expand...

Thanks so much all of you for your help. I'm going to go away and look
at the various links and give the matter a bit of thought and then
doubtless come back for some more advice.

My gut feeling, I have to say, is that I'm probably going to be better
off doing the whole thing in "hand-rolled" HTML since I've had a look at
the HTML Powerpoint generates and I can't understand half of it while I
can understand the HTML and java I write that produces a very similar
effect.

It really is a bog-standard presentation, though, that concentrates on
getting the information over without bells and whistles a/v effects.
I'll certainly study Steve R's links with great interest.

Thank you again.

Steve G
 
Thanks so much all of you for your help. I'm going to go away and look
at the various links and give the matter a bit of thought and then
doubtless come back for some more advice.
Click to expand...

You know where to find us. ;-)

And if you have any Q's about PPT2HTML, give me a yell.
Start with the tech support link at
Technical support:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/ppt2html/FAQ00016.htm

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
Yeah, but which pub?

Steve Rindsberg said:
You know where to find us. ;-)

And if you have any Q's about PPT2HTML, give me a yell.
Start with the tech support link at
Technical support:
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptools/ppt2html/FAQ00016.htm

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, but which pub?
Click to expand...

This one. Oh Waitron? Waitron! Another tequila for my greenish friend,
please. Oh, and he wants to know ... if he finishes the bottle, does he get
the worm?

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
 
Oooohhhh, that hurt! Eeerrwwpppp...

Steve Rindsberg said:
This one. Oh Waitron? Waitron! Another tequila for my greenish friend,
please. Oh, and he wants to know ... if he finishes the bottle, does he get
the worm?

--
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================
Featured Presenter, PowerPoint Live 2004
October 10-13, San Diego, CA www.PowerPointLive.com
================================================
Click to expand...
 
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