Tufte, the toughie: "PowerPoint is Evil"

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TonyRamos

Oh, Eddie, darling, don't hold back your feelings ...

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

(And speaking of Wired magazine, a new book recalls the time when the
publiction was actually relevant.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/books/review/27CARRLT.html)

Tufte is still relevant and has some important things to say (more
data, less chartjunk; more context/content/detail, less
decoration/animation/fluff; respect your audience), but I am afraid
those points are getting muddied by his cantankerous tone, his
sweeping generalizations, and the obvious badness of the bad examples
he has found.

Does PowerPoint receive an iota of credit when good decisions are
made, understanding is achieved or justice is served? Rarely, but
there are millions of presentations doing those things every day,
Professor Tufte. Find your car keys, take a drive out of New Haven,
and stop to witness some actual presentations that you'll never be
able to download from the web. Context, as you so note, is everything.

Tony Ramos
Specialist in PowerPoint Presentation Design
http://tonyramos.com
 
Oh, Eddie, darling, don't hold back your feelings ...
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
Click to expand...


Did you love the "Good" example? In all of the good books about
presentation graphics, as opposed to publication graphics, that would have
been the bad example that the author went on to improve upon. Too funny.

Fundamental problem seems to be that Tufte is a print guy who's found
himself

a) making live presentations to audiences and as a result,

b) utterly clueless, at sea, about how to do it effectively when you're a
print guy.
 
Steve Rindsberg said:
Fundamental problem seems to be that Tufte is a print guy who's found
himself
Click to expand...

Yep, I was at SVGOpen recently, and one of the keynotes was big on tufte,
saw a presentation later from a guy from grapl (www.grapl.com) who did a
much better job arguing against a lot of the tufte stuff. Gist being your
painting with light, not with ink, making a difference.

Jim.
 
Steve,

I *like* it.

Which came first on the evolutionary ladder, stupidity or PowerPoint? Bit
like a mechanic going crook at his/her spanners. Hey, I yell at the laptop
from time to time. And it patiently looks back at me until I figure who the
real dummy is <vbg>.

--
Regards,

Glen Millar
Microsoft PPT MVP
http://www.powerpointworkbench.com/
Please tell us your ppt version, and get back to us here
Remove spaces from signature
 
Which came first on the evolutionary ladder, stupidity or PowerPoint?

Hmm. Crusades. Inquisition. Windows 1 and 2. I'd say stupidity wins
hands down.
Bit
like a mechanic going crook at his/her spanners. Hey, I yell at the laptop
from time to time. And it patiently looks back at me until I figure who the
real dummy is <vbg>.
Click to expand...

Don't tell me ... wait ... wait ... surely you don't mean The Big T?
 
Don't tell me ... wait ... wait ... surely you don't mean The Big T?
Hey, watch where you're throwin' those initials.
Click to expand...

Surely you'd not have confused that with Famous Ramos?
 
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