INTERNET COMPUTING FUNDAMENTALS (ICF) GRADE-9

FORMATTING A PRESENTATION

In your previous module you have learned that many of the techniques in MS Word (Word
Processing) are similar to that of the MS PowerPoint Presentation, such as formatting text and inserting
clip art and photos.
When formatting a presentation, it’s important to maintain consistency between slides as much as
possible, for a polished and professional look. It is possible to apply separate manual formatting to
certain text or objects, as you learned to do in MS Word in your Grade 8 lessons, but you should have a
specific reason for doing so, such as to make certain text stand out or emphasize a point. Before we
delve into how presentation is formatted. Let us begin by answering the following activity.

A. UNLOCKING OF DIFFICULTIES

 AUDIO CLIP - a file that stores a sound, narration, or music.

 LAYOUT MASTER - the template slide that controls the appearance and repeated elements for all
slides that use a certain layout in a presentation.
 SHAPES- the drawing feature in Office applications that enables users to create vector-based lines
and shapes.
 SLIDE MASTER - the template slide that controls the appearance and repeated elements for all
slides in a presentation.
 SLIDE MASTER VIEW - the PowerPoint view in which you can make changes to the slide master.
 VIDEO CLIP - a file that stores motion video.

B. CONCEPT PRESENTATION

The hidden message from the cryptogram puzzle in the activity says it all about formatting a
presentation. Setting out your PowerPoint in a more presentable and understandable presentation
means that you need to change or format your presentation in a way that is more appealing to the
audience. Formatting your presentation involves basic knowledge on how PowerPoint works. The
following sections explain several ways to change the formatting of the presentation as a whole.

C. DISCUSSION

SETTING THE SLIDE SIZE AND ORIENTATION

You can set a size in inches for the presentation’s slides, but when you deliver an onscreen
presentation, the slide fills the entire screen, regardless of the slide size. That said, it’s more useful to
think about slide size as a ratio of width to height (an aspect ratio) rather than as a literal measurement.
The aspect ratio to choose depends on the aspect ratio of the monitor on which the presentation is going
to be shown. For a standard monitor (like an older-style CRT or a standard-definition TV), choose a ratio
of 4:3. For a widescreen monitor, choose a ratio of 16:9. (See Figure 1)
 Figure 1. Aspect ratios for standard versus widescreen
monitors.

If you are planning to distribute the presentation on paper rather than showing it onscreen, slide size
does make a difference. You can specify an exact height and width for the slides, or you can choose from
among many presets for different paper types, such as Letter, A3, Overhead, and Banner.
You can also set a slide orientation. By default, presentations are in Landscape orientation, which
means the slides are wider than they are tall. You can reverse that by changing to Portrait orientation for
special situations, such as when you are presenting on a monitor that is rotated 90 degrees.

Step by Step
Changing the Slide Size and Orientation
Use these steps to change the slide size:
1. On the Design tab, click Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box opens.
2. Open the Slides Sized For drop-down list and select a size or aspect ratio. OR

Enter an exact width and height in the Width and Height text boxes.

3. Under Orientation, click the Portrait or Landscape button for Slides.

4. Click the Portrait or Landscape button for Notes, Handouts & Outline.
5. Click OK.

WORKING IN SLIDE MASTER VIEW

Slide Master view is the view

in which you can view and modify
the slide layouts on which you
base individual slides. The slide
master is the overall guide for
slides using the currently selected
theme. Subordinate to the slide
master are multiple layout
masters, each of which defines
the exact content and positioning
for a particular layout (such as the
Title and Content layout you
worked with earlier). To enter
Slide Master view, as shown in
Figure 2, click Slide Master on the
View tab. To exit Slide Master
view, click the Close Master View
button on the Slide Master tab.
 Figure 2. Slide Master view

In Slide Master view, thumbnail images appear in the navigation pane on the left. The image at the
top of the pane is the slide master itself. Changes made to it affect all layouts based on it. Below the slide
master are the individual layout masters. Masters that contain content placeholders that accept text
include multiple levels of bulleted lists. Changes you make to one of these levels affects all paragraphs
that have that level in the hierarchy of a slide. For example, make changes to the topmost bulleted list
item to change first-level bulleted paragraphs.

Some of the changes you might make to a slide master or layout master include:
◾ Changing text font, size, color, and attributes for certain paragraph levels. Use the tools on the
Home tab’s Font group.
◾ Moving or resizing the placeholders, the same way you learned to move and resize objects.
◾ Adding a graphic or text box that should repeat on every slide. Use the Insert tab to insert various
types of content.
◾ Adding or removing placeholders. To add a placeholder, use the Insert Placeholder button in the
Master Layout group on the Slide Master tab. To remove a placeholder, select its border and press
Delete.

CREATING AND INSERTING CONTENT

PowerPoint slides can accept many types of content, so you can use PowerPoint to showcase
information in a variety of forms. For example, a slide can include tables, graphics, videos, and charts, in
combination with explanatory text.
Each content type can be inserted manually on a slide using the commands on the Insert tab. When
you manually place an object on a slide, it appears in the center of the slide, and from there you can
move and resize it as needed. When you apply different layouts to the slide, the manually placed content
does not move.
You can also put content into content placeholders. When you do this, the content becomes part of
the slide’s layout, and if you change to a different layout that positions the content placeholder differently,
the item moves to the new position. If the new layout does not have a placeholder appropriate to that
type of content, the content is converted over to a manually placed object and becomes disassociated
with the layout.

 INSERTING A TEXT BOX

Besides the text placeholders on slides, you can also manually place text boxes on a slide. The
content of these text boxes does not appear in the outline (on the Slides/Outline pane), so limit such text
boxes to non-essential text, such as an identifying label near a graphic or a tip or caution.

You can insert a text box in two ways; each, results in a text box with different settings:
◾ On the Insert tab, click Text Box and then click where you want the text box to begin. Then start
typing. The text box expands horizontally as needed for the text you enter. It doesn’t start a new line
unless you press Enter (or Shift+Enter) to force it.
◾ On the Insert tab, click Text Box and then drag a rectangle where you want the text box. The box
takes on the width you specified. As you type, if the cursor reaches the edge of the text box, it
moves to the next line.
You can move, resize, and format a text box just like any other object in an Office application.
 CREATING A TABLE

A table in PowerPoint is a grid of rows and columns, with cells at their intersections. You type text
into cells to organize the text into an orderly grid. Tables in PowerPoint are much like tables in Word,
except somewhat simpler. To insert a table, click the Insert Table icon in a content placeholder box, or
use the Table button on the Insert tab to insert a table manually. If you use the Table button, you can
choose from among several methods, just like in Word, including dragging across a grid of squares to
specify table size and drawing a table with the mouse pointer as a pencil tool.

Step by Step
Inserting a Table in a Content Placeholder
Use these steps to place a table in a slide’s content placeholder:
1. On the slide, click the Insert Table icon in the content placeholder.
The Insert Table dialog box opens.
2. Specify a number of columns in the Number of Columns text box

3. Specify a number of rows in the Number of Rows text box.

4. Click OK to insert the table.
5. Type text in the table as desired.

Inserting a Table without a Placeholder

Use these steps to place a table on a slide that may not have a content
placeholder available to hold a table:
1. Display the slide on which you want to create a table.
2. On the Insert tab, click the Table button.
3. Drag across the grid to select the number of rows and columns you want,
and then release the mouse button to complete the table.

 INSERTING AUDIO AND VIDEO CLIPS

An audio clip is a file that contains sound, such as music, narration, or a sound effect. A video clip is
a file that contains motion video. You can insert audio and video clips directly onto a slide, so that they
play automatically or when clicked as part of the slide show.
There are three different ways to insert an audio clip on a slide:
◾ You can record your own audio clip from within PowerPoint. To
use this method, on the Insert tab, click the down arrow under the Audio
button and then click Record Audio. See Figure 3.
◾ You can insert an audio clip from a file that you already have. To
use this method, on the Insert tab, click the Audio button’s face (or click
the down arrow below the button and then choose Audio from File) to
open the Insert Audio dialog box and then choose the desired clip.
◾ You can locate an audio clip using the Clip Art feature. Office. com
provides hundreds of audio clips you can use royalty-free. To use this
method, on the Insert tab, click the down arrow below the Audio button, Figure 3. Record an audio clip
to include in the presentation
and click Clip Art Audio. Then search for an audio clip.
Regardless of the method used for inserting the clip, you can work
with it the same way after insertion. The clip appears on the slide, as shown in Figure 4, and
controls for it appear on the Audio Tools Format and Audio Tools Playback tabs on the Ribbon. The
Audio Tools Format tab contains commands for making the clip’s icon appear a certain way, and the
Audio Tools Playback tab contains commands for controlling how and when the clip will play

Figure 4. Control an audio clip’s playback and appearance.

Inserting a video clip is similar to inserting an audio clip except you don’t have the option of
recording new ones from within PowerPoint. Click the down arrow below the Video button on the Insert
tab to choose whether you want a clip from a file or a clip from the Clip Art collection. You can also click
the Insert Media Clip icon in a content placeholder. You can control whether a clip should play
automatically when the slide appears or wait until it is clicked to play. You can find that setting on the
Playback tab (Audio Tools Playback or Video Tools Playback, depending on the clip type). Open the Start
list and choose Automatically or On Click.

 INSERTING PICTURES

Inserting pictures in PowerPoint is similar to inserting them in Word, which you learned about
while you were in Grade 8. To insert a manually placed image, use the Picture button to insert from
a file you already have, or use the Clip Art button to find an image from Microsoft’s clip art collection,
both on the Insert tab. Or, to fill a placeholder, click the Insert Picture or Clip Art icon in the
placeholder box.
 DRAWING SHAPES

Using the Shapes feature, you

can draw your own vector-based
lines and shapes on a slide in
PowerPoint, for all kinds of reasons.
You might construct your own
simple drawings out of these lines
and shapes, or you could use them
as accents for the other content on
the slide, such as an arrow to point
out a certain area of a photo or
chart.
To draw a line or shape, click
the Shapes button on the Insert tab,
as shown in Figure 5, and then drag
across the slide to draw the line or
shape. You can move, resize, and
format lines and shapes just like any
other content. You can also type text
Figure 5. Choose a line or shape and then drag on the slide to create it.
into shapes, creating impromptu text
boxes.

 INSERTING A CHART

To start a chart in PowerPoint, use the Insert Chart icon in the content placeholder, or use the Chart
button on the Insert tab.
Excel’s charting feature is integrated
with Excel, so that when you start a new
chart in PowerPoint, an Excel window opens
into which you can enter the data for it. In
the Excel window, some placeholder data
appears, as shown in Figure 6. A blue
outline appears around the range that will
be charted; you can drag the small triangle
in the lower-right corner of that outlined
range to change the range area to have
more or fewer rows or columns included.
Change the generic labels in the sample
Figure 6. Excel opens when you start constructing a chart in PowerPoint.
data as needed.

Step by Step

Inserting a Chart

Use these steps to place a chart on a PowerPoint slide:

1. Click the Insert Chart content placeholder icon, or on the Insert tab, click Chart. The Insert
Chart dialog box opens.
 2. Select the chart type on the left, and then the subtype on the right, and then click OK. Excel
opens (refer to Figure 6).
3. Replace the generic data with your own data and then close the Excel window. If you later
need to reopen the Excel window to edit the data further, click the Edit Data button on
the Chart Tools Design tab.

POINTS TO REMEMBER:
 Slide size and orientation are set for the entire presentation, not for individual slides. Set these
on the Design tab. Choose an aspect ratio of standard (4:3) or widescreen (16:9) for on-screen
viewing.

 You can apply a different theme from the Design tab’s Themes group. You can then optionally
choose a different set of theme fonts and theme colors.

 Slide Master view enables you to modify the slide master and the layout masters. Choose Slide
Master view from the View tab. The slide master is the topmost slide in the navigation pane in
Slide Master view, and the smaller thumbnails beneath it are its layouts.