by Ned Snell
Unlike Word, which is a general-purpose document maker, PowerPoint is utterly and completely useless for any purpose whatsoeverexcept for making presentations, of course. By logical extension, PowerPoint plus its Internet Assistant is useless for
creating any type of Web page except one that resembles a presentation.
That's more valuable than it sounds. If you use PowerPoint, you know that it does more than just help you create your slides. It has convenient tools for brainstorming, outlining, and otherwise developing your ideas before slide creation ever begins.
Such tools are a boon to Web authors; if you've spent much time on the Web, you've seen many documents for which you wished the author had spent more time organizing his or her thoughts, and less time splashing pictures and links everywhere to mask a
poorly structured document.
PowerPoint helps you express yourself in a clear, persuasive way. Its handy templates and AutoContent Wizard will help you build a great-looking sales pitch, training session, or orientation with ease.
When all of that's done, PowerPoint's Internet Assistant will convert your finished presentation into a Web document in a snap, enabling you to sell, train, or orient right through the Net. That's power worth having.
Internet Assistant is built into PowerPoint 97 and is available as an add-on for PowerPoint 7.0. PowerPoint's Internet Assistant adds a single item to PowerPoint's File menu: Export as HTML. This does not turn PowerPoint into any kind of Web document
editing toolit simply adds a conversion mechanism to turn finished PowerPoint presentations into HTML documents.
After you run a presentation through the Export as HTML routine (as described later in this chapter), you wind up with not one HTML version of your presentation, but two:
Figure 19.1. A PowerPoint slide, converted to HTML and displayed on the Web.
Figure 19.2. The text-only version of the slide shown in Figure 19.1.
For each presentation, the conversion process churns out the following files and stores them all in a folder together (see Figure 19.4):
Figure 19.3. An INDEX.HTM file, the "top" page for the presentation.
TIP
When your presentation is published, guide your visitors to INDEX.HTM. That's the starting point for viewing your presentation online.
In addition to all of the slide image and HTML files, a small collection of GIF files is added to the folder. These are the image files for the control buttons that appear on the pages of the graphics version.
Figure 19.4. The files produced for a single Web presentation.
Although Internet Assistant is fully integrated into PowerPoint 97, PowerPoint 7.0 users need to obtain the Internet Assistant add-on package. Like all of the Internet Assistants, PowerPoint's can be found all over the Web and on many FTP sites. But as
always, to be sure you get the latest, most stable version, get your PowerPoint Internet Assistant straight from Microsoft.
NOTE
All of the Microsoft Internet Assistants are included on the CD-ROM bundled with this book. However, it's important that you know how to get the Assistants straight from Microsoft because they are updated and enhanced regularly.
Microsoft makes the PowerPoint download available from a variety of links on its home page. The simplest place to start is the PowerPoint Internet Tools page (part of the Microsoft Office Website) at
http://www.microsoft.com/mspowerpoint/it_ppt.htm
From the PowerPoint Internet Tools page (shown in Figure 19.5), you can download the PowerPoint Internet Assistant file or learn more about the Assistant. By starting at this page (rather than going directly to the file with a Web address or FTP
address listed here) you can be assured of picking up the latest version, and you'll also get a chance to read useful announcements along the way.
NOTE
The filename of the current version of the PowerPoint Internet Assistant is
PPTIA.EXEHowever, updated versions are offered regularly. You should always navigate Microsoft's Web site to find the latest version, which may or may not have the name shown above.
Figure 19.5. The PowerPoint Internet Tools page at http://www.microsoft.com/mspowerpoint/it_ppt.htm.
The self-extracting archive file is about 233KB. When downloading, you needn't save the file in any special place, but be sure to move the archive file into its own folder before installation. The archive releases files you'll want to be able to find
easily, such as a documentation file.
To install PowerPoint 7.0 Internet Assistant after downloading the self-extracting archive file:
CAUTION
Before you begin setting up PowerPoint's Internet Assistant, make sure that PowerPoint is closed.
Figure 19.6. Starting the Setup Wizard.
Figure 19.7. The Internet Assistant archive files.
After installation is complete, you can delete the self-extracting archive file, as well as the other files in its folderalthough you might want to keep one of the manual files and README.TXT, for reference.
In a nutshell, using PowerPoint's Internet Assistant is a simple matter of opening (or creating) a presentation, choosing File|Export as HTML, and following a few prompts. To be sure you end up with the HTML presentation you want, you must first check
and prepare some elements of the presentation, make a few choices about how you want it to be presented, and take advantage of a few powerful PowerPoint features that translate into powerful HTML.
Unlike Word, PowerPoint does not limit what you can do in your presentation. You can create your presentation through any meansthe AutoContent Wizard, a template, or a blank presentationor you can use any existing presentation. You also can
apply any of PowerPoint's decorative featuressuch as its drawing tools and clip artto spruce up a presentation intended for Web display.
Still, the Assistant exhibits a few quirks that you must account for before you export. Of course, if you export the file and don't like the results, you can always edit the original PowerPoint presentation, then repeat the export procedure and
overwrite your previously created Web files. But considering the following points before exporting will save you the time and effort that trial and error always demands.
TIP
To change your display resolution, right-click an empty area of the Windows 95 desktop and choose Properties from the context menu. Click the Settings tab, then use the slider control under Desktop area to choose the display resolution. Click OK. (Windows might prompt you to restart Windows before your changes will take effect, depending on your hardware.)
Adding Hyperlinks to Your Web Presentation
From within PowerPoint and before exporting, you can add links to your PowerPoint presentation. You select any object in the slide, and attach to it a link that can lead anywhere on your intranet or the Internet. When a guest clicks that object in the image of the slide that appears in the graphics version, the link is activated. One word of caution, though: This capability relies on a client-side image map. Client-side image maps are not supported by all browsers; fortunately, they are supported by Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. (For more about image maps, see Chapter 10, "Enhancing Your Publication with Imagesthe Easy Way.")
To create a link, follow these steps:
- In a slide, select the object you want guests to click to activate the link. (Note that you can create multiple links in a slide, but only one link per object.)
- Choose Tools|Interactive Settings. A dialog like the one in Figure 19.8 appears.
- Click the radio button next to Run Program.
- In the box beneath Run Program, enter the full URL of the resource to which you intend to link. (For more about URLs, see Chapter 9, "Adding Features to the Page.")
- Click OK.
- Export your presentation to HTML as described in the next section.
Figure 19.8. Creating a link and image map in a slide.
After you've considered the issues described earlier under Preparing Your Presentation and properly prepared for exporting, exporting is a cakewalk.
To export your PowerPoint presentation to HTML:
Figure 19.9. Exporting your presentation to HTML.
CAUTION
The Internet Assistant uses the same filenames (SLD001.*, etc.) for every presentation you create. It's crucial, therefore, that you store each presentation you create in a folder by itself, to avoid overwriting old presentations with new ones, and to keep files together and well organized.
A progress indicator appears, informing you that conversion is underway. Shortly thereafter, a small window opens and moves through all of your slides in a mini slideshow. After the slide show finishes, a message reporting "Presentation
successfully saved..." appears. You may now open and edit your presentation in the FrontPage Editor, or publish the files.
To review your finished presentation, open INDEX.HTM in a browser.
In addition to the PowerPoint Internet Assistant, Microsoft makes two other free, Internet- and PowerPoint-related programs available from the PowerPoint Internet Tools page of the Office Web site (refer to Figure 19.5). As with the Internet
Assistants, the following two programs also are included on the CD-ROM bundled with this book, and are built into PowerPoint 97.
The PowerPoint Animation Publisher is an add-in to PowerPoint that packages your PowerPoint presentation as a PPZ (PowerPoint Animation) file for play through a Web browser. The PPZ file is compressed for quick transfer through a network and
decompresses automatically when played.
The PowerPoint Animation player is a helper application that gives Windows Web browsers the capability to play your PowerPoint animations. The Player allows plug-in compatible browsers, such as Internet Explorer 3.0 (and higher) and Netscape Navigator
2.0 (and higher), to play the PPZ files inline. The player also functions as a helper application to play the animation in a separate window in Windows browsers that don't support plug-ins. Note that a 16-bit version of the player is available for Windows
3.1 users. Note too that the specially compressed PPZ files created by the Animation Publisher can be viewed only through the player; they cannot be viewed in PowerPoint itself.
Using these programs is very similar to using the Internet Assistant. You first create your PowerPoint presentation, using any of PowerPoint's animation capabilities. You then select an Export to Internet item from PowerPoint's File menu, follow the
prompts, and wind up with the PPZ file and a simple HTML file that includes a link to the PPZ file. (The HTML file also includes a link to the Animation Player at Microsoft's home, so visitors who don't yet have the player can download it to play your
animation.) You can then publish the HTML and PPZ files on your FrontPage Web.
It's important to understand the distinctions between PowerPoint's Animation Publisher and its Internet Assistant. The output from the Internet Assistant is standard HTML files, viewable through any Web browser on any platform. The PPZ file output from
the Animation Publisher can be played only through a browser equipped with the Animation player, which is available only for Windows 95/NT and Windows 3.1. The Internet Assistant strips animations from your presentation, but makes your presentation
accessible to anyone on the Internet. The Animation Publisher preserves your animations, but the presentation can be seen only by Windows users. That makes the Animation Publisher a great tool for publishing animated presentations on a Windows-based
intranet, but a little restrictive for wide Web use.
The Animation Publisher can be used in addition to the Internet Assistant. When both are installed, an Export for Internet option appears on PowerPoint's File menu. After you choose that option, a dialog offers you a choice between exporting the
current presentation as a PowerPoint animation (through the Animation Publisher) or as an HTML presentation (through the Assistant). You also get an Export as Both option to simultaneously output the same presentation as HTML (stripped of animations)
through the Internet Assistant and as a PPZ file and its HTML front-end.
You can quickly add your finished PowerPoint animation to a FrontPage Web by choosing File|Import in FrontPage Explorer, and then importing the HTML file (not the .PPZ file) output by the Animation Publisher.
PowerPoint is a presentation maker. If your prospective Web page is a presentation or is presentation-like, PowerPoint's Internet Assistant is a quick way to produce a result that's both effective and polished.
Keep in mind, however, that PowerPoint slides typically contain only a small amount of information per slideless actual information than the typical Web page. When viewing the graphical version of your online presentation, visitors might have to
wait a little while for each slide to appear. If each slide has only a few lines of text, visitors could lose patience and quit the presentation before finishing.
If you intend to deploy your presentation on an intranet, consider using the PowerPoint Animation Publisher instead of the Internet Assistant. The Animation publisher enables you to retain sound, video, and animation in your online presentation, all of
which are stripped out by the Internet Assistant. If your intranet is populated with Windows PCs and relatively speedy modems, the Animation Publisher is your best choice for putting the full power of PowerPoint online.