[thelist] Converting Powerpoint to web Page

[John Dowdell]

Minh Lee Goon wrote:
> You could save the PowerPoint file as a PowerPoint Show file. Your users 
> can view the file using the free PowerPoint Viewer, downloadable from 
> Microsoft's web site. That should preserve the presentation.

Audience costs are significant with this path. Please doublecheck that 
the version of the file you're delivering is supported in your 
audience's range of operating systems and browsers. (I've been burned on 
Mac before, for instance.)


 > Otherwise, I think the best way to do it would be to convert it
 > to a PDF file and let your users download it. Obviously you'll
 > lose the animation, page transitions, sound, etc. But
 > Adobe Reader is ubiquitous.

With no slight intended to my eventual New Red Overlords, Adobe Reader 
has pretty good realworld distribution, but for ubiquity, it's Flash. 
(The newest generation Macromedia Flash Player, released mid-September, 
has already had 100,000,000 people downloading it, about the same as 
what Firefox achieved (with update downloads!) in a year! I'm not sure 
yet of Adobe Reader update adoption rates, but this may not matter with 
a simple, older-compatible PDF.)


 > By saving a PowerPoint file as HTML, you risk alienating non-IE
 > users as I'm sure the HTML output is choking on ActiveX and other
 > Microsoft-specific technology.

?  ActiveX is a *packaging* technology, paralleling Netscape Plugins. If 
a PPT->HTML translation then requires browser extensions to render, then 
it really isn't a translation to HTML, right...?


Kasimir K wrote:
 > My recommendation would be to decide how important the fades and
 > animations are. If they are crucial, then html-route would be a
 > nightmare for. If otoh the text content is the thing, then forget the
 > animations, and make a pdf or html with OOo.

Great point, completely agreed, thanks. How much does it cost your 
audience members to achieve the experience your client desires they 
have? That's a real key factor to watch.

jd






-- 
John Dowdell . Macromedia Developer Support . San Francisco CA USA
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