Underlying text

[littlecross]

I have created a presentation in powerpoint which will eventually be
distributed onto cd. On one particular slide (but also a few of the others)
there is so much text (under subtitles) which is bulleted. The whole slide
is therefore not very user-friendly as there is just so much information. Is
there any way i can click on each of the sub-titles and the other text will
appear from underneath it, or as a sort of screen tip over it? To clarify i
mean just like one 'My computer' when you press the little + or - sign next
to each folder heading and the folder contents appear or disappear depending.
Can i do a similar thing on a slide in powerpoint?
Thanks you!
Liz

 

[Bill Foley]

You can certainly use Custom Animations to show and hide text. You have
even more options when being developed and viewed in PPT 2002 or 2003. Have
you tried this?

 

[littlecross]

Is it possible for the text to immediatly disappear after the mouse has gone
over it or when you click on something else when using custom animation?
Also will it automatically 'replay' as it were, so that i could click on the
title a number of times and the text would always appear.
I also have an additional problem in that this manual will eventually go on
cd which automatically opens in ppt viewer. Screen tip are not available in
viewer, is there an alternative to provided brief info on a hyperlink without
having to open that link?

 

[Bill Foley]

You may want to look into "Triggers" as part of your Custom Animations.
There you can assign (trigger) an animation when you click an object.
Setting the object to hide after the next mouse click should allow you to
bring up and close textboxes at will.

 

[littlecross]

Thanks Bill, but how do i set the object to hide?

 

[Echo S]

I think Bill's suggestion to use Triggers is the best thing. And I thought
Hide After Next Mouse Click would be a great solution, but I can't seem to
get it to work here with a trigger animation. You can trigger an exit of the
textbox, but it would have to happen when something is clicked. It would be
way too complicated, I think, to add exit animations triggered by every
other object on the slide.

Hm. I wonder if you could put the text in a textbox and add a little X
graphic to the upper right-hand corner (group a graphic with the textbox).
That's a close metaphor everyone should know by now. You could set an exit
trigger to either the textbox itself, or just to the little X. Your users
would have to click to close the box, yes, but at least they'd *know* they
have to click. (Just thinking aloud -- if this idea doesn't do it for you,
no problem.)

Anyway, as you mentioned, using the Viewer imposes some limitations -- and I
think it's fantastic that you've done your research and know already that
the Viewer won't support screen tips. You've saved yourself a ton of rework
and hair-pulling later!

 

[littlecross]

Thank you!

I think Bill's suggestion to use Triggers is the best thing. And I thought
Hide After Next Mouse Click would be a great solution, but I can't seem to
get it to work here with a trigger animation. You can trigger an exit of the
textbox, but it would have to happen when something is clicked. It would be
way too complicated, I think, to add exit animations triggered by every
other object on the slide.

Hm. I wonder if you could put the text in a textbox and add a little X
graphic to the upper right-hand corner (group a graphic with the textbox).
That's a close metaphor everyone should know by now. You could set an exit
trigger to either the textbox itself, or just to the little X. Your users
would have to click to close the box, yes, but at least they'd *know* they
have to click. (Just thinking aloud -- if this idea doesn't do it for you,
no problem.)

Anyway, as you mentioned, using the Viewer imposes some limitations -- and I
think it's fantastic that you've done your research and know already that
the Viewer won't support screen tips. You've saved yourself a ton of rework
and hair-pulling later!

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

Is it possible for the text to immediatly disappear after the mouse has gone
over it or when you click on something else when using custom animation?
Also will it automatically 'replay' as it were, so that i could click on the
title a number of times and the text would always appear.
I also have an additional problem in that this manual will eventually go on
cd which automatically opens in ppt viewer. Screen tip are not available in
viewer, is there an alternative to provided brief info on a hyperlink without
having to open that link?