128. About OpenOffice.org Impress

OpenOffice.org Impress provides all the tools that you need to create both simple and complex presentations. You can create simple text slides and then add animation effects and slide transitions. You can even add multimedia content such as sound and other media objects to your slides to create full-blown multimedia presentations.

The Impress application window provides the same overall layout as the other OpenOffice.org applications such as Writer and Calc. You have the Function bar, Object bar, and Main toolbar, which give you access to most of the tools that you need to create your presentations. Impress also provides additional toolbars such as the Presentation toolbar, which makes it easy for you to quickly insert a new slide or change the slide design or layout.

The Impress application window provides the workspace and toolbars embraced by the other OpenOffice.org applications.

Impress also provides different options for the output of your presentations. Although most of us think of these types of presentations being shown primarily on a computer (or video projection system), Impress also makes it easy for you to design your presentations for other types of outputs such as overheads, papers, and actual 35mm slides.

Impress provides a fairly slide-centric approach to creating your presentation; in the default Drawing view you are able to concentrate on each slide as you add text and other objects to the slide. Then slide transitions and animation effects can be added on a slide-by-slide basis. However, you can also use different workspace views, such as the Outline view and the Slides view, which allow you to easily move content from slide to slide or rearrange the slides in the presentation, respectively.