9.2. Creating a Basic Presentation The first step in creating most presentations is to make an outline on paper, in Pages, or in an outlining program such as OmniOutliner (see Chapter 8 for more advice on what to do when planning your presentation). However, for very simple slideshows, you can start right in Keynote. You practiced some of these techniques earlier in the chapter, but this tutorial takes you all the way through a simple presentation, from start to finish. -
Launch Keynote and, from the Theme Chooser's pop-up menu, select a slide size . Scroll through all the themes and double-click the one you'd like for your presentation . The theme chooser disappears and the slide canvas displays the title slide of your selected theme. Keynote's standard slide sizes are 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768 pixels. Your choice should depend on your external monitor or video projector. Most monitors and newer video projectors can handle the 1024 x 768 XGA resolution, whereas older projectors may handle only the 800 x 600 SVGA resolution. If you have any doubt about the monitor or projector you'll be using, choose 800 x 600. -
Choose View  Outline, and then choose View Show Notes . The slide organizer switches from Navigator to Outline view, and the Notes pane appears below the slide canvas. In order to get the full slide canvas back in view again, in the upper-left corner of the Keynote window, click the green zoom button. -
Choose File Save, name your presentation, select a destination folder, and click Save . Although you've hardly done anything yet, it's a great idea to save the project at the beginning. Then periodically press  -S as you work to save your changes on the hard drive, protecting you from possible power outages, software glitches, or creative tantrums. -
You don't have to use the standard title and subtitle design for the first slide. Click the Masters button in the toolbar and choose the slide style you want for a title. Enter your title on the slide canvas by double-clicking the text placeholder and typing. Or enter it in the outline by clicking on, or next to, the slide icon and typing . Either way, your title appears on the slide canvas. You can format the text on the canvas just like you format text in Pages, using the Format menu (see Section 2.1.1.3), the Font panel (see Section 2.1.1), and the Text Inspector (see Section 2.1.1.2). But you might want to hold off on this for now, and just concentrate on entering all your text. -
Click the New button (+) in the toolbar and enter the text for your second slide . Ignore the display on the slide canvas for nowyou'll set the slide master and make other changes to the slide later. The easiest way is to get all the text in the slideshowenter it all at once in the outline, then organize it, and then make changes to the slide layouts. -
If the slide has just one line of text, press Return at the end of the line and Keynote creates a new slide below, ready for your typing . If the slide has a subtitle or bullet points, press Return at the end of the first line, and then press Tab. Keynote creates a bullet point beneath the first line. Type the bullet point text and press Return to type another bullet point; press Return and then Tab to create a subordinate bullet point; or press Return, and then press Shift-Tab, to create a bullet point to the left of the current oneor to turn it into a slide if you're at the first level of bullet points. -
Continue typing the rest of your text in the outline. If you're not certain about the order or hierarchy of bullet points, don't worry. Just enter all the textit's easy to adjust the order of things later . When you've finished entering text, reorganize your slides and bullet points in the outline (see Section 9.1.5.3). -
Click slide number two in the outline and select a slide layout by clicking the Masters button in the toolbar and choosing one of the designs . Consider if it's better to use an image in place ofor in addition toyour text. Try out different masters until you find the one you like. Work directly on the slide canvas if you need to edit or format the text. You can directly click a bullet point to drag it up or down the bullet point list, or drag it to the right to turn it into a subordinate point. -
Resize or reposition any of the text boxes, if you like . Click the text box once so its selection handles appear, and then drag a handle to resize the box. Drag the text box to reposition it on the slide. -
If the slide has a picture placeholder frame, drag into it a picture file from a folder, or click the Media button in the toolbar to open the Media Browser, and drag a picture from your iPhoto collection into the picture frame . Keynote's picture placeholders aren't quite as smart as those in Pagesthey don't automatically resize the picture you insert. If you insert a high-resolution picture from a digital camera, for example, it's way too big when you insert ityou need to resize it and make it smaller right away, which you'll learn how to do in the next step. -
Drag any of the visible selection handles to resize the picture. Keynote places the picture in a layer behind the slide background, so part of it shows through the picture framebut you can see one or more of the square white selection handles. To reposition the picture behind the frame, click the picture itself and drag . You can also rotate the picture by pressing and dragging one of its selection handles, or by using the Metrics Inspector. (See Section 4.4 for details on controlling other picture properties.) -
Continue formatting the rest of your slides, picking masters, fine-tuning text, and adding images . -
If you've left out a slide, or you want to add a non-text slide, select the slide that's just above the position for your new slide and click the toolbar's New button . Keynote adds a new slide in the same style as the one above it. Choose a slide master and enter text or insert a picture. -
Create a picture-only slide by choosing the Blank slide master. Insert a picture and resize it smaller than the slide if you want a border; larger than the slide to make it borderless . If you leave some space around the picture, you can use the Graphic Inspector to add a border stroke or a shadow (see Section 4.4.6). -
Press -S once more to save your completed project . -
Preview your slideshow on your screen. Select the first slide in the Organizer pane, and then click the toolbar's Play button . Keynote takes over your computer's screen, displaying the first slide on a field of black. Advance through the slides by clicking the mouse button or by pressing the spacebar, Return, or the right or down arrow key. Back up to the previous slide by right-clicking or pressing the left or up arrow key. When you advance to the final slide, Keynote exits the full-screen presentation mode, bringing you back to your desktop and the Keynote editing window, where you likely have a few adjustments to make.
Tip: If you've given slideshow presentations with a slide projector, you've probably used a solid cardboard "black slide" as the final slide in your tray. This opaque slide prevents a white screen appearing when you advance the final slideand prevents your audience from screaming in pain from this nuclear flash. In Keynote the view of your desktop doesn't sear any retinas, but its appearance is at best unprofessional and at worst embarrassing. (Shouldn't you have tucked away that Geeks Gone Wild folder before the presentation?)Create a black slide at the end of your Keynote presentation by adding a slide and choosing the Blank slide master. Open the Slide Inspector, click the Appearance tab, change the Background pop-up menu to Color Fill, click the Background color well, and choose pure black from the Color Picker. Now choose -D to create a second black slide.Now, when you reach the end of your presentation, the screen goes blackand stays black even if a nervous presenter gives the mouse an extra click.
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