Section 4.1. Changing Slide Layout


4.1. Changing Slide Layout

Each time you create a slideby creating a new presentation (page 19), or by adding a slide to an existing presentation (page 38)PowerPoint gives that slide a layout such as the Title Slide layout, with one title text placeholder near the top and one subtitle text placeholder near the middle of the slide. But you can change the layout of your slide at any time, either before you've added content to it or after. PowerPoint gives you several options for changing slide layout:

  • Apply canned layouts to your slides. You can tell PowerPoint to put a title at the top of a slide and two content placeholders (for text, pictures, and so on) side-by-side in the body of the slide.

  • Change orientation. You can change a landscape orientation (where the slide's wider than it is tall) to a portrait orientation (where the slide's taller than it is wide).

  • Reposition elements. You can drag text boxes and other objects (such as pictures) around on your slide to reposition them.

4.1.1. Applying a Canned Layout

PowerPoint offers nine canned layouts you can use. Most of the time, you're going to want to apply these layouts before you add text to your slides, but you can apply them after, as well.


Note: If you have a very specific, custom layout in mind, you'll probably find it easier and more efficient to create a layout master, as described on page 157.

To apply a canned layout to your slide:

  1. Create a new slide (page 38). Click any blank spot on your new slide.

    Make sure you don't click a text placeholder, picture, diagram, or other object.

  2. Choose Home Slides Layout.

    A layout gallery based on the template or theme you've applied to your slideshow appears. (You can also display the layout gallery by right-clicking the slide or the slide thumbnail you see in the Slides pane and then, from the context menu that appears, mousing over the Layout option.)

  3. From the layout gallery, click to choose the layout thumbnail you want to apply to your slide (Figure 4-1).

    Mousing over any thumbnail in the gallery pops up the name of that thumbnail option. Typically, your options include:

    • Title Slide. One title placeholder near the top of the slide, and one subtitle placeholder.

    • Title and Content. One title placeholder and one large content placeholder.

    • Section Header. Similar to the Title Slide layout, but with a contrasting background. (Useful for alerting your audience that you're starting a new section of your slideshow.)

    • Two Content. One title placeholder and two content placeholders, each containing an icon you can click to add a diagram, chart, picture, or other content (see Figure 4-2).

    • Comparison. Similar to the Two Content layout, but with extra placeholders for headings.

    • Title Only. One title placeholder.

    • Blank. No text placeholders at all.

    • Content with Caption. One title placeholder and one placeholder containing an icon you can click to add a diagram, chart, picture, or other content (see Figure 4-1).

      Figure 4-1. Unfortunately, the layout options don't automatically previewyou have to apply one to see how it'll affect your slide. PowerPoint never deletes any of the content you already have on your slide when you apply a new layout; it simply rearranges your content as best it can.


      Figure 4-2. Say you have a Title layout and apply the Two Content layout. As shown here, PowerPoint repositions your subtitle as one of the boxes and adds another containing a helpful icon (and text instructions) that you can click to add a table, diagram, chart, and more.


    • Picture with Caption. One title placeholder and one placeholder you can click to add a picture.

    PowerPoint automatically applies the layout to your slide.


Note: Because custom templates typically come with additional (or different-looking) layouts, if you've applied a custom template to your slideshow, the layouts you see in the layout gallery may look a bit different from the ones described above.

4.1.2. Switching Orientation from Landscape to Portrait (and Back)

Unless you tell it otherwise , PowerPoint assumes you want your presentation to appear in landscape form; that is, with slides that appear wider than they are tall. But you can change this orientation to portrait if you like. For example, if you intend to print your presentation, staple the pages, and hand it out to your audience, then you may want to switch to portrait so your audience can flip through the pages more easily.

To choose an orientation, go to Design Page Setup Slide Orientation and choose either Portrait or Landscape. Figure 4-3 shows you an example of each.

Figure 4-3. Left: Here, you see a slide in landscape orientation, which is the standard orientation for PowerPoint slides.
Right: Here's what a slide looks like in portrait orientation. You can't change the orientation of a single slide or group of slides; it's all the slides in a presentation, or none.


4.1.3. Repositioning Text Boxes

PowerPoint gives you different ways to reposition the text boxes (and other objects) on your slides. You can either drag objects where you want them, or use the Size and Position dialog box.

Dragging typically works best when you have only a few objects on your slide. If you've got a bunch of objects ( especially if they're overlapping), or if the text box you want to move is so completely filled with text you think you'll have trouble selecting its border to drag it, you'll want to use the Size and Position dialog box and save yourself some aggravation.

To reposition a text box by dragging:

  1. Click inside the text box you want to reposition and mouse over the outline of the text box.

    PowerPoint changes your cursor from an arrow to the double-arrow cross you see in Figure 4-4.

  2. Click the text box outline.

    The dashed outline turns solid.

  3. Drag the text box where you want it and release the mouse.

    PowerPoint redraws the text box where you put it.


Tip: For finer control over the position of your text box: As soon as you see both the double-headed arrow cursor shown in Figure 4-4 and a solid text box outline, click the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the text box up, down, left, or right. To move the text box in even tinier increments , hold down Ctrl while you click the arrow keys.

Figure 4-4. When you click in a text box, the text box outline appears dashed. When you click the outline itselfwhich you need to do to reposition the text boxthe outline changes from dashed to solid. If you're having trouble finding the right spot to click, look for the double-headed arrow cursor. When you see it, you know you're in the right spot to drag.



Tip: If you drag a bunch of stuff around on a slide and then change your mind and want to put it back the way it was, there's an easy way to revert to your original. Choosing Home Slides Reset tells PowerPoint to change your slide back to its original layout.
  1. Click anywhere inside the text box you want to reposition. Go to Drawing Tools Format, and click the Size dialog launcher.

    The Size and Position dialog box pictured in Figure 4-5 appears.

  2. On the Position tab, use the Horizontal box to tell PowerPoint how many inches to position the top-left corner of the text box from the left edge of the slide.

    PowerPoint moves your text box left and right so you can gauge the effects on your slide in real-time.

  3. Use the Vertical box to tell PowerPoint how many inches to position the top-left corner text box from the top of the slide.

    PowerPoint moves your text box up and down so you can gauge the effects on the slide in real-time.

  4. When you're satisfied with the position of your text box, click Close.

    The Size and Position dialog box disappears.

Figure 4-5. The Position tab of the Size and Position dialog box lets you specify precisely how you want to position your text boxes and other elements, which is especially useful if you're using PowerPoint to create a program interface mock-up. If you like, you can tell PowerPoint to calculate the Horizontal and Vertical amounts you specify based on the center of your slide (instead of the top-left corner).


4.1.4. Help for Positioning Text Boxes: Zoom, Guides, and Grid

Whether you prefer dragging or using the Size and Position dialog box, there are times you'll need a little help positioning your text boxes and other objectsespecially if your eyesight's not the best. PowerPoint offers that help in the form of the zoom, guides, and grid.

NOSTALGIA CORNER
Replacing Fonts Throughout Your Presentation

PowerPoint 2003 (and earlier versions of the program) lets you change all of the fonts in your presentation in one fell swoop. Whether you changed your mind ten seconds before show time and wanted to shift every scrap of text in your presentation from Arial to Baskerville, or whether you'd pieced together a presentation using slides from three of your predecessor's PowerPoint files and wanted to change all three different fonts to Helvetica, PowerPoint had your back: all you had to do was select Format Replace Fonts and then, in the dialog box that appeared, choose which fonts you wanted to replace with which other fonts.

Things have changed a bit in PowerPoint 2007. You can still apply a single font to every slide of your presentation, but the way you go about it is different. Go to Home Replace Replace Fonts and use the dialog box to tell PowerPoint which font to replace with which. (For more details, see page 60.)


  • Zoom. The zoom tool magnifies your slide, making it easier for you to distinguish between the boundaries of different objects on a cluttered slide. To use this tool, drag the zoom slider in the status bar at the bottom of the PowerPoint window. You can also click the + or - signs to zoom in or out, respectively.


    Note: If you don't see the zoom tool in your status bar, youor someone else with access to your computermay have customized the status bar so that the zoom tool doesn't show. To get it back again, go to View Zoom Zoom.
    Show/Hide Gridlines.

    Figure 4-6. The grid helps when you're positioning text boxes; guides are more useful when you're lining up a bunch of objects. Clicking the zoom tool blows up your slide (here, to a whopping 148%) so you can position objects more precisely.





PowerPoint 2007
PowerPoint 2007
ISBN: 1555583148
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 129

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