Publishing a Presentation As a Web Page

If you have already created your presentation in PowerPoint, you can quickly publish it for the Web. Before posting the presentation on the Internet, you must first convert the PowerPoint presentation file into the appropriate format. An Internet presentation is a set of HTML and graphics files that can be viewed by any graphical Web browser. PowerPoint has an option that enables you to easily save and transform a standard presentation into the Internet format.

HTML , which stands for Hypertext Markup Language , is the way all documents on the World Wide Web are created. HTML enables every document to be viewed, on the Web, by any type of computer, anywhere in the world. When PowerPoint creates a Web document it uses the standard .HTM extension. All Web pages use this format.

Previewing the Presentation As a Web Page

Before you publish your presentation as an HTML document, you may want to see how it will appear as a Web page. You might be surprised how some things that look just fine in PowerPoint will look a little different on the Web.

To preview your presentation as a Web page (without publishing), use the following steps:

1. If it is not already open, open the presentation by selecting File, Open from the menu. If it is open , save the file by selecting File, Save from the menu.

2. Select File, Web Page Preview from the menu.

PowerPoint will start Internet Explorer and open your presentation file in Internet Explorer, as shown in Figure 30.3. You may want to maximize the Internet Explorer window to better see your presentation.

Figure 30.3. You can preview your presentation before you save it as a Web page.

To view each page in the presentation, click the appropriate title in the Slide Navigation pane. When you are finished, you can exit the Internet Explorer program. If you do not have a Slide Navigation pane in your Web page, this option has not been selected. This option, slide navigation controls, automatically generates the Slide Navigation pane, using the title of each slide as a hyperlink to that slide. This option saves you from hours of work adding links to each slide.

To turn the Automatic Slide Navigation on (or off, if you desire ), use the following steps:

1. In PowerPoint, select Tools, Options from the menu to open the Options dialog box.

2. Click the General tab in the Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 30.4.

   Figure 30.4. You can change the options of your Web page from the Options dialog box.

   

3. Click the Web Options button to open the Web Options dialog box.

4. Click the General tab, if it is not already displayed.

5. Click the Add Slide Navigation Controls check box to turn the feature on, as shown in Figure 30.5. Uncheck this option to turn the feature off.

   Figure 30.5. With the Add Slide Navigation Controls check box selected, your presentation will be viewable with a minimum of work.

   

6. Click the OK button in the Web Options dialog box to close it.

7. Click the OK button in the Options dialog box to close it and accept your changes.

You may find that while viewing your presentation, some items do not look the same on a Web page as they did in a regular presentation. If this is the case, you may need to do a bit of editing to make your presentation Internet-ready. Always keep your pages simple. You do not want your message being overwhelmed by the special effects. Also note that many presentation options do not work well or at all in a Web page, including the following:

• There is no Shadow or Embossed font formatting.

• There are no Spiral, Stretch, Swivel, and Zoom paragraph effects.

• Chart special effects do not work.

• Some animation effects do not work.

For a more complete listing, search the Office Assistant or help files for troubleshooting Web page options.

Publishing the Presentation As a Web Page

After you have your presentation formatted so that it previews nicely , and you have created any navigation buttons necessary, you are ready to publish the presentation as a Web page. When you publish a presentation as a Web page, PowerPoint re-creates the presentation in HTML format. All the graphics that your presentation uses are also saved as separate, supporting files.

Although you can publish a presentation at any time as a Web page on your own computer, it will not be available on the World Wide Web unless you save the file (and all supporting files) to a Web server. Your company may already have access to a Web server; ask your network administrator about the procedures that you need to follow. You can also contact an Internet service provider (ISP) in your area to obtain access to a Web server, to host your Web page, for a small fee. Check with your local library or the Yellow Pages under Internet Services if you do not already have Internet access. There are hundreds of Internet service providers to choose from, so shop around.

When you have access to a Web server, you need to find out where you should save your Web page and supporting files. After you have gotten all this information together, you are ready to go live.

To publish your presentation as a Web page, use the following steps:

1. Save the presentation as you normally would by selecting File, Save from the menu. This step can be skipped if you want to publish your presentation only on the Web and not use it for any other purpose.

2. Select File, Save As Web Page from the menu to open the Save As dialog box.

3. Select the location where you want to save your Web page and supporting files. You should obtain this information from your network administrator or Internet service provider.

4. Enter the filename for your Web page.

5. To change the title that will be displayed in the title bar for all your Web pages, click the Change Title button, enter a new title, and click OK.

6. Click the Save button to save and publish your presentation.