Creating Table and Chart Defaults

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Creating table and chart defaults is much like creating the defaults for other objects. First, you design a placeholder table or chart the way you like it, setting all of its attributes, define it as the default for the current master slide or all master slides, and then delete the placeholder table or chart. After you have created the table or chart defaults, click the Table or Chart button in the toolbar to make the custom table or chart that you designed appear.

The nice thing about setting up a custom table or chart as a default is that you can associate it with a particular master slide, then use that master slide whenever you need your table or chart. The table or chart can contain all the customization that you can create in Keynote (including, for example, with tables), the number of rows and columns , the style of the header row and header column, line styles and colors, shadows, and merged or split cells . You can set similar chart-specific defaults.

Using the Object Placeholder

The only way you can specify where the table or chart will appear on the slide is by using the object placeholder , new to Keynote 2. In the Appearance tab of the Master Slide Inspector (Figure 13.5), enable the Object Placeholder option. An object placeholder box will appear on the master slide, and you can resize and position it as you prefer. When the user clicks the Table or Chart button on the presentation slide, the table or chart will appear, scaled to fit in the dimensions you set for the object placeholder.

If you insert an object placeholder on a master slide, the object placeholder box (with the legend "Drag an object here") appears on the presentation slides created from that master. The user can turn off the object placeholder box in the Appearance tab of the Slide Inspector.

The object placeholder can also be useful to give users a destination for images they drag onto the slide. Images dragged to an object placeholder box will be automatically scaled to fit in the box. You can only have one object placeholder per slide, however.


Once again, it's best to set table or chart defaults in a presentation slide, so you can see how the table or chart will work against the background and other objects included in the master slide.

To set table or chart defaults

1.
In the Slide Navigator, click New to create a new slide.

A new presentation slide appears in the Slide Navigator and the Slide Canvas.

2.
Use the Masters pop-up menu in the toolbar to apply the formats from the master slide you are working on.

3.
Click the Table or Chart button in the toolbar.

A table or chart appears on the Slide Canvas ( Figure 13.14 ).

Figure 13.14. This is the original default table, before customization.


4.
Set the attributes for the new object, using the Table Inspector or Chart Inspector, the Fonts window, the Colors window, and other Keynote tools.

5.
Resize the table or chart on the Slide Canvas so that it looks the way you want it to look ( Figure 13.15 ).

Figure 13.15. After customization, this table, with the gradient fills and additional rows and columns, appears when you click the Table button on the toolbar.


To set the position of the table or chart on the slide, you will have to use the new Object Placeholder. See the "Using the Object Placeholder" sidebar for more information.

6.
Select the table or chart, then define the object's attributes as the default by choosing from one of the following:

  • Choose Format > Advanced > Define Table for Current Master.

or

Choose Format > Advanced > Define Chart for Current Master.

This menu choice defines the object's properties for only the master slide you are working on.

or

  • Choose Format > Advanced > Define Table for All Masters.

or

Choose Format > Advanced > Define Chart for All Masters.

This menu choice applies the object's properties to all the master slides in the theme you're working in.

7.
Delete the placeholder table or chart from the slide.

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Keynote 2 for Mac OS X. Visual QuickStart Guide
Keynote 2 for Mac OS X. Visual QuickStart Guide
ISBN: 321197755
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 179

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