Review: Apple's Keynote

by Paul Gerstenbluth (ariefound@aol.com)

Keynote's Cube Turns Your Slide Presentations Around

Apple's Keynote takes on Microsoft's Powerpoint on the Mac OS X system platform. Keynote's Cube and Mosaic's large and small transitions for your slide presentations are worth the $99 retail price.

For most Mac users, slide presentations means Microsoft's Powerpoint. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, decided in 2003 there is the 'Mac Way' for presentations. In Steve Jobs' words, "Keynote makes your presentation really count."

First Rule of a Good Presentation

Get their ATTENTION! You have your trusty Powerbook running Jaguar or Panther Mac OS X system. You have your standard company Powerpoint presentation ready for change. Now, import your presentation into Apple's new Keynote slide presentation software.

Set your slides in 'View Outline' mode and click on all the slides. Double click on Keynote's Inspector icon and set the transition to 'Cube' and save your revised presentation in Keynote. Play the Keynote presentation and try to stifle yourself from yelling: I made this with Keynote!

Under the Keynote Hood

You can choose transition, style, direction and speed when you use Keynote's Inspector. You can create object builds which adds visual interest to your slide presentation. You can animate the elements on a single slide or in a group of slides.

One click and you alter the opacity of a graphic using the Slide Inspector. Click twice and you can set the playback parameters for a QuickTime movie. The Build window in the Inspector allows you to preview, add, and manipulate transitions within and between slides.

Apple's Keynote allows you to include sound in your presentation. You can use MOV, Flash, MP3 and AIFF sound formats within your Keynote presentation. Also, you can add files from iTunes' music library to your Keynote slide presentation. In addition, you can add a Quicktime movie to your slides.

Pro Reaction

Keynote has crisp, fresh graphics. Keynote's 'Drag and Drop' and exporting to Apple's QuicklTme both work well. You can import Microsoft PowerPoint or AppleWorks' presentations and create a custom theme based on those slides.

You can store your images in Keynote's Image Library. Keynote's Cube and Mosaic Large and small transitions are outstanding for updating your Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation. You receive a Keynote's User Guide manual. No missing manual here.

Con Reaction

Keynote lacks prebuilt presentations. Also, Keynote has very little clip art for you to work with in your presentations. Also, you have limited presentation themes to choose from in Keynote.

Keynote Cube and Mosaic large and small transitions do not render well when exported in Microsoft's PowerPoint or Acrobat's PDF formats. Missing from Keynote's User Guide is an index.

Final Notes

You can count on Keynote's sharp appearance, ease of use, and great price. Keynote makes it easy to create professional-looking presentations compatible with Microsoft's PowerPoint. In addition, Keynote gives your presentations attractive slide-transition effects. I use Apple's Keynote's software as a companion software for revising my PowerPoint presentations.

Apple's Keynote's versatility makes you want to grab hold of your new presentations and turn them into visual poetry. Keynote and iTunes' sound imports will have you playing your presentations with abandonment like hot licks on a rock guitar.

Product: Keynote
Company: Apple
MSRP: $99

Requirements Mac G3 or G4, OS 10.2 or later, 128 MB RAM (512 recommended), 8MB of VRAM (32MB recommended), 1GB of available disk space.

Paul Gerstenbluth is President of the ARIE Foundation and an active Toastmaster with Ocean State Toastmasters in Warwick, RI. The ARIE Foundation's mission is to provide VA hospitalized patients with hobby materials and Powerbook that help in their stay and recovery. The Ocean State Toastmasters' mission is to train new public speakers in Rhode Island.

Return to the Rhode Island Apple Group Home Page.