Free Online Presentation Software
The online presentation software Acrobat.com Presentations is the newest creation from Adobe Labs. It follows on the heels of Adobe Buzzword, their online word processing program.
Can Anyone Use Acrobat.com Presentations?
Anyone with an internet connection can sign up for a free account to use Presentations. The only other requirement is to have Flash Player 10 installed on your computer.
Features of Acrobat.com Presentations
Pros
- all work is done online
- many people can work on the same presentation
- easily share with others by clicking one button
- trace who is working on, has opened or changed the presentation
- lots of fills, gradients, shapes and effects available for enhancements
- can import videos in FLV format
- several built in design themes - can add your own
- ability to create PDF files - great for emailing
- free online storage
- can be slow - depending on your connection
- when playing slide show, it is not clear how to get back to edit mode or how to show in full screen -- (search the Help files prior to trying this out)
- limited transitions and font styles
- no animations or sounds (although this is not really a con in my opinion)
- cannot import or export in PowerPoint format
The Bottom Line
Actually, I was quite impressed with Acrobat.com Presentations. Just the fact that you can collaborate with a colleague in real time, no matter where on the globe that colleague might be located, is a real bonus.
Presentations allows you to quickly and easily create a classy presentation. There are of course, limitations to this software, but those limitations are for features that are often misused by presenters (in my opinion). In particular, I'm referring to animations and sounds, which are non-existant in this software (and I see no reason at all to add them).
The software offers several design options, which can be easily tailored to suit your needs. Font styles are few, but they are well chosen and easy to read. Although animations are missing, the software does supply a limited choice of transitions, which adds a subtle change from slide to slide.
Presentations is designed for business presentatations -- at least as I see it. They have carefully selected the features most necessary to an effective and successful presentation. However, one thing that would improve this software is to also include the option to print PDFs in handout form, rather than just whole slides.
Hint
The "Welcome to Presentations" slide show that appears when you first sign in, can be exported to a PDF file and printed for easy reference of tips and features.