Today's graphics tools help you present your arguments and data with polish and professionalism.
David Seachrist
We used to call them business-graphics programs. People used them primarily to create individual, data-driven charts. Over time, these packages shifted their focus to cohesive, multiple-slide presentations organized via outlines and slide sorters. GUIs, especially Windows, were an enormous step forward in producing more elaborate and effective graphics, which enhanced and focused spoken presentations.
For the November 1996 BYTE, NSTL tested a group of multimedia
authoring tools
that allow the integration of video, sound, and Internet links into presentations. But most presentations don't req
uire that much apparatus, nor the time needed to create it. Thus, there's a firm place for these mainstream presentation-graphics programs: Adobe Persu
asion 3.0.2, Corel Presentations 7.0, Software Publishing's Harvard Graphics 4.0, Lotus Development's Freelance Graphics 96 Edition for Windows 95, and Microsoft's PowerPoint 95 7.0.
For this review, we chose programs that offer an individual slide-editing environment, a slide sorter, an outlining environment, extensive charting (including organizational charts), drawing capabilities, and automated slide-show functions. We didn't include programs better-suited for multimedia applications, such as Astound's (Palo Alto, CA) Astound for Windows, or programs designed for more intensive authoring, such as SFD's (San Bruno, CA) Quovis line.
By the time this review sees print, Adobe, Lotus, and Microsoft will have released new updates. Final versions of these packages were unavailable when we did our testing, but we discuss w
hat's coming in these new versions.
Using the Software
With presentation graphics now standard in office suites, it's reaching a more diverse group of end users, and thus creating a demand for still more features and greater ease of use. Therefore, despite all the bells and whistles in these products, NSTL's test scenario is based on an intermediate user who only occasionally creates and gives short presentations -- slide shows that include bulleted text charts, data charts, organizational charts, and clip art.
Some users are most comfortable working with words to organize their thoughts, while others like to organize the slides with a graphical interface. All five reviewed programs help both types of users by offering a word-based outline view as well as a slide-sorter view of a presentation. All five slide-editing environments provide easy access to program commands via screen icons and menu structures.
Presenting on the Web
The ability to save presentat
ions in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and publish them to the Web has considerable potential. All software vendors are scrambling to build in Web compatibility, but there's still plenty of room for improvement in every program. Harvard Graphics and Adobe Persuasion currently offer no Web-publishing features.
Corel Presentations, Freelance Graphics, and PowerPoint 95 all save to HTML files, but none offers a streamlined method of saving to a Web server. PowerPoint 95 requires an add-in: either the PowerPoint Internet Assistant or the Powerpoint Animation Publisher and Player, both offered free on Microsoft's Web site (
http://www.microsoft.com
).
Corel Presentations 7.0
Corel Presentations offers state-of-the-art features, Internet functionality, a host of graphics tools, and usability
that's eclipsed only slightly by two of the other programs. With a price tag under $100, Presentations is clearly the bargain of the bunch.
Presentations certainly shows its Corel heritage with its extra graphics and drawing features (e.g., the ability to interface directly with TWAIN-compatible image scanners), an automatic bit-map tracing feature, the broadest graphics import/export capabilities, and 10,000 clip-art images. Presentations is the only program of the five that allows pixel editing of bit maps.
Corel performs screen updates faster than any other program in this group, and it's especially impressive with a complex Windows Metafile graphic. In print speed, Corel is second only to PowerPoint in returning control to the user.
The templates that come with the program are good, but there isn't the diversity of slide layouts that the other packages offer. Presentations is the only tested program that doesn't allow you to paste in charts and have them take on a template's color scheme auto
matically.
Presentations lets you break a pie-chart slice into a column chart, which is helpful when you want to show the individual items that make up a slice. The program currently supports chart builds, in which individual chart elements (e.g., the bars in a bar graph) appear in successive slides.
Of all the programs tested, Corel Presentations is the most Internet-ready. It comes with HTML saving capabilities out of the box, and it supports HTML frames, which lets you access individual slides from a page that has both the table of contents and the slide.
Adobe Persuasion 3.0.2
Persuasion has been in this market since the late 1980s, but it's the only program here not designed for Win 95. This hurt it in virtually every scoring criterion. For example, although Persuasion's on-line help is quite complete, the help system's context-sensitivity isn't as intuitive as that of products that are designed specifically for Win 95.
Also, unlike the rest of the group, Persuasion d
oesn't distribute content outlines, and it doesn't let you browse through clip-art previews to find an image. However, it does have floating text and object tool palettes that allow you to edit while the tools remain on-screen, and it supports chart builds.
By the time this review sees print, Adobe should have unwrapped version 4.0, which will still be targeted mainly at people who make presentations on a regular basis. The new version will be the first major upgrade since Adobe acquired Aldus in 1995.
Version 4.0's most significant features are more distribution options, including more Web presentation functions. But instead of HTML, Adobe will use its own portable document format (.pdf files) for viewing with Adobe Acrobat. Persuasion's interface will move closer to that of other Adobe graphics products, such as Photoshop. And even though the new product will support some Win 95 features, such as long filenames, it still won't be a 32-bit application.
Lotus Freelance Graphics 96
Freelance Graphics 96 is a major upgrade from version 2.1, which NSTL evaluated for BYTE's last report on presentation graphics (in the January 1995 issue). Boosts in charting and collaborative-computing features, as well as interface enhancements, such as live slide thumbnail preview in the outline view, make this a comfortable, feature-rich environment for novice presenters.
The package comes with a wide selection of slide layouts and backgrounds that look beautiful when displayed in 16-bit (64,000 colors) mode. Freelance Graphics offers easy application of slide transitions, but you can't preview the effects.
NSTL's usability testers liked doing live editing with floating tool palettes, which are used in several of these programs, but they found Freelance's Infobox, a floating property dialogue, to be the best interface of the bunch. Because it's context-sensitive, only those commands that apply to the selected object are available to the user. And because you can alter object and text propert
ies in real time, you can see changes happen.
Freelance has a nice selection of specialized diagramming tools. You can create process and conceptual diagrams with the other programs, but Freelance Graphics does most of the work for you.
The program allows point-to-point connection (for two remote computers only) via either modem or a LAN connection, and multipoint capability is planned for the next release of the program. A wizard-like interface made establishing a presentation conference easier than with the other programs.
Freelance Graphics 96 was a major upgrade, and the new features going into the next release aren't spectacular. Freelance Graphics 97 supports HTML frames, and it has a File Save interface for saving HTML files to a Web server. Uniform resource locator (URL) links to Web sites can be accessed directly from a presentation. Lotus adds 14 new SmartMasters to the current 120, and Lotus Notes users will like the enhanced presentation library and review database. The new version con
tinues support for the electronic filing cabinet and now supports Notes 4.0's TeamReview feature.
Harvard Graphics 4.0
Harvard Graphics was the versatility winner in our previous tests, but it has not kept up with the others on the Internet front, and its performance is only slightly above average. In general, we found Harvard Graphics a little less helpful, and its operations required a few more steps, than the other programs. On-line help is complete and well designed, but it lacks a natural-language search engine.
Harvard Graphics' templates are quite good, but there are fewer backgrounds. This is the only product that doesn't allow you to animate bullet items during the build process -- for example, to have them bounce onto the screen from the left. Clip art generally has to be ungrouped and the background object made transparent if you want it to take on the background color of the slide, a cumbersome process.
On the plus side, Harvard Graphics comes with Harvard F/X tool
s, which allows special effects, such as shaping text to curves and extruding and blending graphical objects. Harvard Graphics was the fastest of the bunch, and background color reproduction in the NSTL quality test file was superb. Color text is more impressive in the other four programs, however.
Microsoft PowerPoint 95 7.0
PowerPoint has been a key player in defining and developing presentation graphics since its first appearance in 1987 as a Macintosh application that had no charting or outlining capabilities. But the program introduced the world to WYSIWYG slide formatting and, more important, it promoted the concept of combining many slides into a single file as a coherent presentation. Many of the features and tools that we now take for granted originated with PowerPoint.
PowerPoint 95 is a business communications tool, not just an authoring package, and it's useful for meetings of many kinds. It's currently the only program of this group that allows multiple remote users t
o view a presentation via a TCP/IP connection with the presenter and audience running the full version of the program. (Unfortunately, the presentation conference feature doesn't work via TCP/IP if your network also has NetWare IPX drivers installed.) And although PowerPoint offers a wizard to set up the presentation conference, users can't browse for computer names.
The program goes far beyond the others in one area of meeting use. You can display your meeting agenda as a bulleted list and type minutes directly into PowerPoint's Meeting Minder. The program also has an Action Items function that creates another bulleted list to remind meeting participants of assigned tasks.
PowerPoint's performance is inconsistent. It's sluggish at performing certain screen updates, but its print spooler is the fastest of all the reviewed programs.
With the new PowerPoint 97, Microsoft is making PowerPoint easier to learn and use while meeting the needs of even more types of users. The Office Assistant is an anima
ted program guru that lets you know if you're performing a task inefficiently and suggests a different method. Experienced users can turn off the Office Assistant.
PowerPoint 97's new and improved organizational tools include an Expand Slide feature that flows bulleted text onto the next slide when one slide becomes too crowded. Also, slide miniatures can now be displayed in the outline view. The drawing tools are beefed up substantially. AutoShapes include five new forms, and the program connects two AutoShapes with a line. Move one shape, and the line automatically stretches and remains connected to the other.
In addition, the Meeting Minder has been enhanced to send action items to the Microsoft Office scheduling program. Finally, the Internet functionality, which now requires add-in programs, is integrated directly into PowerPoint 97.
Good Tools, Every One
Our tests show that an intermediate-level computer user can create stunning presentations quickly and easily with any
of these five products. Lotus's Freelance Graphics and Microsoft PowerPoint 95 are better for novices, while Corel Presentations and Harvard Graphics offer better tools for those with some graphic-design experience.
Corel Presentations, Lotus Freelance Graphics, and Microsoft PowerPoint are all highly capable programs. These three competitors have been leapfrogging one another's feature sets for several years. Each boasts superiority over the others in certain feature categories, but NSTL rates Corel Presentations 7.0 as the features champion.
Harvard Graphics and Adobe Persuasion currently lack the Web-publishing features of the other programs. In the end, there's nothing in any of these packages that would make us suggest that you switch from one to another. But if you're a first-time buyer looking for a presentation-graphics program, Corel Presentations' power, usability, and price make it the pick of the lot.
Evaluations in this report represen
Product Information
Freelance Graphics 96...................$355
Lotus Development Corp.
Cambridge, MA
Phone: (800) 343-5414
Fax: (617) 693-0968
Internet:
http://www.lotus.com
Circle 976 on Inquiry Card.
Harvard Graphics 4.0........
............$289
Software Publishing Corp.
San Jose, CA
Phone: (800) 336-8360
Fax: (800) 582-6000
Internet:
http://www.spco.com
Circle 977 on Inquiry Card.
Persuasion 3.0.2........................$395
Adobe Systems, Inc.
San Jose, CA
Phone: (408) 536-6000
Fax: (408) 537-6000
Internet:
http://www.adobe.com
Circle 978 on Inquiry Card.
PowerPoint 95 7.0.......................$339
Microsoft Corp.
Redmond, WA
Phone: (206) 882-8080
Fax: (206) 936-7329
Internet:
http://www.microsoft.com
Circle 979 on Inquiry Card.
Presentations 7.0.......................$ 95
Corel Corp.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Phone: (613) 728-8200
Fax: (613) 761-9176
Internet:
http://www.wordperfect.com
Circle 980 on Inquiry Card.
HotBYTEs
- information on products covered or advertised in BYTE
| Adobe
Persuasion
| Corel
Presentations
| Harvard
Graphics
| Lotus Freelance
Graphics
| Microsoft
PowerPoint 95
|
| Design and Content
|
| Design and content automation
| Design only
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
No. slide templates: topics/
backgrounds/layouts
| 42 / 0 / 16
| 11 / 12 (213 CD) / 6
| 12 / 31 / 15
| 30 / 120 / 12
| 19 / 85 / 24
|
| Edit slides globally/individually
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
No. clip-art images/sound
clips/video, animation clips
| 500 / 139 / 32
| 10,000 / 471 / 0
| 500 / 0 / 0
| >700 / 17 / 79
| >1100 / 137 / 4
|
| Outliner
|
| Import text
| RTF
| RTF
| ASCII
| ASCII
| RTF
|
| Outline expand/collapse
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Number of outline levels
| 256
| 8
| 4
| 6
| 5
|
| Preview slide from outliner
| | | | *
| 97
|
| Electronic Presentations
|
| Number of transition effects
| 15
| 53
| 13
| 27
| 49
|
| Set transition speed
| 97
| *
| | | *
|
| Preview transition effects
| *
| *
| *
| | *
|
| Presentation rehearsal
| | | Add-on
| *
| *
|
| Bullet building/dimming
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Chart builds
| *
| | *
| | 97
|
| Animate objects
| *
| *
| | | *
|
| Internet Features
|
| Open and save to HTML
| | *
| | *
| Free add-in
|
| Save to Internet server
| | | | 97
| 97
|
| Support for HTML frames
| | *
| | 97
| 97
|
| Create linked table of contents
| 97
| *
| | *
| Free add-in
|
| Include transitions
| 97
| | | 97
| Free add-in
|
| Link URLs to slides
| 97
| *
| | 97
| 97
|
| Browser plug-in available
| 97
| Limited
| | 97
| *
|
Multipoint presentations
using TCP/IP
| | | On LAN
| 97
| *
|
| Charting
| |
Number of data-driven
chart types
| 11
| 10
| 7
| 10
| 9
|
| Breakout pie/column chart
| | *
| *
| | 97
|
Chart assimilates slide
master attributes
| *
| | *
| *
| *
|
| Graph noncontiguous ranges
| *
| *
| | *
| *
|
| Sort pie slices
| *
| *
| *
| *
| |
|
| Include chart data as table
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Drawing
|
| Number of drawing tools (/ shapes)
| 8
| 15
| 10
| 9 / 37
| 5 / 22
|
| Use shapes with text
| | *
| | *
| *
|
Manipulate anchor/
control points
| Anchor
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Image control of bit maps
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Rotate objects to any angle
| 90° increments
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
Mirror or flip
selected shapes
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Colors/Fills
|
Choice of fill patterns,
gradations, blend styles
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
Gradient text and
graphics fill
| Graphics
| *
| *
| Graphics
| Graphics
|
Bit-map text and
graphics fill
| Gr
aphics
in backgrond
| Graphics
| *
| | 97
|
| Print Options
|
| Print outline
| *
| *
| | *
| *
|
Layout, print speaker
notes, handouts
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
| File Management
|
| OLE client, DDE
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
|
| OLE server
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Set OLE 2.0 Object options
| | *
| | | MO
|
| Add OLE Controls (OCXes)
| | *
| | 97
| 97
|
| Preview clip-art symbols
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Open multiple presentations
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Automatic file backup
| | *
| | *
| 97
|
File details/descriptions,
search
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Compress show for transport
| *
| *
| *
| | *
|
| Import/Export Capability
|
Number of presentation
-import filters
| 97
| 3
| 2
| 3
| 3
|
Number of text-import
filters for outliner
| 7
| 49
| 1
| 1
| 1
|
Number of data-import
filters for charting
| 5
| 5
| 3
| 5
| 3
|
Number of graphics-import
filters
| 18
| 29
| 13
| 18
| 17
|
| Workgroup Support
|
| Automatic routing
| | | *
| *
| *
|
| Revision management
| | | | *
|
|
Share files between
PC and Mac
| *
| | | | *
|
Simultaneous viewing
on LAN
| | *
| *
| *
| *
|
| Lotus Notes support
| | *
| | *
| *
|
| Miscellaneous
|
| Number of undo levels
| 1
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 150
|
| Global search and replace
| *
| *
| *
| | *
|
| Macro record and playback
| | *
| | *
| 97
|
| Key:
* = yes; 97 = planned for next version; MO = users can choose to open or edit objects in place.
|
An extensive feature set, great graphics tools, and good usability
make this a winner.
Retail/Up- Tech- Implemen- Perfor- Ease Of Ease Of Overall
Grade Price nology tation mance Learning Use Rating
Corel $ 95 / N/A **** **** **** **** **** ****
Presentations
7.0
Lotus $355 / $105 **** **** *** ***** ***** ****
Freelance
Graphics
96 Edition
Harvard $289 / $ 99 *** *** *** **** **** ****
Graphics 4.0
Adobe $395 / $129 ** *** ** *** **** ***
Persuasion
3.0.2
Microsoft $
339 / $109 **** **** *** ***** ***** ****
PowerPoint
95 7.0
Key
***** Outstanding
**** Very Good
*** Good
** Fair
* Poor
N/A = not applicable.
screen_link (175 Kbytes)
All these packages offer extensive help in preparing a slide presentation, including style and content templates and wizards, graphics and charting tools, and clip art.
screen_link (21 Kbytes)
David Seachrist has tested all major categories of general business software at NSTL for 10 years, concentrating on desktop publishing and graphics. You can reach him by sending e-mail to
dseachrist@prodigy.com
.
Present a Businesslike Slide Show
