Presenting on the Web

Home Office Computing, Dec, 1999 by Susan Glinert

For the latter two choices, of course, you'll need to have access to the Web server or FTP site. This information is available from your ISP or network administrator, who will tell you in which folder to save your presentation and give you a username and password.

If you want to fine-tune the presentation, click on the "Save a copy and customize its contents" button. Here you can specify which pages you want to export, which browsers you want to support ("All browsers listed above" is the best choice), and whether you want speaker notes to be displayed during the show.

This dialog box also provides access to the Web Options dialog box, where you can choose how you want the files organized, add navigation buttons to each page, and allow graphics to be saved in PNG format (which, again, is appealingly compact but is supported only by the most recent browser versions).

To save a file to an FTP site, select "FTP Locations" from the "Save in" drop-down list, and click on "Add/Modify FTP Locations." Here you enter the name of the site and your username and password, if required.

STEP 4 Get a Browser's-eye View

No matter how good it looks on your PC, you need to make sure that your presentation doesn't flop when accessed via the Internet. Visit the Web site and run through the show, ideally on a different computer.

Are the colors correct? Do all the graphics appear? Can you hear any sound clips? Are all the links working? Do the pages take too long to load? Have a colleague run through the show as well, and listen to the feedback. Another pair of eyes may catch typos and poor-quality graphics, not to mention broader complaints: Your presentation might take too long or omit information that a casual user might think is important.

Finally, inform all your customers and clients that your presentation is available for viewing at your new URL, sit back, and wait for kudos or customer orders.