Creating simple presentations in Keynote

 Learn how to add slides, edit template content and more

APPLE'S LONG ASSOCIATION WITH DESKTOP

publishing was evident in the way iWorkwas devised. Instead ofapeing the fairly matter-of-fact style of Microsoft Office, iWork mixed and matched Office-style workflow and features with DTP-oriented layout and ease of use that is classic Apple. The result was a suite that helps you easily create documents that both say what they need to say and look beautiful.

Keynote is Apple's answer to PowerPoint, and while the iPad version is simplified somewhat from its desktop cousin, it nonetheless gives you everything you need to make a high-quality presentation on the move.

The app gives you a helping hand throughout. A dozen built-in templates provide a great starting point, and, sensibly, Apple has made three of them quite plain, so they're suitable for almost any subject matter. When adding a new slide, you get to choose from one of eight basic layouts (one ofwhich is blank), because on the iPad it's often quicker to replace placeholder content than to start from scratch.

And like the other apps in the iWork stable, Keynote has a context-sensitive workflow. This provides you with the tools you need to perform a task on the item selected, rather than cluttering up the screen with toolbars and palettes.

Here we'll deal with the basics of Keynote - we've saved animations and other attention-grabbing features for a subsequent tutorial.


 KIT LIST:

■ iPad

■ Keynote for iPad

Time required: 10 mins
Difficulty: Intermediate

 Keynote themes

The iPad version of Keynote has a dozen built-in themes, including three basic ones - the top row here-that just have a plain background.

Landscape-only

Unlike the other iWork apps, Keynote is always in landscape mode. Turn your iPad to portrait orientation... and nothing happens.

 Default content

As with documents in the other two iWork apps, new slideshows in Keynote start with placeholder content that you can double-tap to edit and replace.

 1 Add and edit a new slide To add a new slide, tap the sidebar's '+' button and then tap your preferred layout. To edit existing content, double-tap it and make changes using the contextual tools.

 2 Add an image Tap the Insert menu, select 'Media' and choose an image to add it to your presentation. The Insert menu also houses tables, charts and shapes for you to use.

 3 Edit the image Single-tap your image to resize it using the drag handles or reposition it via drag (rules and guides automatically appear). Double-tap to scale the image within its boundary.

 4 Add text Add a text box by tapping the T in the 'Shapes'tab within the Insert menu. To format the text, select its box and then select options In the Info menu's 'Text' tab.

Moving slides 

To change the order of your slides, tap-holding a slide in the sidebar until the slide starts pulsating, at which point you can drag it to a new location. If you want to move several slides, tap-hold one and then select more with another finger. The selection needn't be contiguous. You can then tap-hold to pick up the pile of slides and move the lot.

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