Customer Reviews

Keynote [OLDER VERSION]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I like Keynote. It makes it blissfully easy to do the majority of the things that presenters do -- in particular, create pie charts, bar charts, and other pretty-but-readable stuff. If you want to create good looking charts or presentations in a hurry, Keynote will almost certainly serve your needs.

Plus, it's easy to pick up. My learning curve _might_ have been five minutes. (Though, to be fair, I've reviewed hundreds of software applications for computer magazines, and I'm a fast learner. So give yourself ten minutes, instead, before you pick up the adequate but not-overwhelming printed manual.)

Keynote is a good example of technology helping rather than getting in the way. Except you'll probably spend more than a couple of minutes playing with the really impressive set of slide transitions. I never need such things, but I had fun with them anyway.

But don't expect perfection. Keynote is a great version 1.0, but it's definitely 1.0. So far, I've found two glaring omissions: it doesn't export presentations to HTML (PDF, Quicktime and PowerPoint yes... HTML no). And there's no way to create a follow-me arrow, as in Visio. Creating a process chart, with this-leads-to-that, or an organization chart, can be an exercise in frustration.

I'm sure that later versions will address these limitations, however. Overall, I'm very pleased with the software.

I am in sales and needless to say I use Powerpoint often. The learning curve is short and you could churn out professional looking presentations in no time. However, it is a version 1.0 and it needs some growing up to do.

You can't export to HTML but you can export to Quicktime, PDF, and Powerpoint. When you do export to Powerpoint you can not have all the bells and whistles that you may have loaded your presentation with. Keynote has different transitions and fonts than Powerpoint so those get lost when you export. My first trial presentation I loaded it with all the effects possible (transitions, shadows, animations, etc.) and exported to all the possible formats. It was very easy to do but none of the other formats looked as good as the original Keynote presentation. The Powerpoint presentation did come close but the graphics compared to Keynote just did not stand up. I did have to make some adjustments in Keynote to make the Powerpoint version better (took out the shadows). When you make a movie you decide just how big you want it to be for the purpose of sending it via e-mail or posting it on the Internet. It was also incredibly easy making a PDF file.

Where it does come strong is in graphics. The slides look beautiful and so does the text and the pie charts and graphs. The transitions are a lot of fun and mostly because they are new and haven't really been seen before. The program is very intuitive and easy to use. I look forward to the additional features that will surely come down the road.

For years, PowerPoint has been the bain of my existence. My boss is obsessed with it. Every week it's another presentation in PowerPoint. Finally, an alternative. As usual, Apple takes the "point" out of a Microsoft product. It seems fair, all things considered.

The user interface for this program is fast and easy to learn. It even gives you several options of themes to use for those deadline crunches that we all run into from time to time. It includes the famous drag-and-drop functionality that we've come to expect.

Most importantly, you can save it out to PowerPoint for those less enlighted souls who still think that a Windows machine will help them keep up with the times.

After being a slave to both Mc and PC versions of PPT, Keynote came along and threw off the bonds. As I own my own business and can use what I want, Keynote will replace PPT without hesitation.
Graphic acuity, more choices and freedoms to manipulate charts and graphs with ease.
No problem leaving MS PPT at the curb with the rest of the mutts..

This product is worth every penny you pay. It imports PowerPoints without flaw. The UI is very pleasing to the eye and gets out of the way. It isn't as feature rich as PowerPoint but it makes up for that with its incredible graphics.
All the controls are very intuitive. I would definitely recommend this product to any Mac PowerPoint user, even if you just use it in addtion to PowerPoint.

Software was exactly what they said it was - an "older version." So old it wouldn't work on a Mac running OSX. Oh well. It was cheap enough to be worth the experiment...

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

Under the Keynote Hood

You can choose transition, style, direction and speed when you use KeynoteÕs Inspector. Creating object builds 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.

AppleÕs Keynote allows you to include sound for your presentation. AppleÕs KeynoteÕs sound formats you can use are MOV, Flash, MP3 and AIFF. Also, you can add files from iTunesÕ 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. KeynoteÕs ÔDrag and DropÕ and exporting to AppleÕs Quicklime both work well. You can import Microsoft PowerPoint or AppleWorksÕ presentations and create a custom theme base on those slides.

You can store your images in KeynoteÕs Image Library. KeynoteÕs Cube and Mosaic Large transitions are outstanding for updating your MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint. You receive a KeynoteÕs User Guide manual. No missing manual here.

Con Reaction

Keynote lacks prebuilt presentations. Also, Keynote has very little clip art to work with in 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 exporting in MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint or AcrobatÕs PDF formats. Missing from KeynoteÕs User Guide is an index.

Final Notes

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

I work with plenty of powerpoint charts in my work with windows users...but when I need a great statistics chart, I turn to Keynote. I have plenty of control over the output and the results are stunning.

The export to powerpoint works terrific. However, if you build a presentation in Keynote, you may just consider exporting it into Quicktime so that the viewer can simply run through the presentation in pristine quality and enjoy all of the terrific transitions.

I hope to see more office apps like this from Apple in the future.

I did not know this was a very old version of the program. I guess I did not do my homework before purchasing. I didn't realize that such an old version would even be up for sale. I wasted my money.

Despite its youth and inexperience, Keynote represents everything that's right about computing in the Mac universe, and easily explains why I use a Mac.

My full thoughts on Keynote are too long to post here, but if you would like to read all about it, just follow this link (cut and paste it into your browser if it's not clickable):

Bill Palmer's Keynote Review
[website]