I’ve been a big believer in Keynote since shortly after it came out – at first I didn’t see what all the fuss was about, but after using it for a few months, I had to create a presentation at work and I was reminded of how painful PowerPoint is. There was no going back, I was sold on Keynote. Like so many things in the Apple ecosystem, it isn’t any *one* feature that makes the difference, it’s a collection of little things, some of which you didn’t even know mattered until shown another way. Unlike it’s cousin from Microsoft, Keynote is designed to help you create slides that won’t make users yak and it’s particularly well suited for those that believe in the Lessig method (see his Free Culture talk for an example.) At this point, I can’t imagine using anything else for a real world talk.
Every year, we’re treated to a new version of Keynote (and the rest of its iWork brethren) which means we get a collection of new features: transitions, themes, better charts and now new ways of sharing our work with others. Keynote 09 is no exception, this year we’ve got magic move and you can even use your iPhone as a remote. Before this year’s conference series kicked off, I went ahead and upgraded and while I’m quite pleased I did run into one issue.
As I crafted one of my early decks, I noticed that one of my favorite transitions from Keynote 08 was gone – for example, I couldn’t find confetti.
It may seem strange for an unabashed promoter of Presentation Zen and slide:ology to be married to a transition, but I go out of my way to use them judiciously. A slew of Google searches later, I had my answer – some transitions were considered obsolete in Keynote 09. Enabling them is quite simple, simply go to the Keynote preferences and select “Include obsolete animations in choices.” Perhaps I should just accept the wisdom of Apple and, ah, transition to the new animations but I’ve just got to have my confetti!
The other big change I noticed was the vastly improved printing dialog. While nothing has fundamentally changed in the dialog, with 09, you get a handy preview of just what you’re going to print (or save as PDF – one of the unsung features of OS X.)
You can also change the page setup from within the print dialog, something that is very handy when you’re creating PDFs for handouts.
Oh and for those of you that like the black or gradient background, if you don’t want to kill an ink cartridge, select “Don’t print slide backgrounds or object fills.”
Keynote is an invaluable part of any presenter’s toolbox – if you think its just an Apple version of PowerPoint you’re wrong. If you haven’t tried it out, you owe it to yourself to use it for your next talk, it really does make a difference.
