This is about how to install Impress itself and other resources that could be useful. I’ll cover the LibreOffice suite, fonts, templates and extensions.
LibreOffice suite
You may or may not have already set-up LibreOffice Impress. If you did you can skip this paragraph.
My advise is so install the full LibreOffice suite, why not take advantage of Writer, Calc, Draw and the other features? And go for the latest stable version, at the time of writing this it is 3.5.
The vast majority will be on Windows and the process is very straightforward: go to the download page and get your setup. The portable apps version maybe an option to consider and it should work in case you don’t have administration rights on your PC (and thus you cannot install the normal one).
If you are on Mac OSX you should be able to go to the download page and presented with the right version for you. If that is not the case choose it from here.
Finally if you are on Linux, like me, I would advise to install it according to your distribution. I am on Ubuntu and it comes pre-installed. But I have installed an extra package:
libreoffice-ogltrans
which provides some nice transition effects based on OpenGL should your system support it (very likely it will). The following section on Extensions will show you how to do it.
Now I am not a fan at all of cool eye candy effects in presentations and I strongly suggest you to avoid fancy transitions as much as you can but this package provides a couple that are fine to use.
I personally use the one called Rochade but also Turn around can be fine. Let me get this right every decoration in your presentation that does not support your communication should be avoided. Using a different transition like the ones mentioned above at specific times could be fine if there is a good reason for it. You may want to use a very simple transition, or even no transition at all, between your slides and then apply a Rochade effect when you want your audience to sense a breaking point like a chapter changing slide. If you do, then do it consistently and use always the same effect with the same meaning.
Templates
I think templates are good and useful. For documents that are not presentations. I am all in favour of a polished and consistent layout in your visual aids. I believe it should not come from a pre-set download designed by someone else. If you are part of a large organisation you should have a corporate template if you are not you could always create yours. A simple one designed by you it’s likely to be better than something thought elsewhere. This blog is meant to help you with that too.
In any case Templates are great if you want to use LibreOffice for most of the other activities and you can explore them on this page. If you really want to download a presentation one my favourite is Nature.
Extensions
They are all available from the Extensions page. Here there are some very useful ones that we want to take a look at:
- Presenter Console
- Presentation Minimizer
- Export as images
If you are on Windows or OSX the first two should be already installed. In Ubuntu-Linux they are not, so you should do it via the Software Center, search for Impress and then make sure to tick the right boxes under:
If you prefer the command line:
sudo apt-get install libreoffice-presenter-console libreoffice-presentation-minimizer libreoffice-ogltrans
Why do we want them?
Presenter Console it’s a must if you are using a projector and you have a video adapter with two monitor support. That is to say if you have a laptop. Once it is installed and you launch the presentation (F5) you will have two different outputs on the projector and your laptop screen. On the former you should have your first slide and on the latter the console. If it is the other way around go under SlideShow > SlideShow Setting and then check under Multiple Display your settings. If it is disabled it means that you are not taking advantage of the dual monitor, please check your screen settings,
If everything is right on your presenter screen you should have something like this image on the right.
In a near future I will cover how to use effectively the presenter console, what the different sections are and how to use the notes. Right now what it matters is to properly install it.
Presentation minimizer doesn’t require much explanation. Let’s just say that when you embed lots of images in your presentation (which could be a good thing as we will see) the file size can grow a lot. This extension will help you keep it under control.
Finally there is Export as Images, this is one I found out recently and I wish I had done it before. That makes already a point for checking periodically if there is anything interesting in the extensions repository. This one allows you to save your presentation as a sequence of images (jpeg, png ….). Normally you can do it from Impress but only one slide at a time. I use it when I am preparing visual aids for videos. I design them in Impress and then export them as images to be later cut into the video.
To install it go to Export as Images page download it and then in Impress go under
Tools > Extension Manager… and choose Add… then select the file you have just downloaded. You will have to accept the license to finish the installation. Now if you check under the File menu you will see that nothing happened. You need to close LibreOffice and run it again, now a new menu item Export as Images should be there.
Fonts and clip-arts
With clip-arts is very easy. Avoid them. Go for good quality pictures, there are plenty of resources and soon I will talk about it.
A good font is important. So important that I will have a post just on that topic, for now let’s say that Impress will use all the fonts installed on your system, so if your corporate brand uses a specific typeset make sure that it is installed. If you don’t have one it may be the right time now to choose one instead of the default one. The web is full of inspiration and fonts, with pricing ranging from nothing to …. well a lot. Make sure yours are readable. If I haven’t moved you to pick a font maybe Seth can do it!
Now the set-up is finished and you should be ready to start using Impress.
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