confirmation please!

[Geoff Cox]

Hello,

I trust that I am correct in the following?

A presentation is reached via a menu slide using a hyperlink. This
presentation has a slide with an End Show action button.

On the same slide as this action button there are links to other
slides within this presentation. Each of these slides has a button to
take the user back to the first slide (i.e. the one with the End Show
action button on it).

No matter how many slides are accessed within this presentation the
End Show action button will take the user back to the menu slide from
which this presentation was reached.

This is so?

Thanks!

Geoff

 

[Guest]

When you click end show that show should close and return you to the slide
you originally hyperlinked from.
--

Did that answer the question / help?
_____________________________
John Wilson
Microsoft Certified Office Specialist
http://www.technologytrish.co.uk/ppttipshome.html

 

[Geoff Cox]

When you click end show that show should close and return you to the slide
you originally hyperlinked from.

OK - thanks John. Nice to hear that!

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Glen Millar]

OK - thanks John. Nice to hear that!

I have seen a cases where this didn't work properly as the original
slideshow lost focus, but John is tright int hat this should normally
happen.

 

[Geoff Cox]

I have seen a cases where this didn't work properly as the original
slideshow lost focus, but John is tright int hat this should normally
happen.

Glen,

What does lost focus mean in this context?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Chris_E]

Geoff

Are you using "Custom Shows" for this? You didn't mention it so I
wondered...

I don't use action buttons at all. Like you, I create links in my menu
slide(s) to custom shows which have their "Show and Return" property
set. This ensures that when the linked slide set finishes, you don't
have to click an "End" type button, you simply click to go back to the
"menu" screen.

Is this of help to you?

Chris

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Glen,

What does lost focus mean in this context?

In systems like Windows, Mac, only one appication or window can have the
"focus" at a time. Any keystrokes go to the window that has focus;
mouseclicks in the window go there as well, but mouseclicks outside the window
with focus go to the window clicked on ... AND transfer focus to that window.

So if you have other apps running at the same time as your slide show, or you
have multiple slide show windows open, a user might click the End button twice
instead of once. Happens all the time ... the distinction between click and
doubleclick is subtle; lots of users don't get it and try to doubleclick
everything.

The first click goes to the current slideshow (it has focus) and causes it to
close, and the second click drops through to whatever's beneath. Usually
that'll be the show you came from but if not .... oooops.

 

[Geoff Cox]

In systems like Windows, Mac, only one appication or window can have the
"focus" at a time. Any keystrokes go to the window that has focus;
mouseclicks in the window go there as well, but mouseclicks outside the window
with focus go to the window clicked on ... AND transfer focus to that window.

So if you have other apps running at the same time as your slide show, or you
have multiple slide show windows open, a user might click the End button twice
instead of once. Happens all the time ... the distinction between click and
doubleclick is subtle; lots of users don't get it and try to doubleclick
everything.

The first click goes to the current slideshow (it has focus) and causes it to
close, and the second click drops through to whatever's beneath. Usually
that'll be the show you came from but if not .... oooops.

Thanks Steve - I see where the problem could be!

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Geoff Cox]

Geoff

Are you using "Custom Shows" for this? You didn't mention it so I
wondered...

Chris,

No - have never tried Custom Shows.

I don't use action buttons at all. Like you, I create links in my menu
slide(s) to custom shows which have their "Show and Return" property
set. This ensures that when the linked slide set finishes, you don't
have to click an "End" type button, you simply click to go back to the
"menu" screen.

Is this of help to you?

Could be - must look into this.

At least the use of End Show action buttons has got rid of the problem
I had where the user got back to the menu ppt using a button with a
hyperlink to the menu ppt file. This could crreate lots of open files
which slowed the PC down no end!

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Chris_E]

At least the use of End Show action buttons has got rid of the problem

I had where the user got back to the menu ppt using a button with a
hyperlink to the menu ppt file. This could crreate lots of open files
which slowed the PC down no end!

The real benefit (for me at least) of Custom Shows is that I include
ALL PPTs that I need to have access to in the one slide set (using
Insert Slides from... and using Multiple Masters) and then I use custom
shows to access those slides I need at the touch of a button. You only
open the single PPT but is contains all of the content for all options.

Also, If I have a slide deck of 100 slides and want to just run through
the top level slides, by hiding the ones in each custom show, I can
show only those slides that are key - the non-hidden ones. Custom Shows
allows me to break out to the ones that are hidden! Very cool!

Chris

 

[Geoff Cox]

The real benefit (for me at least) of Custom Shows is that I include
ALL PPTs that I need to have access to in the one slide set (using
Insert Slides from... and using Multiple Masters) and then I use custom
shows to access those slides I need at the touch of a button. You only
open the single PPT but is contains all of the content for all options.

Also, If I have a slide deck of 100 slides and want to just run through
the top level slides, by hiding the ones in each custom show, I can
show only those slides that are key - the non-hidden ones. Custom Shows
allows me to break out to the ones that are hidden! Very cool!

Chris,

How about if you had 400 ppt files, each with approx. 10 slides -
could Custom Shows work with that?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Chris_E]

How about if you had 400 ppt files, each with approx. 10 slides -
could Custom Shows work with that?

I don't know if there is a limit to the number of custom shows a single
PPT can hold, but assuming your PC has enough ooomph to run up a slide
PPT, in theory, the answer should be yes.

The MVPs may help here on the max number of Custom Shows>

My experience of working with many PPTs (not as many as 400 though) was
to do this:

Created one PPT as my menu PPT (like my switchboard), it held 'links'
to 13 other PPTs

The 13 were constructed by 'import slides from files" from a total of
53 PPTs.

In other words, 53 PPTs became 13 PPTs driven my 1 PPT

Each of the 13 was around 200-300 slides in length with custom shows in
each to sections of key interest for my audience.

This worked well. In one of the 13 PPTs, I used 32 custom shows!

As they say, YMMV (your mileage may vary)!.

Chris