Ignoring mouse clicks until slide narration is complete

[Diane]

I am using Power Point to make simple slide shows for children to advance
with a mouse click, as they work independently at the computer. I am
narrating each slide. I want the program to ignore inadvertent mouse clicks
until the narration is complete, then advance the slide the next time the
mouse is clicked (even though children may take varying amounts of time to
click the mouse). I do not want to use action buttons, just a simple
mouse click where the cursor could be anywhere on the screen.

I find that the children are clicking the mouse and advancing the slides
before the narration for each slide is complete. I cannot find any way to
keep them from doing this. I don't want to time each slide, because the
narration on the slides may be of varying lengths--some with longer
narration, some with shorter narration.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Guest]

Diane,

You can disallow clicking to advance slides by choosing (in PowerPoint
2002/2003) Slide Show > Slide Transition. In the Slide Transition task pane,
uncheck the On Mouse Click check box in the Advance Slide section.

Then set automatic timings for each slide according to the length of the
narration. After timing each slide's narration, select each slide and use
the same transition to set its timing in the Automatically After text box in
the same location I just mentioned.

Would this work?
Ellen
Author of How to Do Everything with PowerPoint 2007
www.ellenfinkelstein.com

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

Diane,

Here is a simple way to do what you want. First, set the slide transition
for your slides (Slide Show > Slide Transition) so that it doesn't
advance on mouse click (uncheck the box). Next, create a rectangle that
covers the entire slide. Select the rectangle and choose Format >
Autoshape to set the rectangle to 99% transparent.

Now, you need to set the animation order. If you have a sound icon, then
you already have an animation effect for the sound, so you need to make
sure that the animation effect is set to With Previous.

Next, add an animation for your 99% transparent rectangle and set it to
After Previous.

To round out the animations, drag the sound's animation (in the custom
animation task pane) above the rectangle's animation.

Finally, you need to set a hyperlink or action setting for the 99%
transparent rectangle to Next Slide.

What this will do is have the sound play and then bring in the rectangle
(which the students won't actually see). While the sound is playing, the
rectangle is not there, so a mouse click will not work. Once the sound
has played and the rectangle has come in, any mouse click will have to be
on the rectangle because it covers the whole slide, and the click will
take you to the next slide.

Let us know how this works for you.

--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.PowerfulPowerPoint.com/

 

[Guest]

In the slide transition pane

Set the transition of the slide with narration to automatically after 0
seconds
Make the next slide a duplicate of this slide but with no narration
set this slide to transition "on click"

Be careful NOT to click apply to all slides.

 

[Rick Altman]

Loved the triad of answers that were given to Diane. David, why 99%
transparent and not 100% transparent?



Rick A.

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

In certain versions, 100% transparency makes PowerPoint ignore the fill
entirely, so a click in the middle of a rectangle does not register as a
click on the rectangle (i.e., with 100% transparency, you might have to
click on the edge of the rectangle for it to register). With 99%
transparencey, it still looks transparent, but there is enough fill left
that those rogue versions of PowerPoint won't ignore the click in the
middle.
--David

--
David M. Marcovitz
Microsoft PowerPoint MVP
Director of Graduate Programs in Educational Technology
Loyola College in Maryland
Author of _Powerful PowerPoint for Educators_
http://www.PowerfulPowerPoint.com/

 

[Rick Altman]

Excellent -- do you know offhand which versions require the 99% trick?

 

[David M. Marcovitz]

No, I don't remember. I'll bet someone else does. My brain cells want to
say something about the Viewer, but I'm not sure.
--David

 

[Kathy Jacobs]

I know that Viewer 2003 has problems with the 100% transparency. I think
some of the older versions do too.

--
Kathy Jacobs, Microsoft MVP OneNote and PowerPoint
Author of Kathy Jacobs on PowerPoint
Get PowerPoint and OneNote information at www.onppt.com

I believe life is meant to be lived. But:
if we live without making a difference, it makes no difference that we lived

 

[Diane]

Thanks!! This idea worked. I had to time each slides's narration, and set
the "automatically" accordingly. It will take a little longer to put
together my presentations (to insert duplicate slides), but it will be well
worth the time. Now my little students will "have to listen" to my
narration, but will then be able to independently click their mouse to move
to the next slide. Once again, thanks so much!