Subtitle placeholder problem

[Guest]

I'm using PowerPoint 2000. For the internally branded template I'm using--one
that's to be used throughout our company--the subtitle placeholder on the
title slide needs to allow text to be entered in a white font. However, when
you click in the placeholder, the highlighting that shows up inside the
placeholder is ALSO white. Therefore, you're unable to see what you've typed
until you click outside the placeholder.

Using the Title Master to change the background of that autoshape doesn't
make a difference to the highlight color. Any ideas on how to change the
color of this highlighted area without changing the font color?

 

[Sonia]

The background color has to be changed in the Color Scheme. Go to Format >
Color Scheme > Custom and change the Background color to something dark.

 

[Guest]

Sonia--problem is, other parts of the title slide ARE supposed to be white.
Changing the background color in the color scheme changes those areas, too.
Any other suggestions?

 

[Sonia]

That's what I was afraid of. Becuse you are using PowerPoint 2000 (this was
changed in PowerPoint 2002 and 2003) you may need to select the text, go to
Format > Text and temporarily change it to another color (black), edit the text,
and then change it back to white.

There are other work arounds, but that one seems the fastest to me. You could
also change the color scheme, edit the text, and then change the color scheme
back.

I hope, for your sake, that the designer hasn't used white text anywhere else in
the presentation. Clearly the designer had other choices and didn't consider
the difficulty that white text would cause for someone using PowerPoint 2000.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Sonia--problem is, other parts of the title slide ARE supposed to be white.
Changing the background color in the color scheme changes those areas, too.
Any other suggestions?

Funny, Echo and I were just talking about this. One approach that might work is to
set the b/g color in the scheme to medium gray so you can see both white and black
text against it, then add a white rectangle the full size of the slide to the Title
Master and send it to back.

 

[Guest]

Steve, thanks--I think that'll be a reasonable workaround for my internal
customer. I really appreciate your help.

 

[Echo S]

Yes, I've often had to recreate background elements -- or create fake
ones -- for presentations because of how people set up the color schemes in
relation to those elements.

It usually happens for me when we have a slide that has one color in the
title area, but a different one for the "body" of the slide. And of course,
the specification is always to use the opposite color for the text...

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com

Steve, thanks--I think that'll be a reasonable workaround for my internal
customer. I really appreciate your help.

medium gray so you can see both white and black text against it, then add a
white rectangle the full size of the slide to the Title Master and send it
to back.