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Adding PowerPoint Presentations 

Microsoft PowerPoint is used by many instructors to enhance course lectures and to provide course tutorials. WebCT can be used to provide student access to PowerPoint files. This session will go through the steps needed to save a PowerPoint presentation as a Web page and provide access to it within WebCT. Special attention will be given to making these presentations comply with UW Madison's Web Accessibility Policy.


Preparing Your Presentation for the Web

The process of making your PowerPoint presentation accessible via the Web is fairly simple. However, Microsoft PowerPoint has a few issues which require particular attention.
 

Browsers

Ensuring that students who use different browsers actually see the same results is critical. Microsoft does not make this process simple by providing added "features" to Internet Explorer. In fact, the default export to the Web creates a Web page which is not viewable by Netscape users at all. The solution presented here will result in versions which look identical in both Netscape and Internet Explorer.

Frames

By default, PowerPoint adds a side-frame navigation controller to your presentation. As WebCT also uses frames for navigation, adding yet another frameset to an already crowded screen is not a good idea, but fairly difficult to avoid.

Screen Resolution

Creating presentations which are viewable on many different screen resolutions is a very important element in making accessible content. When using WebCT, this is even more important, since a good deal of screen space is taken up by WebCT navigation. It is a goal of accessible design to create content which can be viewed on a monitor with its resolution set to 640 x 480. Inside WebCT, users with screens set to 640 x 480 will need to click Hide Navigation to view the outline frame of your presentation.

Fonts

PowerPoint will export an HTML version of your presentation. Users will need to have the fonts contained in your presentation on their computer. You should use fonts commonly found on most computers. Examples of these are: Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, Helvetica, Georgia and Geneva. With regard to font size, the general rule is to use font sizes no smaller than 30 points. 

Backgrounds

It has always been suggested that one use dark backgrounds for presentations and light colors for text. Working with export to the Web is no exception to this "rule." 


Option One - Save as Web Page

Exporting to the Web - Windows using PowerPoint 2002

Step One: Prepare Content 

When presentations are being exported, you will need to add ALT tags to any image you have added to your presentation content.
  • Select each image by clicking on it once.
  • Choose Format | Picture. Click on the Web tab.
  • Enter ALT text.
  • Click OK.

Step Two: Save as Web Page

  • Choose File | Save as Web Page. Click the Publish button.
  • Click on the Web Options button.
  • Under the General tab, select Add Slide Navigation Controls and Resize Graphics to Fit Browser Window.
  • Under the Pictures tab, choose 800 x 600 for the Screen Resolution. 
  • Under the Browsers tab, select the Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0, Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later.
  • Click OK. 
  • Choose Complete presentation from the Publish What? box.
  • Under Browser Support, choose Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later.
  • Change the page title of the web page by clicking Change from the Publish a copy as box.
  • Specify the Desktop as the location on your computer where the files will be saved by clicking on the Browse button, selecting the folder, entering a name for the file in the File name box and clicking OK. 
  • Click Publish.

Exporting to the Web - Mac

There is a problem with the way PowerPoint writes code for Web Export. WebCT cannot understand the path names and the files will not display. For Export to the Web, use a PC.
 


Option Two - Save as Native PowerPoint

The other option is to simply save your files as a native PowerPoint file. You can upload it into WebCT using the Single Page tool. Your students will need to download the plug-in below to view your content inside WebCT without needing to have PowerPoint on their computer. Those who don't have the plug-in will be prompted to save the file to their computer where they can open it within PowerPoint.

Step One: Prepare Content

You will need to add ALT tags to any image you have added to your presentation content.
  • Select each image by clicking on it once.
  • Choose Format | Picture. Click on the Web tab. (This feture is not available for Macintosh users.)
  • Enter ALT text.
  • Click OK.

Step Two: Save as PowerPoint File.

  • Choose File | Save As.
  • In the Save As Type box, choose Presentation.
  • Choose the Desktop for the location. 
  • Name the file. 
  • Click Save.


Bringing Files into WebCT 

Microsoft Word will create a file and a folder on your desktop. If, for example, you saved your file presentation to the Desktop, there would be a file called presentation.htm and a folder called presentation_files. You will need to bring all these materials into WebCT. The directions below will explain how to compress all files into one Zip file, which will be brought into WeCT. Once inside WebCT, the files will be unzipped.

Using a PC
WinZip (click to download) 

  • Create a new folder on the Desktop.
  • Move all files and folders into the folder.
  • Right click your mouse button on the folder. 
  • Select add to "foldername".zip from the menu.
  • Click the "I Agree" button.
  • A file called "foldername".zip will be displayed on the Desktop. You will bring this file into WebCT.
  • Log into WebCT.
  • Enter your course.
  • Choose Manage Files from the Navigation Bar.
  • Once in the Manage Files area, click on Upload a File from the File Options section and click Go.
  • Click Browse to select the file from your computer.
  • Navigate to the Desktop.
  • Select "foldername".zip. If this does not appear, choose All Files from the Files of Type: box.
  • Click Open.
  • Choose My Files from the Destination Folder.
  • Click Upload.
  • Select the checkbox to the left of the file "foldername".zip under the MyFiles folder section of the My Folders and Files area.
  • Select Unzip from the drop-down menu in the File Options.
  • You will still need to create a link to the presentation file inside your WebCT course. Use either the Simple Page tool or the Content Module tool.

Using a Mac
DropZip (click to download)

  • Create a folder on the Desktop.
  • Move all files and folders into the folder.
  • Open the DropZip folder.
  • Click and drag the folder with your files and drop in on the DropZip application icon.
  • Click the "Not Yet" button.
  • A file called "foldername".zip will be displayed on the Desktop. You will bring this file into WebCT.
  • Log into WebCT.
  • Enter your Course.
  • Choose Manage Files from the Navigation Bar.
  • Once in the Manage Files area, click on Upload a File from the File Options section and click Go.
  • Click Browse to select the file from your computer.
  • Navigate to the Desktop.
  • Select "foldername".zip
  • Click Open.
  • Choose My Files from the Destination Folder.
  • Click Upload.
  • Select the checkbox to the left of the file "foldername".zip under the MyFiles folder section of the My Folders and Files area.
  • Select Unzip from the drop-down menu in the File Options.
  • You will still need to create a link to the presentation file inside your WebCT course. Use either the Simple Page tool or the Content Module tool


Exercise

This exercise will walk you through the steps to export your PowerPoint file as a Web page. 

Using a PC

  • Open the file present.ppt from your Desktop inside PowerPoint. If you don't have this file on your computer, download present.ppc here. To download, right click on link. Choose Save Link As or Save Target As -- depending on your browser.
  • Go to Slide 3.
  • Click on the Netscape image and choose Format | Picture. Click on the Web tab. Enter the descriptive ALT tag. Click OK twice.
  • Repeat for all other images inside the presentation.
  • Choose Tools | Options. Click on the Web Options button.
    • Under the General tab, select Add Side Navigation Controls. 
    • Under the Pictures tab, choose 800 x 600 for the Screen Resolution. 
    • Under the Pictures tab, select the Allow PNG as an output format box.
    • Click OK. 
  • Choose File | Save as Web Page. Click the Publish button.
    • Choose Complete presentation from the Publish What? box.
    • Under Browser Support, choose Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later.
    • Change the page title of the Web page by clicking Change from the Publish a copy as box.
    • Specify the Desktop as the location on your computer where the files will be saved by clicking on the Browse button, selecting the folder, entering present.htm as the name for the file in the File name box and clicking OK. 
    • Click Publish.
  • Create a new folder on the Desktop. Name the folder HTML.
  • Move files into the HTML folder.
  • Right click your mouse button on the folder HTML. 
  • Select add to HTML.zip from the menu.
  • Click the "I Agree" button.
  • A file called HTML.zip will be displayed on the Desktop. You will bring this file into WebCT.
  • Log into WebCT.
  • Enter your Course.
  • Choose Manage Files from the Navigation Bar.
  • Once in the Manage Files area, click on Upload a File from the File Options section and click Go.
  • Click Browse to select the file from your computer.
  • Navigate to the Desktop.
  • Select HTML.zip. If this does appear, choose All Files from the Files of Type: box.
  • Click Open.
  • Choose My Files from the Destination Folder.
  • Click Upload.
  • Select the checkbox to the left of the file HTML.zip under the MyFiles folder section of the My Folders and Files area.
  • Select Unzip from the drop-down menu in the File Options.
  • Select the checkbox to the left of the file HMTL.zip from the My Files area. Choose Delete from the File Options section.
  • You will still need to create a link to the presentation file inside your WebCT course. Use either the Simple Page tool or the Content Module tool.

Using a Mac

  • Open the file present.ppt from your Desktop inside PowerPoint. If you don't have this file on your computer, download present.ppc here. Click and hold. Choose Save Link As or Save Target As -- depending on your browser.
  • Choose File | Save as Web Page. Click on the Web Options button.
  • Under the Appearance tab, deselect Include slide notes.
  • Under the Pictures tab, choose 800 x 600 for the Screen Size. 
  • Under the Pictures tab, select the Allow PNG as an output format box.
  • Click on the Files tab, and select Support Internet Explorer browsers box and the Add support for Netscape Navigator 4 compatible browsers box. For Netscape 6 support, you must check the Add support for other browsers box.
  • Click OK twice.
  • Specify the Desktop as the location on your computer where the files will be saved, enter a name for the file in the Name box. Select Web Page from the Format box.
  • Click Save.
  • Create a folder on the Desktop. Name it HTML.
  • Move files into the HTML folder.
  • Open the DropZip folder.
  • Click and drag the HTML folder with your files and drop in on the DropZip application icon.
  • Click the "Not Yet" button.
  • A file called HTML.zip will be displayed on the Desktop. You will bring this file into WebCT.
  • Log into WebCT.
  • Enter your Course.
  • Choose Manage Files from the Navigation Bar.
  • Once in the Manage Files area, click on Upload a File from the File Options section and click Go.
  • Click Browse to select the file from your computer.
  • Navigate to the Desktop.
  • Select HTML.zip. 
  • Click Open.
  • Choose My Files from the Destination Folder.
  • Click Upload.
  • Select the checkbox to the left of the file HTML.zip under the MyFiles folder section of the My Folders and Files area.
  • Select Unzip from the drop-down menu in the File Options.
  • Select the checkbox to the left of the file HMTL.zip from the My Files area. Choose Delete from the File Options section.
  • You will still need to create a link to the presentation file inside your WebCT course. Use either the Simple Page tool or the Content Module tool.



Segments of WebCT documentation were used to create this document.
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