Control the Heat with PowerPoint Mouse Overs

By Glenna Shaw

Most of us are familiar with mouse overs on web pages. You move your mouse over an object and something changes on the screen. However, most people don’t realize how easy it is to create this same effect in PowerPoint 2000 or higher. This article shows you how to take PowerPoint mouse overs to the extreme. You’ll create a slideshow that has a thermometer for the menu. You can move through the slideshow by sliding your mouse up and down the thermometer, raising and lowering the “heat”.

Begin by creating your main background page. Open PowerPoint and click ok for a new slideshow. On the toolbar, click View, Master, and Slide Master. Set up the color scheme by clicking on Format, Slide Color Scheme, click on the color scheme with the blue background, click on Apply To All. Change the fonts by clicking on Edit, Select All, to select all the text. Click on Format, Font and change the font to Arial, Regular. Click ok. While you still have all the text selected, use your mouse to decrease the text space on the left side. Move your mouse over the left side marker (one of the white squares) of the text box until it turns into a line with arrows on the left and right (not the cross with four arrows). Click and hold your left mouse button and move the left side of your text to create room for the thermometer menu. Click anywhere off the slide to deselect the text. You now have a slide with a blue background and Arial text. You also have room on the left side for your thermometer.





If you don’t have Autoshapes on the bottom toolbar, click on View, Toolbars, and Drawing. To create the thermometer, click on Autoshapes, Basic Shapes, and select Rounded Rectangle. Draw your Rounded Rectangle on the left side of the slide to create the body of the thermometer. Change the fill color of the rectangle to white. Click on Autoshapes, Basic Shapes, Oval. Draw your oval over the bottom of the rectangle to create the bulb of the thermometer. Change the fill color of the oval to red. Click on Autoshapes, Basic Shapes, Rectangle. Draw a rectangle to cover the space where the bulb meets the thermometer body. Change the rectangle fill color to red. Create lines on the thermometer by clicking on Autoshapes, Lines, and Line. Draw a line just above the top of the red rectangle. Change the line color to black. Click on Edit, Copy, Edit, and Paste to create another line and move it above the first line. Create one line for each slide of your presentation (we’ll use five for our example). To evenly space the lines, hold down the shift key and click on each line. Make sure you only select the lines. Click on Draw, Align or Distribute, and Distribute Vertically. Your lines should now be evenly spaced on the body of your thermometer.







Your final step on the Master Slide is to create your first mouse-over. Right click on the oval shape, click on Action Settings, Click the Mouse Over tab, Click on Hyperlink, Change Next Slide to Slide…, Slide 1, Click ok. Click ok again. Click Close on the small Master Window.





You’re now at your title slide. Click on Insert, New Slide. Repeat for the number of slides needed. We use five slides in the example, so we’ll have six slides. Go to Slide 2. Click on Autoshapes, Basic Shapes, Rectangle. Draw a rectangle to increase the temperature on the thermometer to the first line. Change the rectangle fill color to red. Repeat for each slide, increasing to the next line on the thermometer for each successive slide.







The final step (and trickiest) is creating your “invisible” mouse-over buttons.

Return to the first slide. Click on Draw, Basic Shapes, Rectangle. Draw a rectangle over the thermometer that goes from the top of the bulb to the top line of the thermometer. Do not change the rectangle fill color yet. Right click on this rectangle, click on Action Settings, Click the Mouse Over tab, Click on Hyperlink, Change Next Slide to Slide…, Slide 6 (or your last slide), Click ok. Click ok again. Create another rectangle that goes from the bottom of this rectangle to the next line down on the thermometer. Right click on this rectangle, click on Action Settings, Click the Mouse Over tab, Click on Hyperlink, Change Next Slide to Slide…, Slide 5 (or your next to last slide), Click ok. Click ok again. Repeat this step for each remaining slide, moving DOWN the thermometer and BACKWARDS through the slides as you go. It is important to go from top to bottom so the mouse-over buttons are in the proper order.





Select all the mouse-over buttons by holding down the shift key and clicking on each one from the bottom up. Click on Draw, Align or Distribute, and Align Bottom. Click on Draw, Group to make the next step easier. Click on Draw, Order, Bring to Front. Click on Edit, Copy. Click on Format, Autoshape, and change the fill color and line color to No Fill and No Line. Your mouse-over buttons will now be invisible. Click on Draw, Ungroup to separate the buttons again. Go to Slide 2. Click on Edit, Paste. If necessary, move the grouped object to the correct position. Click on Format, Autoshape, and change the fill color and line color to No Fill and No Line. Click on Draw, Ungroup. Go to Slide 3. Click on Edit, Paste. If necessary, move the grouped object to the correct position. Click on Format, Autoshape, and change the fill color and line color to No Fill and No Line. Click on Draw, Ungroup. Repeat for the remaining slides.







Save your presentation. Enter the desired titles and text on your slides. Save the presentation again.



When you run your slideshow, move your mouse up and down the thermometer. Your slideshow will automatically move back and forth among your slides to match the thermometer temperature.

Magnify an image

John Ringold e-mailed me asking how to enlarge part of an image that is encircled within an oval.

Here's a slide with a map on Long Island. The idea is to magnify the section inside the oval.




I came up with two techniques.

Contest! If you can come up with another technique, send it to me. The first person to send in one that I think does the job will receive a free copy of 101 Tips Every PowerPoint User Should Know or 7 Steps to Great Images — your choice. The deadline is Wednesday, September 17th.


Use the Grow/Shrink animation on an image-filled AutoShape

The first method is easy, but the resulting image is a little fuzzy. Follow these steps:
Insert your main image.
Select the image and duplicate it (Ctrl+D).
Display the Picture toolbar (right-click any toolbar and choose Picture). Choose the Crop button. (In 2007, click the Picture Tools Format tab and click the Crop button.) Crop the picture to the area that you want to show enlarged. Here you see the cropped picture in the upper-right corner of the slide.



Right-click the picture and choose Save as Picture.
Delete the cropped picture; you don't need it on the slide any more.
Insert an Oval from the Draw toolbar, dragging it to cover the area that you want to enlarge. (In 2007, insert it from the Home tab> Drawing group, Shapes.) Resize and move it as desired.
Right-click the oval and choose Format AutoShape (in 2007: Format Shape). On the Colors and Lines tab, click the Fill Color drop-down list and choose Fill Effects, then click the Picture tab. Click Select Picture and choose the image you saved. Click Insert. (In 2007, in the Fill category, choose Picture or Texture Fill. Click the File button, choose the image you saved, and click Insert.)
Click OK or Close to exit from any dialog boxes. The oval now contains the cropped image. If necessary, move and resize it so that the two images appear seamless and appear as one image with an oval over part of it.



With the filled oval selected, choose Slide Show> Custom Animation. (In 2007: go to Animations tab> Animations group> Custom Animation.)
Choose Add Effect> Emphasis> Grow/Shrink. You'll probably want to control the timing, so leave the Start to On Click. For the size, adjust as needed. Remember that you can click this item, and enter any value in the Custom text box. I used 200% to double the size of the image. Set the Speed as desired; I used the Fast setting.
Go into Slide Show view and click to watch the oval enlarge the image.

Watch the result (created with TechSmith Camtasia):







Use Zoom Animation on an enlarged image

To avoid a somewhat blurry image, you can start with the enlarged image. Follow these steps:
Insert your main image.
Insert an Oval from the Draw toolbar, dragging it to cover the area that you want to enlarge. (In 2007, insert it from the Home tab> Drawing group, Shapes.) Resize and move it as desired.
With the oval selected, choose Slide Show> Custom Animation. (In 2007: go to Animations tab> Animations group> Custom Animation.) Choose Add Effect> Exit> Disappear. The Start should be On Click if you want control over the timing. Instead, you can use With Previous to make it automatic.
Obtain another image that is enlarged the way you want it and insert it on top of the original image and the oval.
Display the Picture toolbar (right-click any toolbar and choose Picture). Choose the Crop button. (In 2007, click the Picture Tools Format tab and click the Crop button.) Crop the picture to the area that you want to show enlarged.
Right-click the picture and choose Save as Picture.
Insert another Oval from the Draw toolbar, dragging it to cover the area of the enlarged image that you want to display. (In 2007, insert it from the Home tab> Drawing group, Shapes.) Resize and move it as desired.
Delete the cropped picture; you don't need it on the slide any more.
Right-click the large oval and choose Format AutoShape (in 2007: Format Shape). On the Colors and Lines tab, click the Fill Color drop-down list and choose Fill Effects, then click the Picture tab. Click Select Picture and choose the larger image you saved. Click Insert. (In 2007, in the Fill category, choose Picture or Texture Fill. Click the File button, choose the image you saved, and click Insert.)
Click OK or Close to exit from any dialog boxes. The larger oval now contains the enlarged image. If necessary, move it so that it's centered over the smaller oval.
With the larger, filled oval selected, from the Custom Animation task pane, choose Add Effect> Entrance Zoom. The Start should be With Previous so that the animation starts as soon as the smaller oval disappears. I set the Speed to Fast.
Go into Slide Show view and click. The small oval disappears as the larger oval zooms in filled with the enlarged image.



Watch the animation:












Read more: http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpointtips/powerpoint_tip_magnify_image.html#ixzz0rYZBm8oE

Easily create a quiz in PowerPoint using Visual Basic for Applications

Easily create a quiz in PowerPoint using Visual Basic for Applications Did you know it's possible to create your own quiz slides in Microsoft PowerPoint using its macro functions and doing a little programming in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)?

Quiz slides can be used to make presentations more engaging and fun. They work something like this: Each slide asks a question and displays answer choices. Quiz-takers (or audience members) then click on the answer they think is correct. If they answer correctly, a "congratulations" message appears and they automatically move on to the next slide. If they choose a wrong answer, they receive a "try again" message. The slideshow will not advance until they select the correct answer.

Some presenters may believe working with VBA and macros is too complicated, but it's easier than you might think. The VBA code is easy to understand and, for this article, I was able to use Visual Basic to create a 10-slide quiz in less than an hour.


STEP ONE
Create multiple-choice slides

The first step is to create the question slides. Within PowerPoint, start a new slide using the Title Only slide layout. Type the first question in the title-text placeholder.






To add the multiple-choice answers, go to the Draw toolbar and choose AUTOSHAPES » ACTION BUTTONS. Then choose the first action button, which is blank (aka Action Button: Custom). Now click on the slide and the new button will appear. Tip: If the Action Settings dialog box appears, choose Cancel. You will return to this box later in the tutorial.

Resize and position the button on the slide. For consistency, you should size the button to allow for the longest text answer.



Right-click on the button, choose Add Text from the subsequent menu, and type the first answer. Now select the button, right-click again, and choose Copy from the Edit menu. paste (CTRL+V) additional copies of the button graphic for the remaining answers you'll need on the slide.

When all the buttons are in place, select each individually and edit its text and color (right-click, then select the FORMAT AUTOSHAPE » COLORS AND LINES tab). You can also align the answer buttons on the slide using the Draw toolbar (DRAW » ALIGN OR DISTRIBUTE » ALIGN LEFT, then DRAW » ALIGN OR DISTRIBUTE » DISTRIBUTE VERTICALLY).

Repeat Step One to create each additional question slide. Tip: Within the Slide Sorter view, you can COPY (CTRL+C) the first question slide and PASTE it as many times as needed to quickly create the remaining question slides. Then return to Normal view to edit each slides' text.

On your final quiz slide, create an action button with the word End, and place it on the slide.


STEP TWO
Create macros

When the Q & A slides are done, you are ready to create the macros using PowerPoint's Visual Basic Editor. Before you begin, make sure that only the presentation you are currently working on is open.

From the TOOLS menu, choose MACRO » VISUAL BASIC EDITOR. The editor opens in a new window. The right side of the window will be gray. From the insert menu choose module and you'll see a blank white area where you can type a macro. We will create three macros.

We'll start with the code for the wrong answer. In the big blank space on the right, type the following three lines:

Sub Wrong()
MsgBox ("Sorry, that's not right. Please try again.")
End Sub

If you make a mistake, the editor will warn you, but the message may not be clear to you. Most often the mistake is a result of mistyping the code. You may have left out one of the quotation marks or the closing parenthesis at the end of a line. Double-check your typing and make adjustments until the Editor shows no warnings.

Next is the code for the right answer. At the end of the line reading "End Sub," press the enter key on your keyboard. This begins a new code group. Type the following four lines below your first code group:

Sub Right()
MsgBox ("That's right!")
SlideShowWindows(1).View.Next
End Sub

This code is similar to the previous macro, except for its "SlideShowWindows" line, which advances the quiz-taker to the next slide.

On the final slide, you don't want the slideshow to advance to the next slide because that starts the presentation all over again. Instead, you want viewers to use a button that exits the slideshow. So after the previous "End Sub," hit the ENTER key again and type your final piece of code:

Sub RightLast()
MsgBox ("Congratulations!")
End Sub



STEP THREE
Attach macros to buttons

To return to PowerPoint from the Visual Basic Editor, click on the View Microsoft PowerPoint icon (upper left-hand corner, under the FILE menu link). Leave the Visual Basic Editor open in the background. In PowerPoint, save the presentation, as this will save the new macros as well.

Go to your first question slide and select the button with the correct answer. Tip: Select the entire button, not just the text on the button.

Right-click on the button and choose Action Settings from the subsequent menu. The Action Settings dialog box will appear. Choose the Mouse Click tab, and from the "Action on click" area, check the "Run macro" radio button and select your new "Right" macro from the drop-down list. (Notice that all the macros on this list are named for the three pieces of code you created in the Visual Basic Editor.) Click OK.

Now select each of the wrong answers and follow the same procedure, except select the "Wrong" macro from the drop-down list.

Before going on to the other slides to assign the proper macros, try out the buttons on the first slide. Go into Slide Show view (SLIDE SHOW » VIEW SHOW). Click on a wrong answer. A text-message box should pop up indicating you have chosen the wrong answer. Click OK to close the box. Check the other wrong answers on the slide to make sure they also work. Finally, select the correct answer. This time, the text-message box should indicate you have chosen the right answer. Click OK and the slideshow will automatically advance to the next slide.

With the first slide working properly, edit the rest of the presentation, attaching the appropriate macros to the buttons. On the last slide, assign the correct answer to the "RightLast" macro so that quiz-takers stay on the last slide.

Remember the "End" button you created on this final slide? Right-click on that button and choose Action Settings. In the Action Settings dialog box, choose the "Hyperlink to" option and choose End Show from the drop-down list. Click OK. Quiz-takers can use this button when they're finished answering all the questions.

Once you have assigned macros to all of the action buttons, save the PowerPoint file.


STEP FOUR
The final setup

Finally, to prevent the quiz-takers from clicking through without answering all the questions, choose SLIDE SHOW » SET UP SHOW. In the Set Up Show dialog box choose the "Browsed at a kiosk (full screen)" option under the "Show type" area. Click OK. With this setting, the only way someone can get out of the presentation is to use the ESCAPE key.



Now, go into Slide Show mode and try your quiz, making sure all wrong answers and right answers use the proper macro. That wasn't so difficult, was it?

Being able to set up a VBA quiz opens up many other presentation possibilities. If you're interested in pursuing the use of macros in PowerPoint, I highly recommend the "Making PowerPoint Interactive" area of the State of Tasmania (Australia) Department of Education's Web site at www.education.tas.gov.au/itproject/ppt_vba. The explanations are clear and simple, and you'll be surprised what you can accomplish in a short time. For advanced options, try David Marcovitz' site at www.loyola.edu/education/powerfulpowerpoint. It has lots of quiz examples you can use by simply substituting questions and answers. You can also buy Marcovitz' book from the site, Powerful PowerPoint for Educators: Using Visual Basic for Application to Make PowerPoint Interactive.

Read more: http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/powerpoint_tip_create_quiz_with_vba.html#ixzz0rYQoWe5w