Presentation slides
What I use
I use LaTeX or a pen to make slides. I’ve heard good things about MagicPoint (which can include TeX maths), which is mentioned amongst many other packages in the review I mention in my LaTeX notes.
Powerpoint users
I haven’t used any of the following. But I imagine they might be useful:
- TeX4PPT — looks good if you have Powerpoint 2002.
- EmbeddedTex — embed LaTeX as an OLE object. This should work with any Windows application. Possibly useful if you’re unfortunate enough to have to write something technical using Word. Doesn’t do the pretty vector and transparency stuff that TeX4PPT has.
- TexPoint — another Powerpoint add in.
Important: I’ve seen lots of things go wrong when people have a Powerpoint presentation on someone else’s computer. Often embedded objects don’t work properly or there are font problems. Unless the presentation has (genuinely useful) animations, making a .pdf of the presentation and showing that is probably a safer bet.
Showing slides
I show PDF slides (I rarely need to embed content that requires anything fancier). Several PDF viewers including Adobe Reader will display fullscreen (press Ctrl-l in acroread). When possible I use impressive (formerly keyjnote). It provides fast transitions and pressing tab gives a contact-sheet style preview for rapidly finding slides in response to questions. I turn off the distracting animated transitions between slides. I have two additional files in my ~/bin directory. The present script sets options I like, and the other file (which present uses) adds a feature allowing me to jump to slides by number.
If you want to do fullscreen postscript instead of pdf, I’ve found pspresent to be a neat and tiny utility, which compiled and worked first time for me.