Today many presentation applications allow you to convert a presentation to HTML. This is a fabulous feature, and used well, this option enables you to reach a wider audience in a unique way. However, the Internet is a different — and much less controlled — environment than a live presentation. Following a few simple rules will help ensure your multimedia presentation that looks so fabulous projected in a conference room looks just as great presented via the web.

Avoid Using ActiveX Controls

PowerPoint allows you to use many ActiveX controls when creating multimedia presentations. In fact, the controls available in the Control Toolbox are ActiveX controls. These controls are similar to those you find in such programming languages as Visual Basic. When you add an ActiveX control to a presentation, you can make the control "active" by writing macros that customize the behavior of the control. For example, you can use ActiveX controls to create an online survey in which respondents enter text in text boxes or select check boxes. These types of ActiveX controls can be wonderful tools in presentations. However, not all browsers support ActiveX. Consider your audience and their preferred/installed browsers.

Convert graphic images (like bitmaps) to GIF or JPEG

• GIF: Graphics Interchange Format
  This is a bitmapped graphics file format. GIF supports color and various resolutions. It also includes data compression — so it is a good choice for scanned photographs.



• JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group
  JPEG relies on lossy compression (the type used for video compression) for color images. This compression can reduce files to about 5% of their original size, but of course, some detail is lost in the compression.



• Optimize all graphics for 72 DPI

Design for the lowest common denominator — for the likely audience.

Of course, the LCD might be 640x480 resolution (for the widest possible audience), but it could also be 1024x768 for a more sophisticated audience. In either case, know your audience and make sure your slides are laid out well for them.

Stick to 216 colors for best results.