powerpoint makes you go blind

Copyright 2006 Abe Singer

Powerpointmakes yougo blind


low contrast

• it gets pretty hard to read when the contrast between foreground and background aren’t great enough


Deceiving high contrast

• but just because it’s high contrast doesn’t always mean it’s readable

• and I don’t care if they’re your favorite colors


fancy backgrounds

• do you really think it’s readable when the background is busy and half the color matches your text?

• And if it’s not one half of the screen that causes the problem, it’s the other half


In case you thought I was kidding

• do those cool background photos really add any emphasis to your point?

• and is it worth the loss of readability?


what’s readable on your screen

• isn’t always so readable at thirty feet• really, try going to the back of the room and see if you can read this.• on a projector silly, not from the laptop. of *course* you can read it from a laptop 24 inches

away• also, having lots of text on the screen distracts people• because when you put text on the screen, your audience will try and read all of it• and do you really want people reading your slides when they should be listening to what you

say?• After all, you have a great speaking voice and presentation style, you don’t want your slides to

distract people and not listen to you• And when you puts lots of text on the screen, people don’t really read all of it anyways• Remember, nobody expects the Spanish inquisition• whose chief weapon is surprise, surprise and fear,• whose two chief weapons are surprise, fear, and a ruthless efficiency• whose three weapons are surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency, and a fanatic devotion to the

church• whose four...• wait, I’ll come back in at the next slide


My hovercraft is full of eels

• text effectscan be really distracting

or just plain annoying

instead of doing this

you could be working on the substance of your talk

because that’s the important bit


Projectors are different than computer screens

• Light text on a dark background is more readable

• especially if the room isn’t completely dark


Projectors are different than computer screens

• Because of the projected light you get a lot more glare with black text on a white background

• See what I mean?


Keep it simple

• less is more• see the next few slides


• titles are superfluous


so are bullets


emphasis


talk


don’t read


test your slides


on a projector


with the lights on


The End

powerpoint makes you go blind

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