Presentations
Developer: Apple
Commercial: $79 (as part of iWork)
Version: 3.0.2
Release Date: 2006-09-28
Last Updated: 2007-02-06
Pros: Great interface design; Produces beautiful presentations with ease; 3D-Effects (charts, transitions, etc.); iLive integration; Calculations in tables; Exports to Powerpoint.
Cons: Lacking some audio functionality; Big (1GB).
Description
If you are in need for a replacement of PowerPoint, look no further. Keynote does what Powerpoint does, but it does it in style. Not only does the user interface appeal to anyone with a preference for the Macintosh way how to do things, but the actual outcome also provides a refreshing aberration from the greyish Windows-styled PowerPoint templates.
Keynote's interface is not even so much different to
PowerPoint's (making it easy for users to migrate from one
to the other); the main window is where you design the
layout of the slides and on the left you have a panel
outlining the presentation. You can easily add bullet
points, text, shapes, tables (with calculating cells),
charts and comments (optionally visible on the computer but
not the public screen during presentation mode). You can
choose from a variety of beautifully-designed themes, which
can be edited according to your needs, and a number of
equally useful master layouts. But while in Powerpoint you
have to look for these essential features in a
non-descriptive toolbar with dwarf-sized, random-looking
icons, you have the same functionality in form of a few
clearly visible and understandable icons in Keynote. But
well, nothing new here I guess - it always comes down to
comparing Apples with Pears.
But looking good is one thing; if it can produce
something looking good is the crucial question with any
presentation software. To make it short - presentations
made with Keynote kick a**. As usual with Apple software
you are always having your audio, image and movie libraries
at your fingertips, making the integration of media
seamless. The fonts, shapes and themes look as you would
expect it from Apple. The tables (did I mention that tables
have a formula editor) and charts come in subtle 2D or
amazing 3D. If you have watched the documentary An
Inconvenient Truth, in which Al Gore gives a stunning
presentation about the effects of global warming, then you
have seen what Keynote is capable of.
In all fairness towards PowerPoint one has to
acknowledge that a few features are either lacking or
require refinement in Keynote. Browsing through the
relevant user forums, these include problems with exporting
presentations with transitions to SWF (exporting to
PowerPoint is no problem) and the inability to start audio
with a specific slide and end it a specific number of
slides later. But these are minor issues which are more
than outweighed by Keynote's strengths. The only other
details to mention are that Keynote takes up a good chunk
of your hard drive (1.1GB) and memory but is easy on the
wallet at $79 including Pages as part of Apple's iWork
package.
Other Reviews
Macworld
CNET
Useful Links
Wikipedia Entry