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There has been a large amount of discussion on the PowerPoint newsgroup lately about the anti-aliasing problems with PowerPoint 2002 animated text on some backgrounds. The following is an editorial, take it or leave it as you will.

Anti-Alias Problems? Where?

A regular question on the newsgroup is "How do I make my text look clear and crisp" A variant is "My text doesn't look the same on 2002 as it did on 2000. How do I fix it?" Generally, these questions have to do with white text on a dark background. The problems are reported to be worse when some fonts are animated. (Click here for links to the results!)

I have only very rarely seen the problem, and in the cases where I have seen it, the problems were minor enough that they did not bother my audience/participants. I will admit that I tend to run my presentations either on large monitors or via a flat panel display. I don"t tend to use extremely dark backgrounds. I don"t use white text. I animate only when needed. All that being said, I have been sent screenshots and presentations and been told "Don"t you see the problems?" Well, I am here to state that no, I don't.

First off, we as presenters need to keep in mind our audiences. Don"t look at your presentation from 6 inches away, look at it from the distance your audience will be viewing it from. (Generally, this is a minimum of 3-6 feet away, even in a small classroom.)

Next, look at your presentation from the viewpoint of your audience. Put yourself in their place. Are they looking for glitches in fonts? Or are they looking to learn and understand what you have to say? Remember, it is a presentation product, not a graphical design program. The goal of any presentation should be to share information, not just to show off what you can make the tool do.

Third, if you are really having many problems that your audience really can see, then maybe you are using the wrong environment for your information. Do you need to use a totally dark background with white text? Are you sure? Remember that dark backgrounds with white text are very difficult to read for people with some eye problems or for people in most lighting conditions. What if you go to a slightly less dark background and a different (non-white) text color?

Fourth, do you need to use the specific animation that is showing the anti-aliasing? There are many text animation possibilities built-into PowerPoint. If the one you are using is causing you grief, pick another one.

Fifth, is it possible that it is a problem with your machine or your monitor? Don"t blame PowerPoint if your 256 color machine with minimum memory and CPU doesn"t display your presentation as nicely as a brand new, slick as a whistle machine. Personally, I test my presentation on several machines before distribution. If some of them were to show the anti-aliasing problems, I would go back to the drawing board and try items one through four.

(One word on this last point: I have heard that the problem occurs in PPT2002 in cases where it doesn't in PPT2000. If this is the case, why use the specific item in 2002 that causes the problem? Why not adjust to one of the myriad of 2002 animation options that doesn't have the problem?)

Finally, prove to me that there really is a problem. Send me a presentation that you say has the anti-aliasing problems. Don"t just send me screen shots of the problem; I want the actual presentation as well. If you send me something that reproduces the problem in a way that the average audience member in an average environment can see, and if you tell me the business reason why you cannot change the font, background, animation, etc. of the presentation, I will post here on the site a statement that I am wrong and there are situations that this problem exist. However, if you send me these items, and they don"t reproduce here, I reserve the right to hold on to my opinion and let you know that I still have not seen it reproduced.

Click here to send me your screenshots or results!

Updates and Reported Results

Since this discussion began, several of us on the PPT Newsgroup have been working to determine what are the commonalities within the systems that are able to reproduce the results and those that aren't. Offered here are some examples and explanations that you might find useful. These pages are not formated as the rest of this site, to allow ease of linking from other sites. If you wish to link to these sites from your site, feel free. The more details and information we can get, the more likely we are to find the solution.

• First, a page with links to results from Sonia, Lars, Steve, Adam, and myself.
• Lars presentation - Download and use it for screen shots if you want to join the investigation!
• Next, a side by side and row by row comparison of screenshots taken from several computers, all running the same presentation.
• Finally, a write up summarizing what we have found so far. Thanks to frequent poster B for his permission to post this!