Creating a Complete PowerPoint Template
Part II: Filling Out Your Template
This article reprinted with permission from All 'Bout Computers.
(Part I can be seen here.)
Create the Title Master
Now that you have your slide master the way you want it, it is time to leverage that work and create your master slide for your title slides. You could have created this master at any point previous to this. However, by creating it after you create your slide master, you will have less work to do.
To insert a title master, select "New Title Master" from the "Insert" menu. You will see a slide that looks much the same as your slide master, but with different placeholders. Chances are good that you will find that there is little further you need to customize at this point. However, you should check the following items:
- Check that the graphics still look proportional to the slide. Because there is considerably less text on a title slide, you will likely find that you want the graphics enlarged or changed to catch the readers notice.
- Check that the fonts on your slide look the way you want them. They should be large, easy to read, and yet still stand out from the rest of your presentation.
- Decide whether the background needs a tweak to stand out from the main slides. You may want to change the color
or the graphic.
- Decide whether you really want those footer text areas to show on the title slides. Decide if they are distracting from the impact of your title slide.
Customize your color schemes
For each template, there are defined one or more color schemes. These schemes define the default colors for the following elements:
- Background
- Text and Line
- Shadows
- Title Text
- Fills
- Accent
- Accent and Hyperlink
- Accent and Followed Hyperlink
To get to the defined color schemes, right click and select "Slide Color Scheme". This will bring up a two-tabbed window. The first tab shows the color schemes that have already been defined for this template. The second tab allows you to create and use custom color schemes. You can either use one that is there, or define your own. If you change color schemes, be sure you select to apply the changes to all slides, so that your title and slide masters stay consistent.
But wait - This is a brand new template! How can it have color schemes already defined? Remember that we based this template on the Blank template. The Blank template has several color schemes already defined.
One more note - If you use a picture or a texture for your background, changing the background color in your scheme will not change the color of your slides. They will continue to have the graphic as a background.
Format other masters
Now that you have your slides set up, it is time to customize the notes and handout masters. For each of these there are only a few things to customize, but they can be important.
Handout Masters
The handout masters are set up to show your handouts as they will be printed. Notice that your background is white, instead of the background you picked for your slides. You can change it, but notice that it is not changed automatically. Notice also that the header and footer choices are different.
Let's start with the background. You can change the background easily. Think about the impact before you do so. If you are going to print handouts, do you want an overly active background? So, while it is tempting to change the background of your handouts, be careful when you do so.
The other change available here is the choice of content for the headers and footers. This information can be customized by going to "Header and Footer" under the "View" menu. When selected, this menu option brings up the second tab of the "Header and Footer" window. This window allows you to make similar choices to the ones you made for your slides. Here, however, it is generally a good idea to put the header and footer information on each page for the convenience
of your audience members.
If you want to test how your handouts will look, insert a couple of test slides and do a test print. It is the only way to see the changes on your handout master.
Notes Master
The notes master allows you to determine how your speaker notes will look both in the "Notes View" and when printed through PowerPoint. Here, you can again change the header and footer information and the background colors. You do this in just the same manner as was described above for the handout master. Next, you will want to decide if you wish to change the font and the text size for the notes you enter. To change this element, select the sample text in the lower of the two big
boxes on the master and change the formatting as desired. The third thing you may want to change is the size of the PowerPoint slide attached to this note page. To do this, click on the slide on the upper half of the page and adjust the size with the handles on the corners and sides.
Almost done: Save it!
You will want to save your hard work for sharing and reusing. Select the save as option and change the type to a template. When you switch from presentation to template, the list of files showing in the browse window should change to the location where the rest of your templates are installed.
Before you share this template, use it to create a test presentation. Starting from scratch, start a new presentation and apply your template. Check to see that text slides look the way you want them to look. Insert a graphic or other style of slide and make sure that all of that works. Run the presentation in slide show mode and see that it automates the way you want it too.
If you found things you need to change, open the template file and make your changes there. Once you have saved your changes, re-apply the template and test it once more.
Distribute and reuse as desired!
Now that you have created a masterpiece of a template, you can share your presentation by sending the template file to others who need it. However, be warned that a template file is not small. The smallest ones I have created are about 40 Kb in size. (You can create smaller ones if you use no graphics or effects.) The more animations and graphics you add, the larger your file will become. You may wish to compress your template with a tool such as WinZip before sending it out to anyone else.
