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Re: Re: Re: Using Mathematica notebooks in presentations?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg97786] Re: [mg97739] Re: Re: Using Mathematica notebooks in presentations?
  • From: peter <plindsay.0 at gmail.com>
  • Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:20:14 -0500 (EST)
  • References: <200903200739.CAA17222@smc.vnet.net>

Most presentations I see are done using the beamer class in LaTeX which then
produces a PDF that is sent to a data-projector. Graphics are created in
whatever mathematics software is favoured, maybe Mathematica, and then
included within the tex document. Even movies are quite easily inserted in
the PDF using a particular stylesheet in LaTeX. Powerpoint is not especially
popular. Images can be "polished" a bit using the superb GraphicConverter
package. The final product, the PDF, can of course later be downloaded and
viewed by people who don't like Microsoft-specific software.
Peter

2009/3/20 Alexei Boulbitch <Alexei.Boulbitch at iee.lu>

> Hi, everyone,
>
> This discussion has already been held, and positions of two major group are
> clear: those preferring specifically
> Mathematica presentations and those preferring generic PowerPoint-type
> programs. I am following this discussion with
> a practical interest of a one doing such presentations and having to be
> alert.
>
> However, at present this new discussion is unfortunately kept on the level
> of personal tests. These tests (as much as
> I can see from the present discussion) are very much based on personal
> Mathematica-programming skills. It is not quite
> unexpected. Those with greater experience in such a programming see no
> problems to write a peace of code to make a
> demonstration for the presentation. But in this case this demonstration
> will be much better suited for the presentation aim.
> In contrast, those with a considerably smaller experience realize this
> also, but will have to spend too much time, and
> presentation will look much less professional. This dominates the decision
> and I find that the both groups are right.
>
> I think that there are also some problematic things that at present in the
> both styles of presentations. I am going to
> note now those I met. I hope with these in focus the discussion may help
> the Wolfram crew in future.
> The drawbacks of PowerPoint-oriented presentations are well described by
> math-presentations followers. I agree 100%,
> and for this reason I will not comment on this any more. Let me instead
> formulate few narrow places I met doing Mathematica
> presentations.
>
> First let me recall (if somebody have left this out) the Mathematica is
> intended for everybody, not only for programmers
> and not even only for those making presentations concerning Mathematica
> itself. There are also other communities: physicists,
> biologists etc. A problem with people from those communities is that they
> sometimes want in their presentations to include
> items created outside of Mathematica. Sometimes it works, say with simple
> images, but sometimes it fails. I personally
> needed to include avi movies created by simulations made outside of
> Mathematica. I failed, and the Wolfram
> HelpDesk explained me that not any avi file may be imported into
> Mathematica. This is a serious limitation. One can of
> coarse, go around. For example, from Mathematica one may call an external
> program to run a movie say, by a hyperlink. But
> this spends too much time before your application starts. It decreases a
> temp of the presentation. If you need to run about
> 5 such external movies per presentation, which is not too rear... One may
> alternatively, have open all windows with external
> programs that he intends to run, but then he may have too much windows open
> and lost among them. And this is simply inelegant.
> I mean that for people who really need such movies run, it is a real
> problem with Mathematica, while PowerPoint does all
> this easily.
>
> Second important thing is template. Templates of the PowerPoint are
> primitive, standard, often ugly, but they are there. We
> have no Mathematica templates for very basic things regularly needed during
> presentations. For example, one often needs to
> show formulas and to highlight those their parts that are discussed in a
> moment. PowerPoint has an instrument to insert
> formulas, Mathematica has its own also. PowerPoint has no template to
> accentuate their parts, but using the PP templates
> this is done in few seconds. In contrast, it took us a long discussion and
> many attempts and a good peace of programming at
> this forum about a year ago, to develop good functions to accentuate
> desired parts of expressions. It is now good though
> not much better than I achieved in PowerPoint in the past. Ok, once your
> have such functions, you do it easily in future.
> However, to make a push to Mathematica-based presentations, (I believe) it
> would be desirable to have such and some other
> basic templates already at hand to simplify the work for those who are not
> that readily programming.
>
> Third, if your presentation is not about Mathematica, but you have a lot of
> code in its interactive parts, you typically
> do not want to show this code to the auditory. And besides, you have no
> time to execute the code right before the given
> interactive demonstration is shown. There is of coarse, a way around. You
> may keep the whole code in one notebook, and the
> presentation in another one. This second will then contain the names of
> your functions just to call them. First of all you
> need then to execute all functions both from the first and from the second
> notebooks. You need to write a special function
> that will do this. Ok, once you have such a function... The next problem is
> that you often do not need that the auditory
> sees your functions (or function names) in the SlideShow notebook. Even
> more, you need to exclude any extra visual
> information, since it misleads. You need then to make tricks. Say, you may
> close the cells around interactive presentation,
> rather than around the function. But like this you lose a control. And it
> is a considerable peace of work for you right
> before the presentation. And in this very moment you have typically other
> things to do. You may make the function names to be
> simultaneously titles of the demonstrations. This is better, but then there
> are problems with formatting. However, may I
> dream that future SlideShow templates would have a button that shows/hides
> such code-containing cells, and those that
> execute all functions of the SlideShow? And those switch on/switch off the
> In-Out tags? No, I understand quite well that some
> of you may in a second or so write me a nice function that makes the job. I
> may do it also. I did actually. Nevertheless, I
> firmly believe that having such things built-in will be a benefit.
>
> In general I am much more Mathematica-oriented than PP-oriented talk-giver,
> and I hope that this discussion may be helpful.
>
> Regards, Alexei
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Murray,
>
> I do agree, and I do not want to get started on awful and/or
> sleep-inducing Powerpoint presentations - believe me, I've had far too
> many of those already (and I'm not that old...).
>
> Nevertheless, used wisely it can make handy tool for delivering
> presentations, and perhaps lowering the threshold for the average user
> to access live Mathematica content from Powerpoint could make
> Mathematica more popular (which I would consider a good thing).
>
> Regards,
> Yves
>
>
> Murray Eisenberg schrieb:
> > I'm curious as to what is considered "too basic" in the Mathematica
> > slide show tools.
> >
> > If what is meant is the absence of fades, dissolves, fancy borders and
> > backgrounds, etc. -- GOOD, I'm glad they're not available.  In almost
> > every case I've ever seen, such features are just distracting junk.
> >
> >
> > magma wrote:
> >
> >  > The current slideshow tools  in Mathematica are still too basic to
> > compete
> >  > with the commercial presentation packages
>
>
> --
> Alexei Boulbitch, Dr., habil.
> Senior Scientist
>
> IEE S.A.
> ZAE Weiergewan
> 11, rue Edmond Reuter
> L-5326 Contern
> Luxembourg
>
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>
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-- 
Peter Lindsay


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