What is best format for presentations to clients done on an iPad?

[shiphen]

Hello

What is the best format for doing a presentation to clients on an iPad?

Background
I need to do some presentations to my clients using an iPad. I will then need to email the presentation to them. It is not realistic to expect them to install any special plugins. It could be helpful if it could be printed onto paper too.

So I am thinking of exporting to:
- PDF
- Powerpoint

Any thoughts/suggestions?

J

[mwenz]

Hmm. Likely a web-based Xara presentation.

Many users of the iPad will be using Preview for PDFs, which is not a great application for PDFs. It can work out OK as long as the PDF is RGB, little to no transparency used, etc.

PowerPoint requires them to either have Office or a PP viewer installed. Then again, I cannot recall Preview handling a PP presentation. Maybe it does but you should determine that.

On the other hand, I would think that a web-based Xara presentation type of site would display in Safari just fine. This too should be checked out as it requires decent handling of the javascript involved.

Mike

[shiphen]

Hmm. Likely a web-based Xara presentation.

Many users of the iPad will be using Preview for PDFs, which is not a great application for PDFs. It can work out OK as long as the PDF is RGB, little to no transparency used, etc.

PowerPoint requires them to either have Office or a PP viewer installed. Then again, I cannot recall Preview handling a PP presentation. Maybe it does but you should determine that.

On the other hand, I would think that a web-based Xara presentation type of site would display in Safari just fine. This too should be checked out as it requires decent handling of the javascript involved.

Mike

Is there a video of how do do a web-based Xara presentation? (Sorry I'm rushing out the door...)
I don't want to create an actual website, you understand.

[mwenz]

I dunno if there is a video or not. Likely there is at least Gary P's First Look. I do not do web stuff at all in Xara products. However, I suspect there is a stock template (I'm not running XDP to look for myself right now) that is a presentation.

While it is technically a web site and not a single file kind of thing (like PP or PDF), it should be / can be a visually rich experience for the end person viewing it.

Other than that, there isn't a whole lot. In all cases, you cannot control what the end person will use to view a file or presentation. The best you can do in the case of PDFs is inform them they may need to use another application to view the PDF properly (Adobe Reader versus Preview). Or that they need Office in order to view a presentation.

But every device has a web browser. Most all, even mobile browser, can view a web-based presentation. These presentations can also be handed off written to USB, CDs, etc.

It's a pick your poison sort of thing. But do so in conjunction with the client if needed.

[siran]

Yes there are templates. To check how it will look like:
Go to the presentations section of designs gallery
Open a themes folder and double click the presentation
Click preview whole presentation
Best select a real browser for testing
If you like the result export it to HTML and you can start the presentation by double clicking the index.htm file.

[shiphen]

OK I've had a quick look at this.

1. I see that the Page Size is 955px x 635px. This seems quite low. So am I correct in thinking that on higher res screens this will look poor
2. What happens if/when my client wants to print a copy of the material (onto say A4 paper)?
3. When I got it to Publish to MAGIX Online World
a) It was pretty slow to upload
b) When I followed the link, all I get to see is "A new website is under construction here"
Yes even after I have logged in on http://www.magix-online.com.

All quite frustrating/irritating. I *knew* that there would be a learning curve!

[mwenz]

Dunno about the web hosting thing. I don't use freebies.

As regards the page size, what matters are the images. Use hi-res images. Use vector. Use the Retina option (192 dpi) and the images should look great on an iPad. they also should print just fine.

With a conventional website, I have usually used a special CSS file for printing to format the screen properly regardless of the person's platform or browser. Don't think that is possible in fixed-layout web site. If the person picks Landscape for the printing when their print dialog pops up, it should print out reasonably well. I would think so, anyway.