The Problem
If you use PowerPoint for presentations, I'm sure you've run into one HUGE frustration when it comes to placing images into Powerpoint.

Powerpoint (at least on the Mac) defaults to a screen resolution of 720X540. If this number looks familiar to you, that because Digital Video uses this same resolution, except that the pixels on video aren't square, so you get 720X480, but it looks the same on your tv. In the Page setup you'll see the page is set to 10" wide by 7.5" Divide by 72 and you'll see where I got 720X540. The problem with this is that almost no one uses PowerPoint at this resolution, so PP has to scale your presentation either up or down.

Doing the Math
When I first create a PowerPoint show, I go right to the Page Setup window and change the settings. I'll use 1024X768 for this example. Here's how it works:

1. Make sure any images you want to place in your PP show are set to a resolution of 72 dpi. If you don't, this trick won't work properly.
2. Open Page Setup
3. Divide the width of your screen by 72. In this example your width is 1024. You get 14.22. Enter this into the Page Setup Width box.
4. Divide the height of your screen by 72. In this example your height 768. You get 10.66. Enter this into the Page Setup Height box.
5. Click Okay.
6. PowerPoint may warn you about printing margins, DON'T let it change your settings.
7. You now have a PP file that is perfectly tuned for a show on a 1024X768 screen. Images dropped into it will be the correct size as long as you made them 72 dpi in your photo editing program. You won't have to scale them after you drop them into PowerPoint.

Why should you do this?
If you don't resize for your target screen NOTHING you drop into PP will be the right scale. Want a full size background? Try making one that is 1024X768, and drop it into a new PP file that HASN'T been adjusted. You'll see that the image comes in too big and you are forced to resize it. That's fine if it's too big, but what if it comes in too small? How do you know just how large to make it so it shows at the size you want it to be? If you make a small image TOO big, it looks bad on the screen.

Resolution Chart
Here is a chart of resolutions so that you don't have to do the math!

Resolution Width Height 640X480 8.88" 6.66" 800X600 11.11" 8.33" 1024X768 14.22" 10.66" 1152X870 16" 12.08"

One more thing about Images...
Many people drop images into PowerPoint that are WAY too large. Don't think of your screen the same way you think about your printer. You don't need a 300 DPI 22meg image to display on a computer or video screen. When I create images for Powerpoint, I start with my screen resolution (again, we'll use 1024X768) at 72 dpi. Your largest image should never be bigger than 1024X768 at 72dpi. If you have something that is, say 5400 pixles wide at 300 dpi, all it's going to do is suck up memory and make your presentations slower. Try to think in pixels. Regardless of the fact that we are using 72dpi, you need to realize that if your computer screen is 1024 wide, you don't need anything larger than 1024 pixels wide. That's the total number of pixels the screen can display-period. It's a lot different than a printer, you don't need the highest resolution to get a good image. In some cases, a larger image may actually look worse because PP has to scale the image down. Fine lines get crushed when they are scaled down. Using this tecnique will make your PP files a lot smaller, and they'll run faster. Now, I have heard that in some cases, scaling a large image down in PP can give you a sharper image, but in all of my experience, the difference wasn't noticable, and the memory savings was worth it.

Now, once you get all this mastered, make sure you check out the Presentation Software Chart for some great software that will get you OFF PowerPoint and into a better control of your shows!