PowerPoint Tips: Slide Background choices

Adding color to the background of your slides makes them more interesting. Simple is better so step back and review your presentation and think twice before using “wild colors” that detract from your slides.. Doing this in earlier versions of PP (2000-2003) is a little different from the newer PP 2007-2010, so we've given you notes for both...

To add color to your slide backgrounds:

If you have PP 2000 OR 2003:

• Select "Format" - "Background".
• A "Background" dialog box appears and you can left click on the pull-down menu to choose from one of a few selected colors, "More Colors", or "Fill Effects"

More Colors

• If you choose "More Colors" it opens a dialog box with several tabs which shows you different standard colors or you can choose “custom colors” which shows you the color prism and the colors RGB values if you are trying to match a specific shade of a color
• When you are done, click "OK" to close the dialog box.

Fill Effects – This option opens another dialog box with several tabs for different fill types:

• Gradient – One – two and preset multicolor gradient fills and there are different fill type, colors, transparency, shading styles, and variants.
• Texture – There are a variety of textures, or click "Other Texture" to import a texture graphic of your own
• Pattern – There are different pre-made patterns and you can adjust the pattern foreground and background colors
• Picture – This allows you to select your own photo for your presentation background
• When you are done, click "OK" to close the dialog box.

Apply your Changes:

When you are happy with your changes, decide if you want the background graphic to appear on printed slides (doing so increases print time and requires more toner/ink), but if not – you can check "Omit background graphics from master".

Then click "Apply" to apply the changes to the current slide only, or "Apply to All" to apply the changes to all slides.

If you have PP 2007 or 2010:
As with earlier versions, backgrounds can be applied to individual slides or to all the slides in a presentation - choices in 2007 & 2010 are located on the Design Ribbon. To access the Design Ribbon:

• Click on the Design Tab and you will see the Design ribbon options & features
• Hover your mouse over any of the design themes shown
• The design is reflected immediately on your slide
• Click the design theme when you find one that suits your needs

To change the Background on an individual slide:

• Click on the background button on the right end of the Design ribbon
• This opens the Format Background dialog box
• If you want to apply your choice to all the slides in your presentation, once you make your choice, be sure to choose the “Apply to All” button at the bottom of the dialog box

Like earlier versions - you now have choices of colors and effects, but the newer versions have more choices in easy – such as the Gradient Fill now has multiple choices to play with:

• Linear - the gradient colors flow in lines which can be from preset angles or a precise angle on the slide
• Radial - colors flow in a circular fashion from your choice of five different directions
• Rectangular - colors flow in a rectangular fashion from your choice of five different directions
• Path - colors flow from the center out to form a rectangle
• Shade from title - colors flow from the title out to form a rectangle

Be careful using Background Textures: they can be very busy and make text difficult to read, which can detract from your message. If you do use a textured background, choose a subtle design and be sure to choose a text color that will stand out from the background.

A great feature in the new PowerPoint 2007 & 2010 is DESIGN & COLOR THEMES

• This changes not only the backgrounds but totally coordinate the colors, font styles and sizes used for a total look… These are similar to the design templates which were available in earlier versions of Power Point.

What I like, is that when you are choosing a design theme in the new PP 2007 & 2010, you will immediately see the effect on your slides, so you can decide before making your decision final…