Filed under: Macworld, iLife, Features
TUAW First Look: Keynote '09
Call me a curmudgeon, but I detest slide presentations. Ugh, even typing that gave me the heeby-jeebies. I've sat through too many demos during which some absolute bore read to me as if we were in preschool circle time. Not to mention the blue, marbleized buttons and millions of bullet points. Oh, the bullet points.When Keynote was introduced in January of 2003, my feelings were mixed. On one hand, Apple is a stylish company that makes thoughtful, easy to use software. On the other hand, this was presentation software. How good could it be? The answer is "pretty darn good," and even better now with the latest version of Keynote.
When you first launch the demo version of iWork, you're greeted with an invitation to try or buy the software. This splash screen is much more attractive in '09 than it was in '08, and that change is indicative of nearly every aspect of Keynote '09: It's very beautiful.
Click below to read more.
Gallery: Keynote 09
Forget function for the time being. This application is gorgeous. For example, check out the toolbar icons at right. The '09 versions (bottom) are less "busy." The thick border around the "Themes" icon is gone. The lines inside the "Masters" icon are thinner. Even the "View" icon uses a brighter blue (#93dbfc vs. #a0d2e9). Also note the addition of "Guides" in '09. Use it to turn guides on and off or enable different options.It gets better. Select "Rehearse Slideshow" from the "Play" menu and you're presented with a display that blows the '08 version out of the water (you'll find comparison screen shots in the gallery above). From there, you can view the current and upcoming slide, presenter notes, the current time and the elapsed time (or time remaining if you've got a target limit). Go even further and customize this screen by selecting "Customize Presenter Display." I love it.
But how does it work? When you first launch Keynote, you're presented with the Theme Chooser, which has borrowed a few design elements from iPhoto. First, you can scrub over a theme's icon to see all of the templates in that theme, similar to scrubbing over an iPhoto event. A new slider lets you resize the theme icons, and the whole thing features that beautiful grey theme. Also noteworthy is that the Theme Chooser stands alone in Keynote '09. In '08, it hovered above the main editing window.
Actually building a slideshow isn't much different that it was in '08. The new transitions are nice, especially the text effects, but the mechanics of assembling a slide are very similar to last year's version.
The new iWork.com feature is pretty neat. Once a project is complete, you can click the "iWork" icon in the toolbar to have a version uploaded to iWork.com. You'll be prompted to send an email requesting someone else to review your work.
The web-based version of your project looks exactly like the real thing, and can receive notes and comments from any user invited to participate. I can see this becoming a great collaboration tool for remote teams, but I doubt I'll use it personally.
Now for my hesitations. Keynote has a lot of sweet eye candy, and the temptation to overdo it with nifty transitions is terrible. There's a real "because I can" mentality that takes over, like a cartoon devil on your shoulder. "Just one more bounce transition," he says. "Ooh, and that text sparkle. Did you try the water droplet yet? What about Cube? Duuuude."
I've seen Keynote presentations where the content was overshadowed by the flips and tricks that accompanied every new bit of information. That's really the fault of the presenter, though, not the software. I think.
My advice is this. If you're the type who builds lots of these things, you'll enjoy using Keynote. It's fun to put presentations together when the tools are this pleasant, and the integration with iPhoto and iTunes via the Media Browser is wonderfully convenient. Those who enjoyed Keynote '08 will absolutely love '09. You can download the 30 day free trial here, or buy the package for $79US (unfortunately, there's no special upgrade pricing). iWork '09 requires Mac OS X v10.4.11 or Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later.
Just go easy on the flashy bits, OK? I'm begging you.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Michael Carnell said 7:34AM on 1-08-2009
Gotta admit that I have the same exact feeling towards presentation software. PowerPoint just makes me shudder. But, I kinda like the new Keynote. It just seems easy and elegant for some reason.
And the thing that really got me to try it out? Being able to use my iPhone as a remote control for Keynote with preview. Now that is downright cool. I can see some offices buying an iPod Touch just to be able to use it as a remote.
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jon said 2:29PM on 1-10-2009
You could just use an apple remote... heh, a bit cheaper perhaps? ;p
ET said 7:44AM on 1-08-2009
Unfortunately, Apple still hasn't fixed the Quicktime export option (and they've removed the .swf export option which didn't work that great in '08). Unreal.
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Mike P said 9:14AM on 1-08-2009
They've removed SWF export? Now what option is there to share a slide deck with narration that will work for Windows folks who go into seizures whenever presented with a QT file. What Flash export alternative do we have to Camtasia?
sheldonkw said 8:35AM on 1-08-2009
I'm always confused at the "unfortunately, there's no special upgrade pricing" remarks on Apple's iApps.
Microsoft's MSRP for Office Home is $149.95 for less impressive applications with no upgrade pricing for the Home version. So $79 is already quite the deal. And, $99 for a 5-license family pack is a steal.
Still, I think iWork should be included on every Mac sold - then like Mac OSX and iLIfe, all purchases of iWork would be essentially an upgrade.
This would also slash Microsoft's claim of 77% Office share on the Mac. Of course, Apple may have a deal with Microsoft regarding the bundling of iWorks based on previous Mac Office agreements.
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reglogge said 8:58AM on 1-08-2009
can you confirm whether iWork finally stores its files not as a package anymore as did the last versions? This "feature" made files from Pages, Numbers and Keynote impossible to store under a version control system such as Subversion.
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jsipp said 10:58AM on 1-08-2009
I just loaded & saved a presentation created in Keynote '08, which converts it to the new '09 format.
It now appears to be a file instead of a bundle directory. ;)
Hyperplasia said 9:38AM on 1-08-2009
Can you save in a powerpoint comparable file?
If not, this software has zero real world use.
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gozer said 10:37AM on 1-08-2009
you're right! taking my laptop with me and plugging in to give a presentation is about as far from real world use as possible! smart move apple!
jsipp said 10:52AM on 1-08-2009
Yes, new keynote can "save a copy as a PowerPoint presentation." No idea how well it works.
Regardless, even w/out said feature, there's plenty of real-world use cases. Most simply, giving a presentation to a group when distributing the actual presentation source isn't required. Hopefully you can see how common a situation this is.
Stephen Lang said 12:20PM on 1-08-2009
You could already save as a Powerpoint presentation in the last KeyNote.
It worked pretty well for me. I don't do complex slides, I don't do a lot of builds, I don't do transition sounds, etc. I like to keep presentations simple as possible, so YMMV. But my presentations transferred very well to PowerPoint. I did however always go through the converted presentations slide by slide, as occasionally I would find bullet points where there were none before, little stuff like that.
It was still worth it to me, as I far prefer using KeyNote to PowerPoint.
mcutler said 9:55AM on 1-08-2009
My team cranks out repeatable, client-facing work in Keynote every day and the not-all-that-sexy, as-yet-undiscussed new features Keynote '09 read like a wish list for shops like us. In particular:
* Defined Styles for Current Master: allows you to apply complex default formatting for virtually every element, like tables, charts, and drawing elements. This capability alone will save us 10 hours of production time per week.
* Connectors: while not quite as flexible as we require, these are a big step in the right direction for simplifying complex technical diagrams.
* Complex gradients: finally! Plus gradients can now be radial or linear.
* Reduce File Size: compresses resized images, appears to work reliably, and saves a ton of space.
* iWork.com: already well-covered, but this will be a big help as we regularly invest time in group reviews of our client-deliverables. Tough say, but I'm betting we can pick up 5 hours here.
* Dynamic linking with Numbers documents: Hooray! Another monster time saver for us. This combined with the improved default styles should help us save another 10 hours per week. Starting to notice a trend here?
We'll need to do update a handful our templates and tweak our processes a bit, but a conservative estimate has this upgrade saving us 25 hours per week in production and review cycles. Anyone want do an ROI analysis on this investment? :)
So while Keynote '09 unsurprisingly adds some nice eye-candy (the Magic Move transition is really useful though), it looks like the iWork team has made a concerted effort to improve efficiency for work groups like ours. These are relatively complex features -- both technically and from a UI perspective -- that a 'casual' user probably doesn't need, and hence might not get much exposure in the blogosphere. But if you have distributed data and design teams that need to crank out high-quality presentations, I recommend spending some quality time getting to know iWork '09.
Thanks!
Matt
ps. If you're interested in a taste of what we're up, check out http://blog.visiblemeasures.com.
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alex said 8:07PM on 1-09-2009
I can't wait to not get a taste of what you're up to!
k530 said 7:49PM on 1-10-2009
Very true. The one thing, that I am still missing is: a layer palette like in Photoshop. As soon as you animate several images within one slide, it gets messy.
Steven said 10:16AM on 1-08-2009
@Hyperplasia, yes you can export into 'ppt' when using Keynote, but you'll lose lots of the cool stuff that Keynote can do, but PowerPoint cannot, such as the great visual effects.
I often use Keynote for classes, and the effects get 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' of amazement from the kids, which keeps their attention nicely!
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Aaron said 10:46AM on 1-08-2009
I teach with Keynote as well. I regularly get comments from students that my slides are the best in the college. It has more to do with Keynote than with me.
Patriks7 said 5:09PM on 1-08-2009
I gotta agree.. I do my presentations in Keynote as well and it is a million times better than Powerpoint for my usage. Last time I even managed to convince the teacher to give me a couple points extra because everyone in class was like "wow that was the most awesome presentation ever!" :p
I haven't looked much into iWork.com yet, but I hope there is an option to play an actual presentation through that, so that I won't have to bring all the cables and stuff for my presentations (My school has a shitload of cash, yet we are still on XP.. *sigh*)
Mark said 10:35AM on 1-08-2009
Remember that the tool is only as good as the person who knows how to use it. I love Keynote and its effects, ease of use, etc., but if you don't know how to design and deliver an effective presentation and pack your Keynote full of bulleted text and just read off the slides, then you're no better off than PowerPoint.
Use pictures, less text. Don't expect people to read handouts/text on screen AND listen to your blabbing at the same time. Have a big enough screen so that everyone in the room can actually see. Etc. Etc.
I will say that Keynote does save a presentation from the PowerPoint pitfall of the Cheesy Effect. Seriously, what was the rationale at Microsoft for all of those awful sound effects and animations?
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PK said 5:07PM on 1-08-2009
Hear hear, Mark! I totally agree, and it's good to see someone else espousing smart presentations. Personally, I read "Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story" a few years ago and it totally changed my presentation style and way of public speaking. Soon after reading the book I put together an IT security briefing for our practice and received numerous compliments on it afterwards from the audience members, none of whom were IT folks. Combining what I learned in the book with Keynote will hopefully help me put together even better briefings.
If anyone's interested in the book, you can buy it via Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/Presenting-Win-Telling-Your-Story/dp/0131875108/. Everyone I know who's read it has raved about it later.
oraculo666 said 12:16PM on 1-08-2009
Sometimes I really wish I was back in college so I had a real use for presentation software. But Keynote presentations were the first ones I've seen that encouraged people to come up after the presentation to ask how were they done.
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