PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual

Chapter 3. Formatting and Aligning Your Text

Content may be king, but presentation is queen. You’re going to spend a lot of time choosing just the right text to add to your slides, so don’t blow all that hard work by ignoring the way your text looks. If your text is hard to read or conveys a message counter to the point you’re trying to make—if you choose whimsical, candy-colored fonts for a presentation introducing your company’s expanded line of funeral services, for example—you’re going to confuse (or even lose) your audience.

This chapter shows you how to format your text effectively. You’ll find out how to choose fonts, colors, and special effects (such as underlining, shadowing, bordering, and beveling) that support and strengthen your message (Figure 3-1), and how to avoid the effects that detract from it (Figure 3-2).

Figure 3-1. Effectively formatted text is easy to read and it subliminally reinforces the message you’re trying to drive home. Here, a solid, “respectable” font, a sober blue-and-tan-and-white color scheme, and spare, businesslike layout all contribute to the seriousness of the message.

Figure 3-2. Anyone who’s spent time in corporate America has suffered through at least one presentation like this. While it’s true that your message (and your audience) should dictate ...