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Why Not Slideware?

Slideware is any program designed to create and view digital slideshows. Much like Kleenex and facial tissue, Microsoft PowerPoint has become synonymous with these programs. However, many programs can be used to create digital slideshows, including OpenOffice.org Impress (free), Lotus Freelance Graphics, and Macromedia Director and Flash.

I prefer to create in a web editor (e.g., Dreamweaver), present in a web browser (e.g., Firefox), and use CSS to format. I don't like slideware, because:

1. Content is usually locked into a proprietary file format. For example, you need PowerPoint to edit a PowerPoint slideshow. And you need PowerPoint, or at least PowerPoint Viewer, to view PowerPoint slideshows. Slideshows created in newer versions of the full program are incompatible with older versions.
2. It can be expensive: PowerPoint is $229 on 3/17/05 from Microsoft, $148 on 3/17/05 for complete Office through my university's Computer Store.
3. Educational technologists spent/spend too much capital (financial, political, cultural) urging instructors to use slideware, when other technologies do more to empower instructors and students (e.g., web publishing).
4. Slideware doesn't necessarily change the nature of instruction: the instructor talks, the students listen.
5. It preserves an archaic metaphor: posterboard on an easel.
6. It's not a web browser, so hyperlinks launch a separate program in a separate window.
7. While PowerPoint shows can be exported to the web, they are not fully compatible with non-Windows operating systems and non-Explorer web browsers.
8. Users are forced to think and present in slide-sized chunks of information. See "PowerPoint Is Evil" (Tufte, 2003).
9. Users create bad slideshows: too much text on a slide, too small or crammed in, irrelevant images, unappealing or unreadable color schemes, etc. Most web browsers gives their users the ability to zoom in or out, turn off images, and other solutions when the medium is interfering with the message.

If you must use slideware, please heed these tips.

See also: "PowerPoint Is Not Evil" (Rocklin, n.d.)