University of Nebraska - Lincoln Communications and Information Technology

Taking Your PowerPoint Slideshow to the Web

PowerPoint offers the option to save presentations in HTML format for publication on the Web. This option converts the contents of each of the slides and the accompanying notes in your presentation into individual graphic and HTML files which can be displayed by Web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Opera, or others. By converting your presentation to a Web format, you make the presentation available to those who have older versions of PowerPoint than you have and to those who don't have PowerPoint on their computers.

You must also have a Web server location where you can put all of the files created by this process to make the presentation accessible to others over the Internet.

There are a number of ways to make your PowerPoint Show available over the Internet. The PowerPoint 97 conversion process creates simple HTML pages while PowerPoint 2000 and 2002 create Web pages that use frames. Either choice may exclude individuals who use older or different browsers. Keep your audience, objectives, and resources in mind as you experiment with these options. Another method is to save the individual slide screens in a browser-compatible graphic format (.gif or .jpg) and then use those images on Web pages you create yourself.

NOTE: View the examples below in multiple browsers.
    Take a look at the examples using both Netscape and Internet Explorer. Also try the pages in older versions of these browsers or any other browser your viewers may be using. By doing this you will be able to see what will or won't work the best for your audience.
    All links below to Example Web slide shows will open in a new window.


PowerPoint 97

Saving your slides out of PowerPoint 97 to HTML and image files works best for viewing the pages on a variety of browser types and versions. Newer versions of PowerPoint create framed-based files that don't work as well on the different browsers and on older versions. If you have a machine that still has PowerPoint 97, you may want to keep this available to make conversions to HTML files.

Instructions:

Land Grant Training Alliance PowerPoint 97 Lesson 5

Example:

PowerPoint 97 file saved as HTML

PowerPoint 2000 & 2002

PowerPoint 2000 & 2002 save the pages using frames. Not all browsers support frames so there is some incompatibility here. Netscape doesn’t work too well with most outputs of PPT2000 or 2002 to HTML. Through trial and error, we have figured out the choices you have and give an example of how the site will look from that particular choice.

The default Save as Web page option in PPT 2000 creates a Web version somewhere between the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later" browser support setting and the "Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later" setting. The default setting in PPT 2002 equals the "Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later" browser support setting.

If you want to change the settings for your Web slide show, then you must click the Publish button in the "Save as" dialog box to open the "Publish as Web Page" dialog box. In this dialog box you can change the browser support selection to increase the usability of your site, change the screen size selection under the "Web Options" section, and more.

Instructions:

Land Grant Training Alliance PowerPoint 2000 Lesson 5 (NOTE: The File > Save as Web feature in PPT 2002 works the same as in 2000.)

Examples:

PowerPoint 2000 with Default settings
    This creates a version that can usually be viewed with Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher or other browsers. Generally, animations, sounds and movies don't work in this method of Web delivery. You also can't adjust the borders of the frames in either browser.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later setting
    If you use this option, your Web presentation can include animation and other features. In Internet Explorer, this option allows you to move the borders of the frames so you can make the image larger as well as expand it to an entire screen show using the projector button. Areas outside the image area are black.
    When viewed by Netscape Navigator, other browsers, or earlier versions of Internet Explorer, you will most likely get an error message that says "This presentation contains content that your browser may not be able to show properly. This presentation was optimized for more recent versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you would like to proceed anyway, click here." If you proceed, you may get the frame setup but no images are visible nor do any navigation buttons work.

Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later setting
    This creates a version that can be viewed with Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher. Generally, animations, sounds and movies don't work in this method of Web delivery. You also can't adjust the borders of the frames in either browser.

All browsers listed above (creates larger files) setting
    This creates a version that can be viewed with Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher. Generally animations, sounds and movies don' t work in this method of Web delivery.
    In Internet Explorer, this option allows you to move the borders of the frames so you can make the image larger as well as expand it to an entire screen show using the projector button. Areas outside the image area are black. In Netscape, these options are unavailable.

Create Your Own HTML Pages (2000 & 2002)

PPT 97 doesn't have this option

Another method of creating a slide show to view on the Web is to create your own HTML pages and insert JPEG images of the PowerPoint slides. This technique requires more work than the other methods but allows you to design your pages as you like them and create a Web presentation that most browsers can view. It requires that you know about HTML coding, Web page design, and how to resize images using a photo-editing program to get the proper resolution that you will need (see the article Understanding Digital Images, CIT Information newsletter, for more information on resolution).

Instructions:

1. In PowerPoint, select File - Save as... from the menu bar. This opens the Save As dialog box.
2. Under FILE TYPE, select either TIFF or JPEG.
3. Select the folder to save your files in. It is best to create a folder specifically for your image files.
4. Select Save.
5. PowerPoint will ask if you want to save only the current slide or all slides. If you save the entire presentation, each slide will be made into a separate file. The files will be named slide1, slide2, slide3, etc.
6. Using a photo-editing program, resize these images to fit your Web pages.
7. In your Web authoring program, create a Web page to use as a template for your slide show. Then create an HTML page for each slide in your show. Insert the resized JPEG images into the appropriate HTML page. Make sure each page has a link to the next page and back to the previous page.

Example:

PowerPoint JPEG images on HTML pages created by Lana Johnson

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 Last updated May 27, 2004