Presentation Tools: Keynote vs. PowerPoint
Rachel ArandillaWhen we need to make a presentation, we often think about using Microsoft Powerpoint. Whether it’s presentations for school, work, home or party, Microsoft Powerpoint seems to be the only choice. But Powerpoint’s got a whole lot of competition: Google Presentation, Impress, Symphony, and its strongest rival, Keynote.
Some of you may have heard of Keynote, the Apple version equivalent of Powerpoint. Loyal Mac users have raved about it. It’s not as popular as Powerpoint, but has received rave reviews from many critics and designers. Which is better when it comes to performance–Microsoft’s Powerpoint or Apple’s Keynote? Let’s take it one aspect at a time.
1. Theme Designs
First of all, theme designs dictate the whole look of the presentation. The theme will set the tone for the whole presentation; whether it’s modern contemporary, old school traditional, minimalistic elegance or psychedelic pop art.
The basic theme designs offered by Keynote are without competition–genius in design and simply gorgeous with 44 standard themes. They are minimalist and cool, so Keynote won the contest both graphically and functionally. Of course, there are several free Powerpoint and Keynote templates for download online, so you won’t run out of choices when it comes to presentation templates.
Keynote Theme Designs
Powerpoint Theme Designs
Making a presentation with Keynote allows you to stand out–you’re going the extra mile, so you’re more professional and more memorable. Everyone else is content using Powerpoint for their presentations, but do you really want to be just like everyone else? A Keynote presentation is sure to impress your boss, employees and clients. Powerpoint is the norm, so your presentation can be forgettable.
2. Transition Effects
Both Powerpoint and Keynote have interesting transition effects. Dissolve, wipes, stripes and 3-D are just some of the transition effects from Powerpoint. Keynote has a lot more options, with interesting effects like Sparkle, Shimmer, Twist and Anagram. If you want a more professional transition, you can use Magic Move. Nothing is more annoying that seeing too many cheesy effects–just get to the point already. Keynote’s Magic Move is a sleek and smooth transition from one slide to another.
Sparkle Transition Effect from Keynote
Dissolve Transition Effect from Powerpoint
We won’t delve deeper with this because while these add dramatic effect to your presentation, we know it’s often not necessary and it’s the content that counts. Let us skip to the next aspect.
3. User Friendliness
Powerpoint is undoubtedly stable and reliable. And, more people are morefamiliar with it. So does it mean that Powerpoint is more user-friendly than Keynote? Maybe because it is familiar; but if you have been using Mac programs all your life, creating a presentation on Powerpoint can be hard–the interface is busy, too many features and buttons, it can be very easy to get lost.
For a beginner, Keynote tends to be more user-friendly than Powerpoint. Users will be able to create a more polished and professional presentation with Keynote than with the Microsoft program. It is versatile, smooth and accessible for any skill level.
4. Graphics
When it comes to graphic quality and typography, Keynote is still superior. It just retains the elegance and minimalist design that is characteristically Apple.
Graphs from Keynote
Graphics by Powerpoint
A unique and extra helpful feature of Keynote is that it supports alpha transparency. You can pull an image and get rid of the background, making it look as if the image is actually part of the presentation.
Powerpoint is great for simple animation. Animation in Keynote presentations is just amazing. You have the ability to move the object, zoom in and back out, move around the map, etc. There is a wide range of choices and aspects that you can customize such as the speed of movement, position, size and opacity. You can build paths using straight lines and Bezier curves. However for stronger animation effects you need a separate program like Flash to simulate more complicated actions.
5. Multimedia Friendliness
With all that’s being said, I’d like to say that Powerpoint is built for functional means, but Keynote is the more powerful application when it comes to multimedia friendliness. While Powerpoint is able to insert media like photos, videos and sounds, it is not as smooth as Keynote. Powerpoint was generally designed to support text-based presentations, so it is not able to support multimedia-heavy presentation as beautifully and as polished as Keynote. Powerpoint needs to use an external application in order to support Flash and video.
Keynote is more media based, allowing a smooth inclusion of all kinds of media. If you want to include a video or audio clip, you can place it on the slide directly, integrating it smoothly into the presentation.
6. Transfer to other Devices
One of the few banes that I can find in Keynote is that it cannot be played on Windows, while Powerpoint can work on Mac. However, you can do so by easy conversion of Keynote to Powerpoint. This can be conveniently done by using the Keynote’s ‘Export’ feature. It can also be converted to Quicktime slideshows.
One of the best features is the Keynote iPad application. This has been so popular that it has even more downloads than Angry Birds. That way, you can carry your mobile presentation all the time. When the need arises, you can whip out your iPad and you’re ready to impress your client, boss or co-worker with your Keynote presentation anytime. anywhere. Remote control application for the iPad and iPhone, so that while presenting you can go about the room away from your laptop, and select the next slide via your iPod or iPhone.
Photo by Krigh
Keynote also allows easy conversion of their presentations to podcasts. It is available for PDF, image, etc. You can send it online, very useful for submitting presentations far away, or when you cannot be present.
Conclusion
Of course both programs have their own good and bad points. In this review, however, we have found more good points in Apple’s effort than in Microsoft’s program.
In a nutshell, here are the pros and cons of Keynote and Powerpoint:
Keynote Pros:
- Alpha transparency support
- User friendliness and handy tool and format bar
- Media-based; easy incorporation of media–sound, video, images, Flash etc.
- Very easy to use
- Easy conversion to Powerpoint presentation and Quicktime slideshow
- Creates professional and sleek presentations; beautiful themes, smooth transitions and fun effects
- Easy integration to podcasts, iPad, iPhone, etc.
Keynote Cons:
- Keynote program cannot be run on Microsoft, but Powerpoint is available through Microsoft Office for Mac
- Unlike Powerpoint, it cannot display the timeline for animations
- Cannot support Visual Basic
- Can add pages for additional notes
Powerpoint Pros:
- Created for text-based presentations so it handles text formatting quite well
- Incorporates graphs, images, animations
- Compatible with both PC and Mac
Powerpoint Cons:
- Very busy interface
- Doesn’t load audio and video as smoothly
- Large file size especially for large presentations or media-heavy presentations
- One word: BORING. Powerpoint is overused by both students and professionals–there’s nothing new here.
In other words, Powerpoint is popular but Keynote is interesting. Powerpoint is democratic, but Keynote is enigmatic. The brainchild of Apple is ultimately king.
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Artzy67
Posted 34 days ago 22Actually, Keynote presentations are playable on PC, but you have to convert the presentation to QuickTime first. I did exactly that, about 6-7 years ago. It played beautifully on a client’s PC laptop running Vista. I forget now how I did it exactly… all I can say is you really have to do your homework. But the rewards are great, because PP can’t do anything near what Keynote can re transistions.
PP is a useless piece of crap compared to Keynote. Way, way too complicated. I learned Keynote mostly in the first day… typical Apple simplicity, elegance, and functionality.
Google something like ‘convert Keynote to run on Windows’
Dainis Graveris
Posted 33 days ago 27Haha, have you seen how much problems are in big seminars, with those different presentation file formats? Sounds like simple issue, you should be ready for, but always see people running in problems!
+1 about Keynote, for me these same experience with Apple software.
Marv
Posted 52 days ago 21It doesn’t matter which program you use. Whether it’s Powerpoint or Keynote it’s all about what you put on the canvas plus what the message you want/need to send/give.
Also it doesn’t make sense saying that Powerpoint is “Boring” because it’s overused. They both are “Boring” because both do the “Same” thing and that is being a “Tool” for presenters for their keynote’s. (which is the new common word for giving a presentation and not based on usage of application)
You could say; What is the difference between a designer and a monkey using photoshop?
Or; What is the simularity between a child that has crayons and an average person that creates a Powerpoint or Keynote presentation?
Too bad it wasnt reviewed objectively, could have been a good article.
D
Posted 34 days ago 24+1 The author is really pushing Kenote, but I’m not convinced there was anything greater than power points capabilities about it.
Dainis Graveris
Posted 33 days ago 25I am not convinced about that as well, D! But this post was just about comparing those two giants in presentation tool market. I bet there are new little companies doing better job in some points for sure!
Kevin Thomas
Posted 92 days ago 20Great, I had been going through Power Point tutorials on a Mac and could not get the Slide Show to play smaller than full screen. I searched and found that Keynote has this feature, then I found your post. Tomorrow I am going to buy Keynote and save myself a lot of problems I am sure. I always try to avoid using Microsoft products when possible, their functionality tends to be too convoluted. Thanks, Kevin
John
Posted 131 days ago 16Wow, this is about the most Mac-biased review I have ever seen. The author obviously has not used the current version of PowerPoint (or is ignoring half the new features, such as motion path animation) and selectively chose the worst examples to use for her examples. In addition, basing your choice on built in themes is ridiculous, no matter how many choices there are, they all stink and have been done to death by a million other lazy presenters.
Bill Gates
Posted 105 days ago 19Damn right
Artzy67
Posted 34 days ago 23That’s right re themes.. they are built for amateurs. Any pro worth his salt is going to design his own. Same for web site design… there’s tons of templates out there, but not one I would use.
Dainis Graveris
Posted 33 days ago 26that’s exactly right! I started this own website with customized template 4 years ago! And the same is about presentations – depends from the needs!
James
Posted 163 days ago 15I need to send my keynote presentation to a conference organizer who will then make a copy for the syllabus. It is unlikely that he has a MAC with keynote. Do i just export it as a powerpoint or a pdf?
indotoonster
Posted 191 days ago 13Oh dear, what was the whole point of this review? The reviewer clearly has a subjective bias towards Keynote, and just tried to justify it through several points. There is nothing in the review which really states why Keynote is better than PowerPoint in any way other than the author’s subjective take on it.
james
Posted 212 days ago 10awful review, reads as a ‘powerpoint is clunky, keynote is just awesome’ without any real substance behind anything. That wooden graph looks awful btw, too hard to differentiate them from each other.
Ali
Posted 264 days ago 8It was great and thanks a lot for this review. Just agree with Alexander :)
Luis
Posted 404 days ago 7I completely disagree.
What about the charts linked with Excel. Much more robust than between Keynote and Numbers.
What about the VBA module in PowerPoint? (yes, in Mac too). That really lets you customise and automate into a different level.
I find the review to be pro-apple. Basically, it doesn’t tell about any PowerPoint features, just to flag how cool Keynote is.
I am both, MAC and PC user.
Keynote is easy to use, simple and effective for simple presentations.
PowerPoint allows you to create complex, linked and automated reports to a point that Keynote can’t even dream of.
That is my humble opinion,
L
Elliott
Posted 209 days ago 12Who’s going to read your linked and automated reports (which makes it easier for the presenter) when their all fast asleep due to the lack of visually engaging themes?
Joshua Issac
Posted 185 days ago 14The board of directors
John
Posted 131 days ago 17Sounds like someone is too lazy to build their own theme that are “visually engaging” and just relying in whatever Steve’s minions tell you looks cool.
Stephan
Posted 405 days ago 5Comparing these products based on the default settings (themes etc) is a very, very bad comparison.
You should compare what CAN be done with the software. It is unfair to say that power point sucks because everyone uses the same theme, It is ultimately the user’s choice. The user decides how forgettable the presentation will be.
On the point of “Easy integration to podcasts, iPad, iPhone, etc.”, PowerPoint offers you way more than iPhone integration. “Send Using Email”, “Save to Web” (uses free 15GB online storage from Microsoft), “Broadcast Slide Show” (broad cast to remote viewers through there browsers), “Publish Slides” (collaboration and change tracking), “Save to SharePoint”, “Create PDF/XPS Document”, “Create a Video”, “Package Presentation for CD”, “Create Handouts”. These are the options available under the Save & Send tab. How is iPod/iPhone remotely better than this?
So if comparing the POTENTIAL of the software, PowerPoint dominates Keynote. There are countless features allowing you to customize your presentation. You have full control and are amble make something truly unique. PowerPoint is definitely a better piece of software.
But laziness always prevails..
Dainis Graveris
Posted 405 days ago 6Stephan, you make very valid points indeed! Well, I agree and disagree with you – if you talk about default themes, of course you can find somewhere very advanced ones and use them in Power Point. I think the point was – yes, people are lazy and they want “fish” product – something that’s easy to use and they have everything in place right from the beginning.
PowerPoint is much more powerful in terms what it can do, but I consider KeyNote just better solution if you need quick and quality results. And of course you can use whatever software you like – whatever works for you.
Don’t want to argue really, thanks for feedback!
MichaelT
Posted 209 days ago 11Stephen, you can also save Keynote presentations as videos, pdfs, flash files, web pages, or PowerPoint presentations. With iCloud, the presentation is automatically backed up online, and you can modify it on your iPod or iPad while on the go.
Both applications are very flexible as far as customizing the presentations.
John
Posted 131 days ago 18You can do all of that Michael in PowerPoint also, with more free storage from Live.com and use on a WP7 phone too. The point is that Keynote is a good “turn-key” solution, but PowerPoint offers much more to the power user.
Jakob
Posted 417 days ago 4I dare say that I consider myself close to being what you might call a Keynote Samurai and from my experience it is the user friendliness and the multimedia integration where Keynote shines. Powerpoint 2010 is ahead in terms of raw design power – but one caveat people often forget: Powerpoint on the Mac is severely castrated. Many advanced functions are missing.
So when creating advanced designs on the mac (using layers, elaborate masks and scalable vector images) you are confined to using external authoring tools either way. Bearing this in mind, I’d choose Keynote over Powerpoint any day. Also you have no problem using the PDFs you export from Keynote in Powerpoint, if you need that pixel perfect convertability.
In terms of what you can do with just Keynote as an authoring tool, well, I just today created this video and only added sound in Imovie: http://vimeo.com/21757910
George Birbilis
Posted 418 days ago 3Note that you can display QuickTime and QuickTime VR media (including MPEG-4 video) inside PowerPoint slides using an ActiveX control, like QTVRControlX (http://zoomicon.com/qt4all). Same goes for VRML (e.g. ParallelGraphics Cortona VRML player used to work fine in PowerPoint) etc. Same goes for Adobe’s Flash Player ActiveX control, can host that too in PowerPoint. The process is similar to te one shown for QTVRControlX at http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/ppqtvr.html
Gerben
Posted 419 days ago 2Seems rather biased. Sure, powerpoint’s themes suck, but if everybody used Keynote, we’d be saying that they suck. You can make your own themes in Powerpoint too.
Also Powerpoint has this great feature for making charts.
It’s kinda like comparing apples (no pun intended) to pears..
Sharmine
Posted 237 days ago 9I agree. This seems too biased. The way it’s written makes it seem like Keynote is all about greatness and Powerpoint has nothing that’s comparable to Keynote.
Alexander
Posted 421 days ago 1Thank you for this review. I think all Apple products are amazing. This company is our future in IT technology.