SharePoint Calendars and Internet Explorer Visual Formatting Issue
TLC adopted Office 365 before it was publicly available and have only good things to say about its use in a small business environment. Recently something has gone awry with the SharePoint calendars – something we rely on daily.
Up until 2 weeks ago, they looked like the left example, but suddenly the visual formatting changed to the ugly and hard to use right example.
But this formatting issue is only seen when using Internet Explorer. If logged in with Firefox, Chrome or any other browser, nothing changed, all looks good. So ironically, only the Microsoft web browser seems to be rendering the Microsoft SharePoint calendars useless!
After some research and testing, here is the fix we have implemented on every computer here:
– Open Internet Explorer
– Click the TOOLS icon in the upper right
– Select COMPATABILITY VIEW SETTINGS
– In the ADD THIS WEBSITE field, enter SHAREPOINT.com
– Click ADD and CLOSE
– Now SharePoint calendars should once again display as expected
– Troy @ TLC
Backstage in New Orleans
Spent a week in New Orleans with a new (end) client, coordinating presentations and AV needs. Super show, great crew, wonderful client and, of course, lots of good food! Had Josh from our office on showsite too.
– Troy @ TLC
Duarte Releases SlideDocs ‘Book’
If you have used PowerPoint to create a print document that was never intended to be projected as a slide show, fear not, you are not alone. TLC Creative Services has been creating lots of projects over the past few years that we internally refer to as “PowerPoint Documents.” Nancy Duarte has release a new “book” all about using PowerPoint for non-slide show documents called “SlideDocs.”
The downloaded book is a giant example of how PowerPoint is used for document design, because it is a PowerPoint file.
The core message of SlideDocs, which I agree with, is there are a range of documents. On the left are formal print design documents. On the right are slide show presentations. In the middle are print documents that are designed in PowerPoint.
I recommend everyone, especially clients, read SlideDocs if nothing else for the overview of graphic design and layout principles in the middle section. Get more info and download the free SlideDocs book and templates here.
– Troy @ TLC
Using Multiple Masters To Organize
Multiple masters are usually used in relation to different templates in a single file. At TLC, we use multiple master slides for design organization as much as different templates.
This is from a recent project that was all one template, but with 4 distinct color options. The client requested a simple structure, specifically not 4 duplicate sets of master slides. So we organized the Master Slides into 3 categories:
Top row = section divider slides in each color
Middle row = all of the content slide layouts in each color
Bottom row = title slides in each color
Just another way of providing solutions for clients using the features of PowerPoint’s master slides.
– Troy @ TLC
Creating Quote Mark Graphics in PowerPoint 2013
PowerPoint 2010 introduced the very great “Merge Shape” tools (see this post for details). With this toolset, editable vector shapes can be can be created directly in PowerPoint – something I refer to as “Illustrator 2.0.” With PowerPoint 2013, it includes the ability to convert text to vector, which is what we will use to create the stylized quote mark graphics for a complete PowerPoint workflow.
1. Add text in PowerPoint.
2. Add PPT shape, and send to back behind text.
3. Select text and shape. On FORMAT ribbon >> MERGE SHAPES >> INTERSECT
4. The text is no longer editable, as it is now shapes. Right click and select EDIT POINTS just like any shape in PPT.
5. Stylize with no fill, light grey outline, drop shadow effect described in this post.
– Troy @ TLC
Creating Quote Mark Graphics in Adobe Illustrator for PowerPoint
The previous post showed our visually stylized quote marks on slides with color backgrounds. For us, the process for creating the quote mark graphics is with Adobe Illustrator.
1. First, find a great font for the quote marks. Designer Amber selected Spirax Regular, which you can download here.
2. Select the text and create outlines, which converts from editable text to vector images.
3. The spacing for the quotes was a bit to far apart. Now that they are graphic elements they are easy to select and move a bit closer together.
4. Now we want to export the graphics from Adobe Illustrator in a PowerPoint friendly vector format. Go to FILE >> EXPORT
5. Select ENHANCED METAFILE >> EXPORT
Now with the quote graphics on our computer, we are ready to add them to any slide. See the previous post (here) for details on how to format the graphics in Powerpoint.
– Troy @ TLC
Dynamic Quotes with Background Fill!
Here is one of our favorite visual tricks at TLC Creative Services for making slides with a key quote stand out. Background fill!
I am doing this as a 3-post series: this one shows the end result (see above) and PowerPoint formatting, the next post will detail our development process in Adobe Illustrator, and the third will show a PowerPoint only development process for the graphics. Thanks to Amber, a TLC staff designer, for creating the sample images for this series.
Using the quote mark .emf graphics, they are not very impressive without some styling applied and a special option for their fill color. Insert the .emf graphic (download here).
1. Right click on a quote mark and select FORMAT SHAPE.
2. Go to FILL and select SLIDE BACKGROUND FILL
3. The Quote marks will disappear on the slide because they are set to be the same background color as the slide.
4. Add a shadow effect, bevel, outline, glow or other styling effects to your quote marks. For ours, we have added a subtle drop shadow.
5. Still not super dynamic, but the quote marks are looking more styled.
6. But when placed on a colorful image background – dynamic! Move the quote mark graphics to any part of the slide and their fill updates.
Note: The slide background needs to be set with the Background Fill, not an image on the slide for this effect to work.
– Troy @ TLC