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I am looking for an easy to use light presentation software.

The main features I need are :

  • Light (on dependencies and resource consumption)
  • Easy to use
  • Align & Distribute information on slide
  • Use pictures
  • Offline editor

The extra features I would like are:

  • On click animations
  • .ppt Import/export
  • Use templates/themes for easily unified presentation

Sliderocket looks like a presentation tool matching my needs. Unfortunately it is an online presentation editor and I am looking for an offline one.

I don't mind the software being proprietary and for-pay

danjjl
  • 6,573

10 Answers10

8

I've asked the same question on the Unix & Linux stack exchange hoping I would get answers from a different community and so far the answers are quite different.

Here is a summary of the answers on the other stack :

LyX is a semi-wysiwyg document editor that uses LaTeX as its document format. LyX produces PDF output which you then present in the PDF viewer of your choice (..). (Giles)

  • org-mode : generate presentations from text files using org markup with . Check out this link for a complete review. ( Riccardo Murri)
Community
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danjjl
  • 6,573
6

JessyInk is an interesting solution, which works ontop of Inkscape and Firefox. It lacks PowerPoint import, templates and animation (unless Master Slide and Slide Transitions fulfil your needs).

Picture and Align&Distribute are fine via Inkscape features.

It's lightweight in the sense that it only uses software that you already have.

You can learn how to use JessyInk fairly quickly during preparing your first presentation. However, the GUI is not dead-simple 'easy'. You have to read the documentation, will take 15 minutes.

Jan
  • 3,658
5

you can play any PDF presentation via impressive (its in the repos): http://impressive.sourceforge.net/

There is a lot of software capable of exporting to pdf. Including (but not limited to)

  • (Open|Libre)office
  • Inkscape
  • scibus
  • Latex (use the beamer package as suggested above)
  • Ease (see above)

For my presentations I use prezi (http://prezi.com/jipjiqvj6dsc/about-perspective/). It is an online tool like sliderocket (so its not exactly what you have searched for), but i find the zooming-approach very appealing. Iirc you can also download a standalone player for your presentations.

dwio
  • 51
4

From what I've heard, Ease is lightweight and simple. The link includes a PPA for installation. I'm unsure if it meets all of the features you want though.

Thomas Boxley
  • 2,946
4

Prezi is a nice presentation tool. It doesn't work the same as usual presentation programs in that there is one big 'slide' on which you move and zoom around, instead of flipping pages. I like it a lot.

  • It is online, but they do have an offline editor and presenter (offline editor is a paid service).
  • It is easy to use, I think
  • Has pictures, movies, etc.

As Prezi works in a different way, it doesn't offer PowerPoint import, slide animations, or distribute tools (although it does align very well).

Lode
  • 393
2

html5slides is a presentation framework that works in your (local) browser. You can see a demo from Google here.

I've personally never worked with it, but it looks nice and I've seen good presentations from others and them having a good experience with it. Here's a blog post from Handcraft stating their use.

Lode
  • 393
1

I just have discovered Sozi.
It's probably lacking Powerpoint import. It has both the power and the complexity of Inkscape. In my opinion the solution - scalable graphics and a web browser - could definitely lead into the right direction.

Update: I've read about jessyink and both projects seem to be similar in a way.

f4lco
  • 477
1

One option is Google Docs Presentation. It fulfils all the requirements that you have mentioned except "offline editor". The presentations can be viewed offline but can not be edited.

binW
  • 13,194
0

sent is quite certainly the simplest and most lightweight presentation tool you can find.

It runs on X11 systems only (Unix, Linux, OSX), so it does NOT run on Windows without an X11 emulation.

feature "matrix":

  • LIGHT (on dependencies and resource consumption)
  • Easy to use
  • Align & Distribute information on slide
  • Use pictures
  • Offline editor
  • (extra) On click animations
  • (extra) .ppt Import/export
  • (extra) Use templates/themes for easily unified presentation
hoijui
  • 153
0

You should already have this installed with Ubuntu - LibreOffice Impress (recall that LibreOffice is the Ubuntu variant on OpenOffice.) It can import (and save as, I believe) .ppt, and has many, if not all, of the same features.

CodeMouse92
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