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Ask HN: What alternatives to Powerpoint/Prezi are there?
I'm doing a lot of teaching and I've been using PowerPoint. I recently saw some people use Prezi and liked what they were able to do to map concepts visually to make them easier to understand. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of the features that made Prezi powerful have been neutered in Prezi Next and isn't able to do a lot of what I'm looking for (no path editing, no infinite canvas, etc). What alternatives are there?
Some requirements for me:
* WYSIWIG editor
* Tutorials
* Infinite canvas/Path editing
- LarryMade2 9y agoHow about Sozi? its an extension for inkscape - http://sozi.baierouge.fr/ http://sozi.baierouge.fr/
- seltzered_ 9y agoThis is pretty fascinating, the about page sums it up http://sozi.baierouge.fr/pages/10-about.html http://sozi.baierouge.fr/pages/10-about.html . Guessing it may also be possible to do some of the heavy lifting in another vector drawing app (e.g. sketch) then finish the presentation aspects in Inkscape/Sozi
- jldugger 9y agoCame to recommend this. It's more or less WSYWIG, and while you'll want to learn Inkscape first, it has its own set of tutorials for Sozi specifics.
- Numberwang 9y agoreveal.js wins every time.
- zeger 9y agoYep was going to say Reveal.js too. Earlier today someone posted an integration of Jupyter Notebooks with Reveal.js which looks pretty cool. https://github.com/datitran/jupyter2slides https://github.com/datitran/jupyter2slides
- pksadiq 9y agoThere is an Emacs org-reveal[0] package that shall help you use it like WYSIWYG. [0] https://github.com/yjwen/org-reveal/ https://github.com/yjwen/org-reveal/
- EngineerBetter 9y ago+1 for reveal.js. I use it for several professional training courses that we deliver, as well as conference presentations. Given that it's HTML/Markdown, it's great to use in a team with version control. I know folks that have extended it to allow SVG animations.
- CJefferson 9y agoslides.com is a front-end for reveal.js, made by the authors of reveal. Nowadays I just write reveal.js directly, but it was nice to have a GUI when I was first getting started
- sitkack 9y agoThe thing that always got me with reveal was nested slides and whether I was supposed to nav with the arrow keys or not. Turns out if you ONLY hit the space bar it will visit the slides in-order. I guess. But I think the OP was looking for a zoomable surface, which reveal doesn't offer. http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/ http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/
- geraldbauer 9y agoFYI: Slide Show (S9) also has a reveal.js template/theme pack so you can write your talks / slides in plain text with markdown formatting conventions. See https://github.com/slideshow-templates/slideshow-reveal.js https://github.com/slideshow-templates/slideshow-reveal.js
- tootie 9y agoCan it do boxes and arrows stuff?
- sridvijay 9y agoI remember seeing this on product hunt a while back and it looks awesome: https://ludus.one/?ref=producthunt https://ludus.one/?ref=producthunt
- dorianvanbever 9y agodid you test it? how is it?
- massaman_yams 9y agoI don't know if this satisfies your infinite canvas requirement, but I've used https://slides.com/ https://slides.com/ quite a bit. Similar to reveal.js. edit: as pointed out elsewhere in the thread, "slides.com is a front-end for reveal.js, made by the authors of reveal."
- djsumdog 9y agoYea it's not as fancy, but I really like reveal.js. I do presentations at Python, Scala and Ruby meetups based on the same project, and I have a reveal.js project set up so I can easily build slides: https://github.com/bigsense/presentations https://github.com/bigsense/presentations
- INTPenis 9y agoI've used slides.com with great success. I love the websocket feature that let's you use your phone as a slide changer. It feels very professional but free.
- rnhmjoj 9y agohttp://impress.github.io/impress.js http://impress.github.io/impress.js
- frantzmiccoli 9y agoIf some people are still using impress I am dropping this small library I made a few years ago. http://frantzmiccoli.github.io/Chillin.js http://frantzmiccoli.github.io/Chillin.js
- aw3c2 9y agoThat is so annoyingly slow that I closed the tab after "completing" the first 2 slides.
- pksadiq 9y agoI have had issues with impress.js when my laptop's resolution was different from the projector's.
- geraldbauer 9y agoFYI: Slide Show (S9) also has a impress.js template/theme pack so you can write your talks / slides in plain text with markdown formatting conventions. See https://github.com/slideshow-templates/slideshow-impress.js https://github.com/slideshow-templates/slideshow-impress.js
- twiss 9y agoThere's Strut, which is WYSIWIG and has path editing: http://strut.io/ http://strut.io/ I'm running a fork with some very minor improvements at https://www.airbornos.com/demo#open=strut https://www.airbornos.com/demo#open=strut. If you make an account there, they're saved in the cloud.
- josephernest 9y agoBigPicture might be what you're looking for: http://bigpicture.bi/demo http://bigpicture.bi/demo * Infinite canvas * Infinite zooming * WYSIWIG * Demo * Opensource: https://github.com/josephernest/bigpicture.js https://github.com/josephernest/bigpicture.js If you zoom on some vegetables here http://bigpicture.bi/Legumes http://bigpicture.bi/Legumes you'll find the recipe :)
- nikofeyn 9y agothat big picture website is hardly usable on an iPad.
- josephernest 9y agoMobile not supported for now. But on the other hand, there's nearly no equivalent tool available nowadays ;)
- lookACamel 9y agoWhat about sketchboard.io?
- redmattred 9y agoOverhead projector + transparencies
- agumonkey 9y agofinger in sand drawing with circle gathering (almost not joking at all)
- potta_coffee 9y agoThis style of communication was super common when I was in the infantry. "Sand Table Terrain Modeling" and "Rock Drills". IMO it's very effective.
- Jaepa 9y agoSpectacle is pretty nice. Supports 3rd party extensions. Supports markdown. Split presenter and presentation views. Themes. https://github.com/FormidableLabs/spectacle https://github.com/FormidableLabs/spectacle
- twovi 9y agoI use Marp, quick and dirty. But it allows for Markdown to PDF presentations.
- JoBrad 9y agoSway is good. Very different than PowerPoint. https://sway.com/ https://sway.com/
- jd3 9y agohttps://godoc.org/golang.org/x/tools/present https://godoc.org/golang.org/x/tools/present
- inamberclad 9y agoNo one has mentioned LibreOffice?
- alekratz 9y agoI'll second LibreOffice. It's much more polished than OpenOffice, and it's quite functional and mature. It has definitely gotten the TLC that OpenOffice so desperately needed about 10 years ago. I'm not sure if it has the infinite canvas that the OP is looking for, but it's definitely nothing to sneeze at.
- jacmoe 9y agoIt's more polished because the (almost) entire team of OpenOffice left and created the LibreOffice project, AFAIK. Same as what happened with MySQL -> MariaDB.
- avhon1 9y agoSpecifically, LibreOffice Impress [0] is the presentation application. The other big open-source office suite is Calligra. Although not as popular as LibreOffice, it is still actively developed. Its presentation application is Stage [1]. [0] https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/impress/ https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/impress/ [1] https://www.calligra.org/stage/ https://www.calligra.org/stage/
- OJFord 9y ago\latex with beamer.
- BeetleB 9y agoOrg Mode + Beamer (a LaTeX package). Although personally, these days I tend to use Reveal (using org-reveal).
- jMyles 9y agoI want to suggest that WYSIWYG is a really bad formula for presentations. For my part, I really like Hovercraft (makes impress.js using RST): https://github.com/regebro/hovercraft https://github.com/regebro/hovercraft If all you are looking for out of WYSIWYG is ease, then I think something like this is just as easy.
- marcolussetti 9y agoIf you're demonstrating any code, I find RISE to be magnificent. It's a plugin for Jupyter Notebooks that lets you present your code via reveal.js Project: https://github.com/damianavila/RISE https://github.com/damianavila/RISE Original demo at PyCon: https://youtu.be/rBS6hmiK-H8 https://youtu.be/rBS6hmiK-H8
- nrjames 9y agoI think you can make presentations with Omnigraffle, which has an infinite canvas.
- kim0 9y agoreveal-md if you like markdown!
- llacb47 9y agoOpen source JSON editor: https://github.com/tantaman/Strut https://github.com/tantaman/Strut
- geraldbauer 9y agoI've put together Slide Show (S9) [1] that lets you use plain text with markdown formatting convetions for putting together your slides / talks. Incl. a starter tutorial / repo. For infinite canvas (prezi-style) you can use the impress.js theme/template pack [2], for example. For wysiwig use your (visual) markdown editor of choice :-) [1] http://slideshow-s9.github.io http://slideshow-s9.github.io [2] https://github.com/slideshow-templates/slideshow-impress.js https://github.com/slideshow-templates/slideshow-impress.js
- hayksaakian 9y agoGoogle slides is pretty good and free, I'm surprised nobody mentioned it already
- asdojasdosadsa 9y agoThe portability and co-working capabilities just can't really be matched easily, as far as i know. It's really a great tool
- enraged_camel 9y agoThe fact that it is cloud-based and therefore requires an Internet connection means it is the opposite of "portable" for me. When I go to client meetings and have to deliver a presentation, I can't assume I will be connected to the Internet. That's why I use PowerPoint.
- driveuser 9y agoThat's why there is offline mode. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375012?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375012?co=GENIE.Pla...
- hayksaakian 9y agoI usually export/download Google Slides as a PDF to avoid any issues during important meetings This avoids any issues with software not loading / messing up (powerpoint) too.
- LoveMortuus 9y agoI really like using Google Slides, and whenever I had a presentation, I would just download in all different formats for PowerPoint, so that I cover the compatibility issues, but I have encountered that the PowerPoint export didn't look the same as the Google Slides one, so I highly recommend check the files before leaving your PC!
- duality 9y agoGoogle Slides (https://slides.google.com https://slides.google.com)
- constexpr 9y agoFigma (https://www.figma.com https://www.figma.com) is probably a perfect fit for your use case. It's an interface design tool but it can also be used for presentations. Benefits: * Free for individual use * Completely cross-platform (browser-based) * Has an infinite canvas * Has advanced path editing * Has a presentation mode for slides (the play button) * Supports simultaneous real-time editing if you need to work with someone else
- lighttower 9y agoLooks really interesting. Thanks for this. How do you make it useful for slides? Each slide is one UI mockup?
- mankash666 9y agoReveal-MD: write in markdown, compile/output a good looking reveal-js HTML presentation. Demo: https://mankash.bitbucket.io https://mankash.bitbucket.io Reveal-MD source: https://github.com/webpro/reveal-md https://github.com/webpro/reveal-md
- orliesaurus 9y agoCan someone care to explain what infinite canvas means
- mcphage 9y agoYour canvas isn't limited to the screen size or any other fixed size, instead you can keep adding things on all four sized forever.
- danieldk 9y agoorg-mode with beamer output. For me there are a couple of large benefits: - You can include LaTeX directly in documents and preview LaTeX inline in Emacs. This is not restricted to LaTeX math, but any kind of LaTeX environment. I often use this for including TikZ figures. - You can include snippets of code in your document, execute them inline and include the results in your presentation. For instance, you can use this to include graphs using gnuplot, R, or matplotlib. Moreover, you can use tables org-mode tables as input to these code fragments. - You can use tags for headers/slides. I often use this to generate two different slide decks: one that I put on the website before the lecture and a second one with solutions for me to use during the lecture. - org-mode is a markup language that is similar to Markdown, so it is generally less work to write than LaTeX. - Like LaTeX and Markdown, you can put everything under version control.
- phalangion 9y agoYou can also use org-mode to create reveal.js slide decks. It gives you the benefit of editing in plain text with a pretty nice looking output.
- xelxebar 9y agoWhoa. That sounds divine. Not trying to start a war here, but is there a way to do this kind of thing in vim? I've heard about evil move and spacemacs but never looked into either all that much.
- danieldk 9y agoI don't think there is currently something as extensive as org-mode in vim. vim can also not render equations/figures inline. evil is a pretty good vi. I have been a vim user for ~two decades. I used Spacemacs as the gateway drug to Emacs, but have since built my own configuration from scratch (I was fed up with the general slowness of Spacemacs).
- seltzered_ 9y agohttps://infinitekind.com/syncspace https://infinitekind.com/syncspace is an infinite canvas app, though I’m not sure how well it works for sharing/teaching usecases
- analog31 9y agoA jupyter to power point converter would be huge. I work in a typical organization where power point is expected, but my results come out of jupyter.
- senko 9y agoCrosses some reqs (tho doesn't have full features object editing), handy if you want interactive presentations https://awwapp.com/ https://awwapp.com/
- cher14 9y agoHope you take a look at https://www.breakdown-notes.com https://www.breakdown-notes.com It has a pretty big map (though not infinite) for you to add shapes and text to, has support for adding and editing paths, plenty of tutorials and you can make slides in the paid version (free 2 week trial). Disclaimer: I made Breakdown Notes
- Ruud-v-A 9y agoWhile it does not solve your use case, others here might find it interesting: I built a domain-specific language for designing slides (https://github.com/ruuda/pris#readme https://github.com/ruuda/pris#readme). It is superficially similar to LaTeX/Beamer/TikZ, but it has first-class graphics that are reusable. More motivation in this blog post: https://ruudvanasseldonk.com/2017/04/27/a-language-for-designing-slides https://ruudvanasseldonk.com/2017/04/27/a-language-for-desig.... It is still basic, but I have used it a few times to do slides nonetheless.
- minimaxir 9y agoKeynote for iCloud (the web-based version of iWork's Keynote) has close-to-feature-parity with the macOS/iOS versions. Additionally, Keynote Live allows you to play a presentation and have viewers join via a URL, where they can view the presentation in sync on any device (macOS/iOS/Web), with feature parity to normal Keynote presentations. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206205 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206205
- Jarwain 9y agoAfter some googling, I found out how one can enable Prezi classic on an account that only has Prezi Next. Make sure you're logged into your Prezi account, then go to this link: https://prezi.com/instant-prezi https://prezi.com/instant-prezi An editor or a 404 page may appear. Either way, Prezi classic is now enabled. You can access your dashboard again on the top right and switch between the two products in a drop down on the left. Source: https://prezibase.com/activate-prezi-classic-account/ https://prezibase.com/activate-prezi-classic-account/
- 1337biz 9y agoI work in Powerpointing and even Prezi is just too obscure for most of our clients. Nobody wants to learn a new tool or download anything just because the new tool has a few silly layout improvements. But if you don't need others to work with it, it probably doesn't really matter.
- aquamo 9y agoEmacs org-mode w/Beamer or reveal.js export.
- Dowwie 9y agojust created an awesome repo for presentation libraries as there doesn't seem to be one yet: https://github.com/Dowwie/awesome-presentation-libs https://github.com/Dowwie/awesome-presentation-libs
- eminetto 9y agoDeckset is awesome. Markdown is easy to write and Deckset can export to PDF. It’s my choice nowadays
- vram22 9y agoAs others have said in this thread, reveal.js is good. I've used it via slides.com where I put an overview presentation about my xtopdf Python toolkit for PDF generation from other formats: http://slides.com/vasudevram/xtopdf http://slides.com/vasudevram/xtopdf S5 by Eric Meyer is good too - web-based, uses HTML, CSS and JavaScript: https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/ https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/ Online S5 intro / demo using S5 itself: https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/s5-intro.html https://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/s5-intro.html Edit: Sorry, missed seeing your requirements for the tool, not sure if S5 has them, but leaving my comment up since I think S5 is interesting and definitely a presentation tool.
- confounded 9y agohttps://slides.com/ https://slides.com/ Is a commercial SaaS GUI for reveal.js: http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/ http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/ I’m a paying customer, and find it useful. Where possible, I create slides using standard open source reveal.js (or often some markdown format that compiles to it) but sometimes I’ll want to do something that’s easier with a GUI, or just run out of time/interest for design-from-the-command-line. It’s easy to export decks to HTML, and the auto-generated code is pretty clean and sane, as these things go. Additionally, the CEO of the company is the maintainer of reveal.js, so buying the product saustains his work in the open source library. You can also write to him with bugs and requests, he’s keen to listen and responsive. Thanks, Hakim!
- sleazebreeze 9y agoI'm a huge fan of reveal.js. Everytime I've used it, people ask what I used to make the slides.
- dahart 9y agoLucidchart has a slides/presentation mode, along with mind maps, a wysiwig editor, tutorials, and an infinite canvas. (Disclaimer, I used to work there, and helped build the presentation mode.)
- andrepd 9y agoIf you're familiar with LaTeX, Beamer is an option for scientific/math slides.
- f_allwein 9y agoTake a look at https://www.mindmeister.com https://www.mindmeister.com - it is mainly for mind maps (and is very good at that), but also has a presentation mode.
- probinso 9y agobeamer, marp
- jasonlotito 9y agoPowerPoint can still replicate a lot of what you are looking for. Look into Morph. Granted, I prefer Keynote and Magic Move for this.
- veli_joza 9y agoIs anyone thinking beyond slides? We need to demand more from our presentational tools. I'd like to have these features: Interactive slide elements like simulations, parametrized graphs, shells for SSH and interpreted languages. Mobile interface served for audience so they can participate in quizzes, voting and interactive experiments. Branching flows of presentation, so you can dive into more details on one branch, or skim through it on other branch (without running through slides franticly). Free style presentation where some presenter zooms in and out of tree representation of our knowledge of the presentation subject. Support for separate presenter's user interface - presenter should be able to easily cue the laughing track, or theatrically raise music volume, or see audience feedback. Both Prezi and reveal.js and some other tools I've seen, add too much design fluff and fail to deliver any fresh approach. PowerPoint is stagnating for a looong while. Which is really the shame, because we could engage our audience so much better with right tools.
- binxbolling 9y agoYou've just described Articulate Storyline and/or Adobe Captivate.
- vfulco 9y agoReveal.js used with R's version of markdown makes for a really nice setup. Fully contained html if you want, online/offline. Lot of support from community and slick features.
- ron07 9y agoIf you want LaTex, then take a look at this tool @ LucidChart LaTex support- https://store.office.com/en-ca/app.aspx?assetid=WA104380118&sourcecorrid=095ef28a-a06c-4e6a-8396-6900a894e26d&searchapppos=5&ui=en-US&rs=en-CA&ad=CA&appredirect=false https://store.office.com/en-ca/app.aspx?assetid=WA104380118&... - Word (free & paid) Lucidchart is an HTML5-based visual collaboration tool that makes drawing diagrams fast and easy. Easily create and insert flowcharts and other diagrams in Office documents. One of the supported “chart types” is LaTex equations. I've only played with it a little and was really impressed. I've been reading about Tableau, have not tried it http://www.clearlyandsimply.com/clearly_and_simply/tableau/ http://www.clearlyandsimply.com/clearly_and_simply/tableau/ How about Sway? It is still very much in development. And the last I heard it has one serious shortcoming. The sway files must stay on the internet,no downloading. (that may have been fixed ...?) Office Sway is a presentation program and is part of the Microsoft Office family of products. Generally released by Microsoft in August 2015, Sway allows users who have a Microsoft account to combine text and media to create a presentable website. Users can pull content locally from the device in use, or from internet sources such as Bing, Facebook, OneDrive, and YouTube. More at "Wikipedia" Take a look at Ellen Finkelsteins site. She does some amazing stuff with PowerPoint http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/pptblog/ http://www.ellenfinkelstein.com/pptblog/ - Ellen Finkelstein is a PowerPoint MVP http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/Hidden_pivots.html http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/Hidden_pivots.html
- ron07 9y agoHave you looked at MS Mix? https://mix.office.com/en-us/Home https://mix.office.com/en-us/Home Since you talk about teaching, are you aware of the MS Education offering? It includes subsites specific for teachers. That would be a good place to ask your question OFFICE 365 EDUCATION / STUDENT ADVANTAGE - LEARN https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education This is home site for ongoing contact/training/features of Office 365 Education for: • School leaders • Educators • Students • Products • Training & Events • Stories • How to Buy https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-educatio... - Home Page / FAQ Check if you can get Microsoft Office for free by trying out your valid school email address at the Office for Students page. https://products.office.com/en-us/academic/office-365-education-plan#ProplusQuestion https://products.office.com/en-us/academic/office-365-educat... – Describes the Education plan and how to get it https://products.office.com/en-us/academic/office-365-education-plan https://products.office.com/en-us/academic/office-365-educat... - Home page
- gjayakrishnan 9y agoTry Zoho Show. https://www.zoho.com/docs/show.html https://www.zoho.com/docs/show.html
- ron07 9y agoSome more ideas: POWER-USER – EURO 200 (FREE TRIAL) https://www.powerusersoftwares.com/ https://www.powerusersoftwares.com/ With dozens of features, Power-user is the most complete add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint, designed to assist you in every step of the process of creating a presentation. With dozens of features, Power-user is the most complete add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint, designed to assist you in every step of the process of creating a presentation.
- vinch 9y agoYou should give a try to Ludus --> https://ludus.one https://ludus.one
- burnerOh2125 9y agoHere's a radical thought: don't use a presentation deck! Hand out a collection of images, printed or via pdf file, give the student a couple of minutes to quickly become familiar with it, then just talk about each of the major figure in the handout. This was my solution to 'powerpoint hell' when sharing results in grad school, I don't know if it really applies to your case (non-expert students), but it may be worth a shot. Hell, its better than reading off slides! Good luck!
- atsaloli 9y agoI just started using GitPitch.com which is backed by reveal.js It integrates seemlessly with GitHub, GitLab, etc. Feed it markdown and graphics and it produces beautiful slideshows. The author is incredibly responsive (I just commented on a feature I needed and it was done in < 12 hours and done right). Freakin' amazing!
- wannacry2017 9y agoI recently discovered Vizzlo (https://vizzlo.com https://vizzlo.com). Those guys are going to develop smart templates for all common concept charts. Pretty fast, pretty slick. Basically, the opposite of Prezi but worth a trial.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- jgent 9y agohttps://tiled.co https://tiled.co We've built Tiled to be a versatile presentation tool with a focus on interactivity and analytics.