A command-line presentation app with purpose

Taking Things Template

The best way to approach Impressive is to create templates, just as you would in a word processor. Save the page size in whatever application you use to create the slides, and save the configuration file, preferably divided into global, keybinding, and page properties sections identified by comments. Once you have these templates available, using Impressive becomes no more difficult than using LibreOffice's Impress.

If anything, Impressive actually becomes easier to use than Impress. In my experience, using Impress or PowerPoint continually requires a struggle to do what the app is simply not designed to do – and usually losing as a result. In comparison, Impressive slides have fewer restrictions, and the end result is always closer to what I want. Additionally, features like spotlight and zoom let me interact more closely with the slides as I do my presentation. In these respects, Impressive goes against the conventional wisdom that working from the command line is harder than sticking to the desktop.

Infos

  1. Impressive: http://impressive.sourceforge.net/
  2. Impressive manual: http://impressive.sourceforge.net/manual.php

The Author

Bruce Byfield is a computer journalist and a freelance writer and editor specializing in free and open source software. In addition to his writing projects, he also teaches live and e-learning courses. In his spare time, Bruce writes about Northwest coast art. You can read more of his work at http://brucebyfield.wordpress.com

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