We've added more courses to our Remote Classroom Schedule! To learn more about our courses and how New Horizons Remote Classroom works, just visit the portal @ http://www.LearnAtNewHorizons.com/RemoteClassroom.

We are happy to answer any questions you have, and as always, if you do not see a course listed on the schedule, just let us know! You can contact us directly or just fill out the form here. We look forward to hearing from you.

Here is the update for July, August, September, October & November 2009.

Start	End	Course Title
7/23	7/24	2276C - Implementing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure Network Hosts
7/23	7/24	Excel VBA
7/23	7/24	Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - Level 1
7/24	7/24	Excel 2007 - Level 3
7/24	7/24	Project 2007 - Advanced
7/24	7/24	Project Management Fundamentals (Second Edition)
7/27	7/29	2261C - Supporting Users Running the Microsoft Windows XP Operating System
7/27	7/28	2795A - Designing an ETL Solution Architecture Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services
7/27	7/31	4994A - VB - Introduction to Programming Microsoft .NET Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
7/27	7/27	5049A - Managing Messaging Security Using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
7/27	7/29	6158A - Updating Your SQL Server 2005 Skills to SQL Server 2008
7/27	7/29	6214A - Effective Team Development Using Microsoft Visual Studio Team System
7/27	7/29	6417B - Updating your Applications Infrastructure Technology Skills to Windows Server 2008
7/27	7/28	Access 2007 - Level 1
7/27	7/31	Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
7/27	7/31	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
7/27	7/31	CISSP
7/27	7/31	Network+ Certification
7/27	7/27	SQL - Level 1
7/27	8/1	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2
7/29	7/31	6236A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
7/29	7/31	6417B - Updating your Applications Infrastructure Technology Skills to Windows Server 2008
7/30	7/31	2262B - Supporting Users Running Applications on a Microsoft Windows XP Operating System
7/30	7/31	6215A - Implementing and Administering Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server
8/3	8/7	2277C - Implementing Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure:
8/3	8/7	2277C - Implementing Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure:
8/3	8/5	2791A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services
8/3	8/5	2792A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services
8/3	8/5	5047B - Introduction to Installing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
8/3	8/5	5115A - Installing and Configuring the Windows Vista Operating System
8/3	8/7	6421A - Configuring and Troubleshooting a Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure
8/3	8/7	6425A - Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
8/3	8/5	6460A - C# - Visual Studio 2008: Windows Presentation Foundation
8/3	8/7	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
8/3	8/7	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
8/3	8/4	Illustrator CS4 Level 1
8/3	8/3	Project Management Fundamentals (Second Edition)
8/5	8/7	5928A - Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Managing Projects
8/6	8/7	5116A - Configuring Windows Vista Mobile Computing and Applications
8/6	8/7	50027 - Querying and Processing SQL Server Data Using Microsoft SQL Server
8/6	8/7	5051A - Monitoring and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
8/6	8/6	Adobe Captivate 3.0
8/6	8/7	Indesign CS4 - Level 1
8/10	8/15	AXZO Press CompTIA Security+ Certificiation 2008 Edition + CertBlaster
8/10	8/14	2278 - Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
8/10	8/12	2543B - Core Web Application Development with Visual Studio 2005
8/10	8/14	2780B - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
8/10	8/12	2792A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services
8/10	8/11	5060A - Implementing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
8/10	8/14	6419A - Configuring Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers
8/10	8/12	6422A - Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
8/10	8/14	6425A - Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
8/10	8/14	Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
8/10	8/14	CISSP
8/12	8/14	5061A - Implementing Microsoft Office 2007 SharePoint Server
8/12	8/14	6418A - Deploying Windows Server 2008 (Beta 3)
8/12	8/14	6460A - C# - Visual Studio 2008: Windows Presentation Foundation
8/13	8/14	2544A - Advanced Web Application Development with Visual Studio 2005
8/13	8/14	6438A Implementing and Administering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in Windows Server 2008
8/13	8/13	Cold Fusion 8 - Level 1
8/13	8/14	Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - Level 1
8/14	8/14	Cold Fusion 8 - Level 2
8/17	8/21	2279B - Planning Implementing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure
8/17	8/18	2547A - Advanced Windows Application Development with Visual Studio 2005
8/17	8/19	2778A - Writing Queries Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Transact - SQL
8/17	8/17	5050A - Recovering Messaging Servers and Databases Using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
8/17	8/19	5118A - Maintaining and Troubleshooting Windows Vista Computers
8/17	8/21	6232A - Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
8/17	8/19	6236A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services
8/17	8/21	6416B - Updating your Network Infrastructure and Active Directory Technology Skills to Windows Server 2008
8/17	8/21	6420A - Fundamentals of Windows Server 2008 Network and Applications Infrastructure
8/17	8/21	6436A - Designing a Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Infrastructure and Services
8/17	8/19	6461A - C# - Windows Communication Foundation
8/17	8/21	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2
8/17	8/18	Crystal Reports XI Advanced
8/17	8/21	Network+ Certification
8/17	8/17	SQL - Level 1
8/18	8/19	5051A - Monitoring and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
8/18	8/18	SQL - Level 2
8/19	8/20	2544A - Advanced Web Application Development with Visual Studio 2005
8/20	8/21	5119A - Supporting Windows Vista Computers with Desktop Images and Application Packages
8/20	8/21	6462A - C# - Windows Workflow Foundation
8/24	8/26	2830B - Designing Security for Microsoft Networks
8/24	8/28	4995A - C# - Programming with the Microsoft .NET Framework using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
8/24	8/28	50028A - Managing System Center Operations Manager 2007
8/24	8/28	6421A - Configuring and Troubleshooting a Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure
8/24	8/25	6431A - Managing and Maintaing Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Servers
8/24	8/28	Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
8/24	8/28	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2
8/24	8/26	Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX Using Visual Studio 2005
8/26	8/26	JavaScript Programming
8/27	8/28	50051A - Architecting Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Portals and Collaboration Solutions
8/27	8/28	6432A - Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Servers
8/27	8/27	Excel 2007 - Level 2
8/31	9/4	2278 - Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
8/31	9/4	2779B - Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
8/31	9/4	5929A - Managing Projects and Programs
8/31	9/2	6317A - Your SQL Server 2000 Skills to SQL Server 2008
8/31	9/2	6422A - Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
8/31	9/4	6451A - Planning Deploying and Managing Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007
8/31	9/2	6461A - C# - Windows Communication Foundation
8/31	9/4	Cisco - Implementing Cisco Unified Wireless Networking Essentials - IUWNE
8/31	9/4	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
8/31	9/4	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2
9/1	9/2	Flash CS3 - Level 1
9/1	9/1	Project 2007 - Basic
9/2	9/4	6234A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server2008 Analysis Services
9/3	9/4	6462A - C# - Windows Workflow Foundation
9/3	9/4	Dreamweaver CS4 - Level 1
9/8	9/10	2793B - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services
9/8	9/10	6424A - Fundamentals of Microsoft Server 2008 Active Directory
9/8	9/9	6463A - ASP.NET 3.5
9/8	9/9	6463A - ASP.NET 3.5
9/8	9/8	Project 2007 - Advanced
9/9	9/10	2439 - Scripting Using Microsoft Windows Management Instrumentation
9/9	9/11	6423A - Implementing and Managing Windows Server 2008 Clustering
9/9	9/9	Acrobat 9.0 - Level 1
9/10	9/11	6464A - Visual Studio 2008: ADO.NET 3.5
9/10	9/11	6464A - Visual Studio 2008: ADO.NET 3.5
9/11	9/11	Project Management Fundamentals (Second Edition)
9/14	9/19	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
9/14	9/18	2272B - Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows XP Professional
9/14	9/18	2779B - Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
9/14	9/18	6231A - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
9/14	9/18	6232A - Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
9/14	9/16	6235A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
9/14	9/18	6425A - Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
9/14	9/16	6434A - Automating Windows Server 2008 Administration with Windows PowerShell
9/14	9/16	Access Programming with VBA
9/14	9/15	Crystal Reports XI Basic
9/14	9/18	Network+ Certification
9/16	9/18	6424A - Fundamentals of Microsoft Server 2008 Active Directory
9/21	9/25	2274C - Managing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
9/21	9/25	50031A - Complete .NET 2.0 Security
9/21	9/24	5047B - Introduction to Installing and Managing Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
9/21	9/25	6231A - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
9/21	9/23	6235A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services
9/21	9/25	6419A - Configuring Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers
9/21	9/25	6425A - Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
9/21	9/25	6430A - Planning and Administering Windows Server 2008 Servers
9/21	9/25	Cisco - Implementing Cisco IOS Network Security - IINS
9/21	9/25	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2
9/21	9/25	Computer Hacking Forensic Investigation
9/21	9/21	Illustrator CS3 - Level 2
9/23	9/23	Excellence in Servie: Basic
9/25	9/25	5049A - Managing Messaging Security Using Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
9/28	10/2	2779B - Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
9/28	10/2	2780B - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
9/28	10/2	2933A - Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006
9/28	9/29	50027 - Querying and Processing SQL Server Data Using Microsoft SQL Server
9/28	10/2	6231A - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
9/28	10/2	Linux+
9/30	10/1	2276C - Implementing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure Network Hosts
9/30	10/1	Photoshop CS4 - Level 2
10/1	10/2	6431A - Managing and Maintaing Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Servers
10/1	10/1	Cold Fusion 8 - Level 1
10/2	10/2	Cold Fusion 8 - Level 2
10/5	10/7	2275C - Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment
10/5	10/9	2310C - Developing Microsoft ASP.NET Web Applications using Visual Studio.NET
10/5	10/7	2792A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Integration Services
10/5	10/6	5060A - Implementing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
10/5	10/7	6426A - Configuring Identity and Access Solutions with Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
10/5	10/9	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
10/5	10/9	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
10/5	10/9	CISSP
10/7	10/9	5061A - Implementing Microsoft Office 2007 SharePoint Server
10/7	10/9	6158A - Updating Your SQL Server 2005 Skills to SQL Server 2008
10/8	10/9	2276C - Implementing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure Network Hosts
10/8	10/9	6428A - Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services
10/8	10/9	Organizational Behavior
10/12	10/12	Excellence in Service: Advanced
10/12	10/16	2277C - Implementing Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure:
10/12	10/16	2780B - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
10/12	10/14	2791A - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services
10/12	10/16	6425A - Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
10/12	10/14	6427A - Configuring and Troubleshooting Internet Information Services in Windows Server 2008
10/12	10/16	Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks (BCMSN)
10/12	10/16	Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
10/14	10/16	6436A - Designing a Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Infrastructure and Services
10/15	10/16	2934A - Deploying and Managing Business Process and Integration Solutions Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006
10/19	10/23	2272B - Implementing and Supporting Microsoft Windows XP Professional
10/19	10/21	2793B - Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services
10/19	10/23	4994A - VB - Introduction to Programming Microsoft .NET Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
10/19	10/23	6232A - Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
10/19	10/21	6426A - Configuring Identity and Access Solutions with Windows Server 2008 Active Directory
10/19	10/23	6430A - Planning and Administering Windows Server 2008 Servers
10/19	10/23	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2
10/21	10/23	2278 - Planning and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure
10/26	10/30	2279B - Planning Implementing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure
10/26	10/30	2310C - Developing Microsoft ASP.NET Web Applications using Visual Studio.NET
10/26	10/30	2780B - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database
10/26	10/30	50028B - Managing System Center Operations Manager 2007
10/26	10/30	6231A - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Database
10/26	10/30	6417B - Updating your Applications Infrastructure Technology Skills to Windows Server 2008
10/26	10/30	6451A - Planning Deploying and Managing Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007
10/26	10/30	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND1
10/26	10/30	CISSP
10/26	10/30	Project Management Professional Certification
11/2	11/6	Cisco - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices - ICND2

You’ll want your website visitors to stick around and read the great information on your web page. But if the text isn’t legible, they won’t have the patience to stay. Use our typography tips to increase your site’s appeal.

Note: All images referenced in this article can be viewed @ http://bit.ly/tyqqt

Because it’s so easy to set fonts, background colors, and other formatting with CSS, some developers forget to choose this formatting carefully for legibility. Of course, it doesn’t matter how pretty the text looks if the reader can’t read it and leaves your site in disgust.

To make judging legibility even trickier, many developers don’t see the full text that will appear on the site, since the server-side code may generate it automatically. While a few test words on the site may look okay, bad formatting can cause readers to struggle while attempting to read whole paragraphs. To avoid these kinds of mistakes, it pays to know a few readability principles.


Key rules for readability

Readability refers to the ability to read all the text added to a web page. It’s much harder to read text onscreen than in print, so special considerations are required. For starters, consider the following guidelines:

• Don’t size text too small or too large.
• When possible, avoid specifying absolute font sizes, since they may prevent readers from making the text larger through their browser options. For example, fontsize: 1.5em is better than fontsize: 15px.
• Avoid overuse of type styles (e.g., bold, italic, all caps). A long paragraph in italics, for example, can be difficult to read.
• Don’t contradict common web practice in your use of type styles. For instance, avoid using colored, underlined text for anything that’s not a hyperlink.
• Be careful about placing text on a colored background.
• Choose common fonts that are easy to read on the web.

Choose appropriate fonts

Let’s take a closer look at font choice. Two key rules apply here:

• Some fonts that are good when you print a document aren’t so great online. Often, the difference comes from subtle character spacing issues. So once you find a font you like, try out several similar ones on the screen. You can use the CSS font-family property to specify your first, second, and third (etc.) choices.
• Sans serif fonts are usually easier to read than serif fonts, and they tend to look bigger. This is one good reason to specify some fonts in your style code, since browsers often default to serif fonts.

Tip: Avoid mixing serif and sans serif fonts; the transition between reading such different types of fonts can slow down a reader.

Not all sans serif fonts are created equal

Just because a font is sans serif doesn’t guarantee legibility. And while the fancier fonts may look great in titles, they can be hard to read in paragraphs. Let’s see what happens when we take even a great piece of text and put it onto a website with a poor font choice. We’ll make a CSS declaration specifying the Impact font (or any sans-serif font if the client machine doesn’t have Impact):

See page 6: http://bit.ly/iCFJt

Even great words lose impact with the wrong font

We’ll now apply this style to an excerpt from a famous speech Lincoln gave in October, 1854:

See page 6: http://bit.ly/iCFJt

Apologizing to the great Lincoln in advance, we see that the results, as shown in Figure A, demonstrate that even the most cogent text in the world is virtually unreadable in the wrong font. Even if you find it not bad reading once you get into it, the mere appearance of such a font can intimidate readers from reading it at all.

More legible alternatives

Perhaps a better choice is to stick with a system font, such as Geneva (Mac) or Arial (Windows). These fonts aren’t only easier to read onscreen, but are also more likely to be installed on the user’s computer, thus reducing the risk of font substitution.


Be careful with colored backgrounds

Another area that’s important to watch out for is the colored background. As with most things on the web, less is more. Simply put, it’s hard to beat black text on a white background (or some shade of white) for legibility.

Certainly, depending on your site’s theme and purpose, you can still get satisfying results with other color combinations, as long as the contrast is adequate. And, in some cases, a client may demand a particular color scheme.

The trick to text on color: Make it bigger

One of the problems with any colored background is that it tends to make the text look smaller — especially if the text color is lighter than the background. For instance, suppose we apply the following style definitions to a page:

div {padding:1em;}
.withcolor {background-color:#880088; color:#00FF00;}
.bigger {background-color:#880088; color:#00FF00; font-size:1.3em;}

While the result in Figure B is okay in print, the second block of text is hard to read onscreen and looks surprisingly small — as if the text is dissolving into the color around it. The final block of text uses a larger font size to help overcome the readability problems caused by the background color.


Break up the text

Choosing the right font and size with which to format text is just the beginning. Also consider the way in which you place text on a web page. As a rule, it’s easier to read text that’s in narrow columns, rather than long rows that span the entire width of the page.

Create a column effect without multiple columns

Of course, this rule creates a little of a dilemma: You certainly don’t want readers to have to scroll up and down the website to read the sort of multiple column layout you’d see in the newspapers. That’s probably why such layouts aren’t as popular as they were a few years ago. However, you can still keep text from going all the way across. The one danger here is that this sort of formatting may not come out on a printer, which is why The New York Times offers a button to see a printer-friendly page.

Keep paragraph size small

A related issue is the size of the paragraphs. If you’re involved in writing any of the actual text for the web page (e.g., instructions for a web application), favor short paragraphs over long ones that seemingly never end. Otherwise, readers may lose patience and not even read what you wrote.

Don’t let your code get rid of all the white space either

Similarly, if your web application reports on data that users have entered, don’t get rid of all the white space. Some applications trim every bit of white space out of a string of text, assuming that every line break or indent is wasteful. In some instances, developers fail to encode text entered as a line break as an HTML break <> . The result is large blocks of impenetrable text.


Design for legibility

Even using techniques to increase text readability doesn’t guarantee the content will be entirely legible. Legibility has to do with the overall design of text on the page. The goal is to format and position the text so it’s easy for viewers to recognize the hierarchy of the content.


A matter of purpose

You’ll probably notice that some sites deliberately seek to be disorderly, jarring, or even annoying. Glitzy, flamboyant sites, may work as part of marketing strategy, or to appeal to specific audiences. But if your goal is to impart information, your best bet is usually to create an orderly page.

You don’t have to be a fancy web developer to take advantage of Flash animations in your PowerPoint presentation. We’ll show you how it’s done.

Note: All images referenced in this article can be viewed @ http://bit.ly/tyqqt

In a world in which it’s rare to see a static web page — yet common to see a boring slideshow— it’s likely that your website designers have some Shockwave Flash File (SWF) animations that you can snag to add some zip to your PowerPoint presentations. We’ll show you how to insert and take charge of them, as shown in Figure A, so they work perfectly and are at your disposal.

Prepare PowerPoint to use SWF files

Before you can insert or control SWF files, you need to ensure that PowerPoint is set up to handle the format. If it isn’t, you can easily download the controls you need.

To determine whether you can use SWF files:

1. Open PowerPoint to the slide on which you want to insert your Flash file.
2. Select View Toolbars Control Toolbox. (In 2007, go to the Developer tab’s Controls group. If you don’t see a Developer tab, click the Office button, click PowerPoint Options, and in the Popular section, select the Show Developer Tab In The Ribbon check box.)
3. Click on the More Controls icon to expand the list of available items.
4. Scroll down and look for the Shockwave Flash Object, as shown in Figure B.
5. If it’s listed, you can skip to the next section. If you don’t see the control, visit www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer and download the free player.

You may have to close and reopen PowerPoint to activate the control. If you’ve updated Shockwave from a previous version, you may have trouble getting a SWF movie to play. See the Adobe TechNote article at www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_12727 to fix the problem.

Plan your file’s resting place

Now that PowerPoint is able to play SWF files, you must decide where to store the file permanently.

• If you plan to play your presentation at various locations, you can store it on the web and link to it there.
• On the other hand, if you want to use the presentation solely on your computer, simply place it in a folder and use that path.
• You can also embed the file, which increases the PowerPoint file’s size, but avoids the need to keep track of multiple files.

Whichever method you choose, note the path to your SWF file.

Insert the Flash file

Inserting a Shockwave Flash Object is straightforward. Just navigate to the slide on which you want the object to appear, and follow these steps:

1. Once again, click on the More Controls icon on the Control Toolbox toolbar and select Shockwave Flash Object, as shown in Figure B.
2. When the pointer changes to crosshairs, click and drag a rectangle to house your SWF movie. (You can resize it later.)
3. Right-click on the placeholder that appears, and select Properties. Click on the Alphabetic tab if necessary.
4. Note the text shown in the (Name) property text box — you’ll need it later. For instance, ours is ShockwaveFlash1.
5. Set the Playing property to False by selecting it from the dropdown list.
6. Click in the Movie property field and enter the URL or pathname for the SWF file you wish to insert, as shown in Figure C.
7. Close the Properties sheet and view your slideshow to ensure the movie plays correctly.

At this point, you may wish to embed your movie. To do so, simply reopen the Properties sheet, set the EmbedMovie property to True, and then close the Properties sheet.

Take control of the SWF playback

Now that your movie is in place, you can allow it to play as soon as your slide displays by setting the Playing property to True. However, if you want more control over the movie, you can add a bit of Visual Basic script and a few colorful buttons that allow you to Play, Rewind, or Pause your movie. This can really come in handy when you need to address an audience question or replay the movie a second time.

I can’t control my movie!
Some versions of Flash allow developers to disable the play, pause, and rewind navigation commands. If you use a movie file secured in this manner, the action buttons described in this article won’t work. If you know the Flash developer, however, you can request a navigable version of the file.

Let VB code do all the work

To create seamless navigational controls for Flash movies in PowerPoint, you need to enter a few lines of VB code into the Visual Basic Editor (VBE).

1. Choose Tools Macro Visual Basic Editor (or press [Alt][F11]) to launch the editor. (In 2007, go tothe Developer tab and click Visual Basic in the Code group or use the shortcut key.)
2. In the VBE, choose Insert Module and type the code in Listing A into the new module.
3. Replace all instances of SlideX with the number of the slide on which you’ve inserted your movie(for instance, Slide2, in our sample presentation).
4. Replace all instances of ShockwaveFlashName with the name of your Shockwave Flash Object we noted earlier. (We used ShockwaveFlash1.)
5. After you enter the code, save your work and close the VBE.

Each Sub line creates and names a new macro that you’ll use later to make your movie play, pause, or rewind on command. For instance, Sub PlayShock() created a macro named PlayShockthat, when activated, plays your ShockwaveFlash1 movie.

Check your macro security settings: The VB code creates macros that PowerPoint may block depending on your current security settings. To adjust them, select Tools Macro Security. (In 2007, go to the Developer tab, and in the Codegroup, click the Macro Security button.)

Create the control buttons

With the code in place, all that’s left to do is to create the control buttons on our slide and assign the appropriate code to each one.

1. On your movie slide, select Slide Show Action Buttons.
2. Select Action Button: Custom button (the blank square).
3. Click and drag a rectangular button on your slide where you want the Play button to sit. When you release the mouse button, the Action Settings dialog box appears.
4. On the Mouse Click tab, select Run Macro, and then select PlayShock from the Run Macro dropdown list and click OK.
5. Right-click on the button you just created and select Add Text.
6. Enter Play and click away from the button.
   

Adapt for PowerPoint 2007: In 2007, you need to insert a shape for your action button first; just go to the Insert tab, click the Shapes button, select a shape you want to use, and then click and drag theshape onto your slide. Then you can select the shape and click the Action button in the Insert tab’s Link group to open the Action Settings dialog box. From there, you can set up your macro to run just as you would in earlier versions.

Your button is ready to use, but you may wish to format it to match your slide. Right-click on it and use the Format AutoShape dialog box to change its appearance. Our finished button is shown in Figure D.

Repeat the process for the PauseShock and RewindShock macros. When you’ve finished, you should have three buttons on your slide, as shown in Figure A. Now, when you run your slideshow, you can use the buttons you just created to play, pause, and rewind your movie to your heart’s content.