
Making Slides - benbreen
https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2018/03/24/making-slides/
======
IanCal
I'm not sure if all the slides in this are supposed to be examples of what to
do but some issues:

1\. Tiny text. If your audience can't read it - don't include it. This seems
to be everywhere. My most hated phrase in a talk is "you can't see this but".
See here: [https://imgur.com/a/1B8j6](https://imgur.com/a/1B8j6) I can barely
read this close up on a high quality screen. Are your audience really going to
be able to read [https://imgur.com/a/2YtMF](https://imgur.com/a/2YtMF) on a
projector?

I always feel if I'm at a talk and someone shows me something I'm not supposed
to be able to see that they don't care enough about the talk.

2\. Colourblindness.

There's a colouring on clustering:
[https://imgur.com/a/d0P6T](https://imgur.com/a/d0P6T)

And here it is if you're red/green colourblind:
[https://imgur.com/a/1g8vc](https://imgur.com/a/1g8vc)

An easy way to work with this is see if your slides work when black and white.

3\. Tables [https://imgur.com/a/KLNtQ](https://imgur.com/a/KLNtQ)

Are you really trying to get across 40 pieces of information? If not, why have
so much stuff here? Even if so, please don't centre all your columns!

~~~
jamessb
The coloring isn't intended to convey meaning, but simply to subdivide that
dendrogram: the viewer doesn't need to recognise the colors or match them to a
scale, just see that they're different, and the colors used _are_
distinguishable even when converted to black and white so they satisfy this
requirement. This colored shading is arguably more attractive than simply
using a range of grays.

------
Cyranix
I see some overlap with Zach Holman's guidance on talks and (in particular)
slide decks. His opinions/advice made a strong impact on my approach to
presentations.

* [https://zachholman.com/posts/slide-design-for-developers/](https://zachholman.com/posts/slide-design-for-developers/)

* [https://speakerdeck.com/holman/the-talk-on-talks](https://speakerdeck.com/holman/the-talk-on-talks)

------
kyberias
"If you must show a table, do it properly."

Then shows a table of numbers that are not aligned to the right with the same
number of digits.

    
    
      25.5
       19
      78.2
    

Yeah, that's not how to "do it properly". I wonder if any of the advice are
proper.

~~~
Techonomicon
Well, first I think you missed the point. Second, I think it looks much more
pleasurable to read in this format with the columns centered vs being left /
right aligned.

Column alignment is pretty subjective (and again, I think the chosen one looks
more pleasant than what you're proposing), what the writer was getting at was
making sure that the point you'd like to get across is being highlighted in
someway, hence the red column amongst the black.

~~~
kyberias
> "it looks much more pleasurable to read" > Column alignment is pretty
> subjective

No, there's absolutely nothing subjective about this topic. It's objectively
easier to compare numbers and see differences when they all have the same
number of digits AND are aligned to the right.

    
    
      9
      90
      8,0
      2
      89
    
    
       9
      90
       8
       2
      89

------
philip1209
This is very similar to Kevin Hale's post "How to Design a Better Pitch Deck":
[https://blog.ycombinator.com/how-to-design-a-better-pitch-
de...](https://blog.ycombinator.com/how-to-design-a-better-pitch-deck/)

------
discussedbefore
There are a truckload of tools that pop up in past discussions; reveal.js
serves as a good search anchor:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=reveal.js&type=comment&sort=by...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=reveal.js&type=comment&sort=byDate)

Many of the same discussions and others contain helpful advice for
presentation content as well: Ask HN: How do I learn to use Powerpoint well?
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13078654](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13078654)

------
jimhefferon
Vermont and New Hampshire are swapped.

~~~
tejtm
When I was in Vermont an ancient geezer explained to me that there is nothing
wrong New Hampshire, except its upside down.

