
Ask HN: What alternative presentation formats to PowerPoint are there? - JacobEdelman
If I want to use some sort of cool presentation format other than PowerPoint to make me look &quot;hipster&quot; what should I use? Not something like LibreOffice&#x27;s alternative, something that will stand out.
======
percept
If you're interested in HTML-based options, there's a roundup here:

[http://www.sitepoint.com/5-free-html5-presentation-
systems/](http://www.sitepoint.com/5-free-html5-presentation-systems/)

I used Deck.js for a recent presentation, mainly because it seemed the
quickest to get up and running at the very last minute, and seemed to have the
least jarring/motion sickness-inducing transitions (among the various options
offered by each tool).

~~~
JacobEdelman
Oh, nice. I'll definitely look at this.

------
ht_th
I like to generate my presentations with the LaTeX package "beamer", offering
well-typeset symbols, text, and figures (through Tikz) that all fit together
nicely. It might not be flashy of hipster-y, but it certainly is different
from you run off the mill powerpoint presentations.

------
ColinWright
I've seen Prezi used to amazing effect - _way_ better than "PowerPoint" and
equivalent. Effectively PowerPoint is computerized OHP transparencies, plus
transitions. Prezi really uses much more of the potential of a computer-based
presentation.

[https://prezi.com/](https://prezi.com/)

~~~
JacobEdelman
I've seen Prezi, it is quite nice but it seemed a bit too mainstream.

~~~
kayamon
Darn hipsters.

------
jcchin41
My favorite alternative: Reveal.js [http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-
js/#/](http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/) Simple HTML slides with snazzy
transitions

Warning: A common pitfall of "flashy" presentations is that even if you can
avoid making it look gimmicky, the audience is too busy watching the effects
and not listening to you. Is your intention to dazzle people, or optimize the
amount of information your audience absorbs?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meBXuTIPJQk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meBXuTIPJQk)

------
DanBC
Adam Buxton[1] used photoshop layers in his BUG[2] talks. I think this will
show him switching the layers. [http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gx-
WBaSNrTQ](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gx-WBaSNrTQ)

I'm not sure what you mean by "hipster" \- wouldn't that be whatever was
available on Windows2000?

[1] Adam, from Adam and Joe. Joe Cornish went on to direct "Attack the Block".
They started in a public access tv experiment; had a tv show; had a BBC Radio
Six show (which is probably available online somewhere).

[2] BUG - [http://adam-buxton.co.uk/ad/what-is-bug/](http://adam-
buxton.co.uk/ad/what-is-bug/)

He does a bit where he voices-up Youtube comments, which is funny.
[http://youtube.com/watch?v=gx-WBaSNrTQ](http://youtube.com/watch?v=gx-
WBaSNrTQ)

~~~
thenomad
I've used Photoshop as a presentation tool recently - it's surprisingly good.

------
jac0204
Still in preview, but Sway may be of interest to you.
[https://sway.com](https://sway.com)

I have been fiddling with the preview. Only basic features are available right
now, but it may grow to be what you need.

------
GFischer
As the other two replies said, there's Prezi:

[https://prezi.com/](https://prezi.com/)

It can be used to do much cooler things than PowerPoint, but it takes time.

There are some cool sample presentations that show what you can do:

[http://prezi.com/explore/staff-picks/](http://prezi.com/explore/staff-picks/)

[http://prezi.com/explore/popular/](http://prezi.com/explore/popular/)

------
1971genocide
I use the CGP grey / Minute Physics way to do my presentations these days,
They have won the evolutionary youtube game in disseminating most knowledge in
the shortest period of time.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3WrAk52e68](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3WrAk52e68)

Note: It takes about 1 hour for each minute of video footage, but its worth
it.

------
mtmail
Have a look at [https://prezi.com/vvbk0zjisuqa/what-is-
prezi/](https://prezi.com/vvbk0zjisuqa/what-is-prezi/). The presentation will
be Adobe Flash though.

------
fundamental
For the more professional presentations I tend to stick to beamer, but for a
quick presentation the deckjs backend for asciidoctor allow for a very fast
setup.

------
philippnagel
I use [http://www.decksetapp.com](http://www.decksetapp.com) which is based on
using Markdown.

------
seekingcharlie
For HTML5 / JS animations: Hype App

For just a better PowerPoint interface: Sketch. Keynote is also good.

------
krmmalik
Have you considered HaikuDeck? It's about as hipster as you can get.

