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Creating Alternate Choices for "Next" Slide?

Hi --


Am using Keynote 6.6.1 w Yosemite 10.5.5. Still a relative Keynote Newbie (though have done a lot of work using Pages, both the old and new versions). Have searched this forum and other online Q&As but can't find a thread that describes the end result I'd like to experiment with, so hoping the more experienced Keynote users here can point me in the right direction.


Basically wanting to know if it's even possible (and if so, how) -- on a per-slide basis -- to have specified Arrow Keys (the Up, Down, Right, or Left), trigger different transitions to different slides?


The basic pattern I'd be going for is this: A Primary Sequence, call them the "A" slides, containing images and in some cases videos, from which the viewer would frequently have the option to either "scroll over" to a Sidebar Slide with mostly text (call these the "B" slides), or to keep "scrolling down" through just the image-focused A slides.


The Scroll effect would be achieved by setting the appropriate up/down or right/left direction on a Push transition, along with using a neutral background so that only the content of each slide appears to be moving.


I'll try attaching an image I just created in Pages which attempts to illustrate what I'd be trying to construct -- but I imagine it's all a moot point if there's no way to assign multiple transitions to any one slide, with each transition triggered by a different author-defined key, and each one advancing (or going back) to a different, author-specified slide. Any thoughts or suggestions on possible ways to achieve something like this -- either within Keynote or elsewhere -- would be welcome and appreciated. Here's my theoretical flow chart:


User uploaded file


Thanks,

John B.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), mid-2012; 2.9 GHz i7; 8 GB; 1TB SSD

Posted on Dec 1, 2015 10:43 PM

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Posted on Dec 5, 2015 10:33 PM

to have specified Arrow Keys (the Up, Down, Right, or Left), trigger different transitions to different slides?

The arrow keys on the keyboard are permanently set as follows:

left and up keys: go to previous slide

right and down keys: go to next next slide or next build


assign multiple transitions to any one slide

in Keynote, a transition is a visual effect between two slides (e.g. push, blinds)

a build or action is a visual effect applied to one or more objects on a slide




The procedure that would emulate what you are trying to do uses links.

Place a shape on the slide to act as a button, (e.g. an arrow),

right click the shape, select Add Link then specify the slide number. When the button is clicked by the mouse in Play, it will display that slide.

So for each "main slide", you would create four other slides that the arrow buttons would link to.

User uploaded file

6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Dec 5, 2015 10:33 PM in response to John Bertram

to have specified Arrow Keys (the Up, Down, Right, or Left), trigger different transitions to different slides?

The arrow keys on the keyboard are permanently set as follows:

left and up keys: go to previous slide

right and down keys: go to next next slide or next build


assign multiple transitions to any one slide

in Keynote, a transition is a visual effect between two slides (e.g. push, blinds)

a build or action is a visual effect applied to one or more objects on a slide




The procedure that would emulate what you are trying to do uses links.

Place a shape on the slide to act as a button, (e.g. an arrow),

right click the shape, select Add Link then specify the slide number. When the button is clicked by the mouse in Play, it will display that slide.

So for each "main slide", you would create four other slides that the arrow buttons would link to.

User uploaded file

Dec 5, 2015 10:32 PM in response to Gary Scotland

Gary --


Huge thanks for your reply, and my apologies for the delayed response (some semi-urgent family matters).


But I was able to experiment a bit with Links (a Keynote feature I hadn't used before), and you're of course right, creating specific links -- almost like options in a DVD menu -- is they way I'd need to go. And I was happy to see that even if I create a specific link to let's say Slide #9, if I subsequently insert some additional slides before that one (and what was "Slide #9" now becomes "Slide #12"), the original link I created remains with the correct but now differently-numbered slide.


BUT... (and isn't there always a "but"?)... I think I've run into into a fatal flaw in my whole plan, and am hoping you can confirm this:


While I appear to be free to create as many separate Links on any one slide to any number of other slides, it appears I CANNOT assign unique transitions to any of those specific Links, only a single transition to the slide as a whole, regardless of which other slide each separate Link is pointing to.


So, using the example I posted above, if I want Link #1 on Slide 1-A (say a right-pointing arrow on that side of the frame) to trigger a horizontal Push Wipe to Slide 1-B, but Link #2 on the same Slide 1-A (say a downward-pointing arrow at the bottom of frame) to trigger a vertical Push Wipe to Slide 2-A, I'm SOL -- UNLESS, as you mentioned, I start creating all sorts of duplicate slides to try and cover each possible transition (so as many as four copies of each slide).


But am I correct in thinking THAT would only create its own world of trouble, including:


1) Any later corrections or revisions (which in my projects are likely to be many and frequent) would need to be copy/pasted multiple times;


2) And even WITH that kind of multiple-copy scenario, wouldn't there always be the problem of whatever slide you're on only having one possible transition, and therefore, no matter how many different links I place on it, only one choice which would actually "make sense" in terms of the direction of the transition effect?


I suppose the answer would be to NOT use different, direction-specific transitions, and instead only ever use a transition which is direction-neutral, like a dissolve, at all times;


3) But even THEN, would there not also still be the problem of all those extra slides appearing unnecessarily whenever someone elected to simply key their way through the whole presentation using only the arrow keys, ignoring the cursor-activated link-buttons within each slide?



So unless there is in fact some sneaky way to assign different transitions to different Links appearing in the same slide, I'm beginning to think there are now several good reasons for me to just abandon this whole notion (as illustrated in the attached diagram above) -- at least in terms of trying to make it work using the options currently available inside Keynote.


Any thoughts appreciated before I head back to the drawing board (even as to other possible software options for creating this kind of two-stream, image+text presentation).


Thanks,

john b

Dec 6, 2015 10:56 AM in response to John Bertram

I start creating all sorts of duplicate slides to try and cover each possible transition

This becomes unworkable with the number of additional slides that wound be needed, the level of complexity required is not justified for the end result



2) wouldn't there always be the problem of whatever slide you're on only having one possible transition

I don't see this as a problem, I do understand the reasoning of the push effect in your idea, however the designers job is to help learning:

viewers are interested in content, not what impressive effects we can use

large scale effects are very distracting after a few slides


An alternative is; no effect on the slide, but apply a build effect on the objects on the slide being linked to:

for example:

click on right arrow and an image appears with a right move in effect

click on left arrow and a text box appears with a left move in effect

to apply a build: click on the object on the slide then: Inspector > Animation > Build in > Add an Effect


3) whenever someone elected to simply key their way through the whole presentation using only the arrow keys


This is prevented by using a links only presentation: Inspector > Document > Document: select Links Only from the Presentation type drop down menu

Dec 6, 2015 10:55 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Once again, helpful advice and much appreciated.


Hadn't realized a "Links Only" option was possible -- guess I'd assumed that if the four arrow keys were permanently mapped (Right and Down to go forward; Left and Up to go back) that they were also permanently enabled.


And just so I'm clear, can a Links Only presentation be controlled in ANY way from the keyboard, or by definition ONLY by selecting with the cursor?



Also, I absolutely agree that everything needs to serve the content, especially potentially distracting transition effects, often thrown in purely for their own sake. My reason in this case for considering two variations on a Push effect (either horizontal or vertical) was of course just to reinforce the notion that the text-focused Sidebars were something an individual viewer could slide over to if they wished, or simply continue on with the main, image-focused slides by "scrolling down" to the next such frame.


But you've got me intrigued with the idea of making these optional Sidebars part of the individual slide itself (via the Build function), so that's something I'll have to experiment with. On the surface it certainly sounds like a more elegant and much more manageable solution.


Thanks again,

John B

Dec 6, 2015 11:50 AM in response to John Bertram

can a Links Only presentation be controlled in ANY way from the keyboard,


Links Only presentations are completely controlled by clicking the mouse on a linked object, pressing any key on the keyboard has no effect. This is to prevent accidental or deliberate closing of the presentation by unauthorised people.

These presentations are used to create information points at visitor centres or E-learning programmes for training and education.

Creating Alternate Choices for "Next" Slide?

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