Microsoft PowerPoint as a diagramming tool

Description

PowerPoint is essentially a presentation program that uses a series of “slides” to impart information to an audience.  Each slide contains elements in the form of text, images, diagrams, or multimedia.  Each of these elements can be arranged by the presenter in the manner he or she sees most fit on each individual slide.  The overall presentation is usually laid out according to a presentation “template” to ensure a level of consistency.  A variety of different templates are provided as part of the program.  PowerPoint moves through the slides in chronological order in order to deliver the presentation, with the change of slides occurring when prompted by the presenter, usually by operating the mouse.  PowerPoint is commonly run from a computer connected to some form of projector, although the slides can also be printed.

As the focus of this particular assignment is on the creation of diagrams, the overall presentation aspect is of less importance than the manner in which individual slides are created using the program’s graphical user interface.

Upon opening the program the user is asked to select a slide layout from a range of templates.  Once chosen, the user is able to choose from a variety of functional toolbars such as formatting, picture, animation, or movie (to name a few) in order to create the slide most appropriate to their needs.  Graphic icons represent most toolbar functions, so that a certain level of familiarity with the icons is required.  As with all Microsoft products, however, an office assistant is available to provide help should the user be unsure of how to accomplish a particular task.  

Diagram 2.1 clearly shows the toolbar options, the layout of the slide, and where the text should go, as well as the familiar windows-style navigation bar with function tabs at the top of the page.

Evaluation

As a diagram creation tool, PowerPoint is reasonably easy to use and surprisingly versatile.  There are a range of options to assist with the creation of diagrams, as demonstrated in Diagram 2.2.

Diagram 2.2 shows the drop down menu that allows the user to choose a range of shapes, connectors, lines, and flow charts.   Like any Windows application which has several ways to do anything, the user can also reach the same menu by going through the “Insert” tab at the top of the page, and choosing “Pictures” and “Autoshapes”.  The central part of the page shows the manner in which the results can be displayed.  For this example, the “Autoshapes” icon was chosen.  “Basic shapes” provided the various boxes, and then “Connectors” was used to link the boxes together.  While this is a simple way to create a free-flowing diagram it’s reasonably time consuming, but does allow total control over the end result, as any of the boxes can be linked to any of the others.  

Diagram 2.3 further demonstrates how easy it is to differentiate specific parts of the diagram using colour coding.  The formatting menu can clearly be seen down the left of the diagram.  This diagram also shows the manner in which notes can be added to the slide at the bottom of the screen.

If a the user wants something a little more structured in terms of a diagram, then using the “Organization chart” function through the “Pictures” option of the “Insert” tab would be appropriate.  Diagrams 2.4 and 2.5 clearly show how this function can be used to create hierarchical trees based on the inbuilt template.

Diagram 2.4: PowerPoint diagramming test
(click image to enlarge, 188 kB jpg)

Diagram 2.4 shows the basic template used to create a hierarchical image.  At the top of the screen are a series of buttons that allow the user to add more branches to the diagram if required, and text brackets are already provided as part of the template, so that all that the user has to do is fill in the appropriate details.

Diagram 2.5: PowerPoint diagramming test
(click image to enlarge, 208 kB jpg)

Diagram 2.5 demonstrates how the template can be used.  The boxes in this diagram are automatically linked depending upon the relationship with others, although it is possible to create extra lines to link more than one, as can be seen.

One disadvantage of creating diagrams using the “Organization chart” function is that a separate screen is used to create the diagram, and the user needs to save it back to the presentation.  This is not immediately apparent from the creation screen, and once the diagram has been saved back to PowerPoint, it is unable to be edited or altered. The manner in which text is typed into the boxes is also a little difficult to follow.

As a diagramming tool, PowerPoint can be quite useful on a small scale, and diagrams can easily be created.  The range of shapes, colours and interconnect options allow for flexibility, and the ability to place text within a diagram means that diagrams can clearly demonstrate what the varying parts of the diagram mean.  As a part of a PowerPoint display the diagrams can also be used during a presentation to illustrate the mapping process in an information architecture context.  Due to the size of the slide, however, there are limitations on how large or complex a diagram can be. For the purpose of basic diagrams, however, PowerPoint is a functional tool that is comparatively easy to use.

Page 1 Page 2