There is a noticeable delay between selecting a slide and it appearing on the output. What could be causing this?

Provided you are running a computer close to the recommended guidelines, you should expect a slide change to occur without a delay. Here is a list of things to check if that is happening…

• Other running applications: Check the task manager to see if the CPU is busy with other applications, such as an unattended (scheduled) virus scan.
• Output screen size: An output size of 1024×768 should be acceptable, but dropping to 800×600 will almost halve the effort Presenter does to render an image. For wide screens we’d recommend 1280 x 720 as a maximum unless your own testing provides acceptable performance.
• Font size: Check the font styles used for header, body and footer to check that they are not too large. Presenter will ‘auto-shrink’ text to fit into the available space so a large setting may not be immediately apparent. This adjustment is done on the fly and will add to the processing time.
• Line spacing: Text output is optimized when the line spacing (a style setting) is 0 (the default).
• Text override feature: Try turning this off to see if that makes a difference.
• Background images: Generally, using an image in the background should be fine. However, large images (for example, JPGs imported directly from a digital camera) can be in excess of 3000px wide and therefore involve considerable processing to render. If your images are more than twice the dimensions of your output screen, make a copy that is reduced in size since any loss in detail is unlikely to be noticeable to the average user. Example:
  • Open the image in MS Paint
  • Press Ctrl-W (resize)
  • Set both height and width to 50% (or lower for very large images)
  • Press OK
  • Save as a copy of the original

  The optimum image size (and video clips for that matter) is one that has the same dimensions as the output, although in reality this may not be practical.

• Image location: Ensure images are not being loaded directly from slower drives (such as a CD). Always copy them to a local hard drive first. This may also apply to network locations.

Contact us if you still experience problems in this regard.

By the way, these suggestions are relevant to Version 3 as well.