Using Themes and the Theme Editor in Adobe Presenter 7

Adobe Presenter 7 allows you to change the Theme of your presenation while it is being viewed. There are many customizations you can do with the Themes and the Theme Editor. This How To will give you some more information.

Themes are found via the Settings button can be found within the Presentation group on the Adobe Presenter tab. Then click the Appearance tab.

Themes

The primary way to design how Adobe Presenter presentations appear is through the use of themes. Themes serve as the container for your presentation and let you add static images, colors, and sound to create dynamic and interactive presentations. You can add a theme at any time. Try using different themes until you achieve the look you want. You can reuse the same theme for each presentation you create or design new themes. Presenter gives you many options for customizing colors, tabs, functionality, graphics, font style, and other design elements of a theme. In the Themes area of the Appearance tab is where you will select a pre-defined theme for your presentation, customize an existing theme or create a new one.

Selecting a Theme

The default theme assigned to a presentation is Sage, but you can change the theme at any time. To change the theme for your presentation, simply select a different one from the Theme drop-down menu.

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Theme Editor

The Theme Editor allows you to customize one of the pre-defined themes or create and save a completely new theme. The editor is dynamic, so as you change things, your changes will appear live in the preview window. You can create a custom theme by selecting one of the default themes, making changes, and saving the new theme with a different name. For example, you can start with the theme Sage, change the font color to dark green, and then save the new theme as SageModified. After you create a custom theme, it appears in the Theme Name pop up menu and can be used with other presentations.

You can customize the Theme even further.

Mode

The Enable Mode Switching option allows you to choose to have your presentation open normally or in fullscreen mode. Normally, published presentations appear with the toolbar and the sidebar. As an alternative, you can have the presentation open in fullscreen mode with only a small, modified toolbar appearing in the lower-right corner.

Sidebar

The sidebar in a theme contains presenter information, panes such as Outline and Search, and presentation timing information. The Show Sidebar option will determine if the sidebar will be seen on the published presentation. The Location menu allows you position the sidebar on the right (default) or left side of the theme.

Presenter Info

You can selectively choose which presenter options appear in a theme. For example, you might want the presenter name and photo to appear, but not a biography (bio) or contact information. Un-checking a box will remove that piece of information from the sidebar. Changes made here will apply to all presenters in the presentation. Presenter Info options include:

Photo - includes a presenter photo in the published presentation.
Name - includes the presenter's name in the published presentation.
Title - includes the presenter’s title, such as Director of Human Resources.
Bio - includes a link to a presenter biography.
Logo - includes a logo in the published presentation.
Contact Information - includes a link to presenter contact information, such as a phone number or e mail address.

Panes

Panes are part of a theme and can also appear in the sidebar. You can select which panes appear and which are hidden. For example, you might want to include the Outline and Search panes, but hide the Thumbnail and Notes panes. There are 4 basic panes: outline, thumbnail, notes, and search.

Outline - provides the users with a list of slides in order as they appear in the presentation, along with the slide title and duration. The users can select any slide from the outline to jump to that slide. This provides a non-linear option to the users.
Thumbnail - presents thumbnails of each of the slides. Like the outline pane, the user can jump to any other slide in the presentation.
Notes - allows you to include the speaker notes, or other notes, about each slide.
Search - allows users to search the presentation for keywords or other information.

If you have more than one pane in a theme, the panes are layered on top of one another with a tab at the top containing the name of the pane. The Default drop-down box allows you to select the pane that should appear in front of the others.

Colors & Background Image

In the Appearance area of the Theme Editor, you can change the colors that appear in a theme, including the theme color, glow, font, and background color.

Theme - this color square changes the color of the theme sidebar and toolbar.
Glow - this color square changes the color that appears when users hover their mouse over slides in the Outline pane and thumbnail images in the Thumb pane.
Font - this color square changes the color of the text in the theme.
Background - this color square changes the color of the background area that appears behind the slides, sidebar, and toolbar.

Text Labels

Text labels are the words that appear in a theme, such as button text and tab names. You can edit text labels in a theme at any time. To change the names of the tabs or any other text labels:

Click the Modify Text labels… button
a. For example, if you wanted to change the title of the “Notes” pane to “Slide Text”, you would find the button/label for “Notes tab text” and enter “Slide Text” into the Custom text column
Click the OK button

In addition to changing the theme colors and text labels, in the Appearance area you can specify a Background Image to use in the theme and change the default Notes Pane Font and font size.