The Web Object feature of Articulate Presenter offers a plethora creative ways to allow users to interact with your content — whether that content is on the Web, your CD-ROM, or originates from your desktop. No matter what the format, if the content can exist in a Web page, it can exist in your presentation or e-learning course.

Note that virtually any type of digital content can be embedded in a Web page. If you’re using a movie clip that’s a format other than Flash (e.g., QuickTime or Windows Media Player), you’ll want to create an index.html or index.htm page, which calls your movie file, before attempting to insert it as a Web Object. A Web Object points to the folder containing the index file.

There are two primary methods of including a Web Object in your presentation:

1. Embed the Web Object in a slide.

2. Launch the Web Object in a new browser window.

If you choose to embed your Web Object in a slide, you can pick from a set of predefined sizes (full slide, 640×480, 320×240) or specify your own custom size. After you walk through the Web Object Wizard, you’ll have the chance to further fine-tune the size of your embedded Web Object directly in PowerPoint.

Likewise, if you opt to launch your Web Object in a new window, you can control the size of the window (full screen, 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, custom), as well as which browser window options to you want to display (menu bar, status bar, address bar, etc.). You can also control whether the window should be resizable or include a scroll bar.

Some creative uses of Web Objects include the following:

• Create an index page in your presentation to launch additional content or other “sub-presentations.”

• For a quarterly company update, embed a site like Yahoo Finance that contains the latest stock price for your company.
• Create a link in your presentation that will launch an optional welcome movie.

View a simple Web Object Sample.

See also: Why won’t my local Web Object display properly?