Navigation is anything that helps a viewer find their place or move between slides. Add a feature only when the audience would otherwise be lost: slide numbers for a talk, a contents slide for a long deck, buttons for a deck the viewer controls. Leave out everything else.
This lesson comes after diagrams in Presentations. Names, clubs and slides here are invented practice material.
How do you decide what to add?
Start with two questions: how will this deck be used, and who controls the order?
| Situation | Useful navigation | Probably not needed |
|---|---|---|
| Spoken talk, in order | Slide numbers | Buttons, contents links |
| Long deck of 15 or more slides | Slide numbers, a contents slide | Buttons on every slide |
| Self-service stand, viewer clicks | Contents slide, Home and Back buttons | Automatic timings |
| Handout read on paper | Slide numbers, clear titles | Buttons (they do nothing on paper) |
Then keep these rules:
- Same place every time. If Home sits bottom right on one slide, it sits there on all.
- Label clearly. “Back to contents” is better than a bare arrow.
- Give every route a way back. A link forward with no return strands the viewer.
- Build buttons on the master when they appear on every slide, so they cannot drift.
- Test the full path in slideshow mode.
Worked example
Invented task: an eight-slide information stand for the Pantai Kerang Beach Clean-up Club, viewed by visitors who click through at their own pace. Slide 2 is a contents slide listing slides 3 to 7: Who we are, What we collect, Bottle recycling, Join us, Contact. Slide 8 is a thank-you slide.
Step 1, decide: viewers choose their own order, so a contents slide and Home button are useful.
Step 2, contents links: on slide 2, link each of the five items to its slide. Check item 3 “Bottle recycling” goes to slide 5 only if the slides were built in that order. Link to the slide itself, not to a slide number you typed, so that a reorder does not break it.
Step 3, Home button: add a small “Contents” button on the master, bottom right, linked to slide 2.
Step 4, slide numbers: add the number field on the master, bottom left.
Step 5, test: run from slide 1. Click all five contents items, return with the button each time, then step to slide 8.
Only three features were added: a contents slide, one button and slide numbers. That is enough for this use.
The mistake to watch for
Mistaken approach: adding a “Next”, “Back”, “Home”, “Exit” and “Help” button on all eight slides, each in a different position.
Two buttons point to slides that no longer exist after reordering, and the buttons cover part of the diagram on slide 5.
The correction is to ask what the viewer needs. Keep one clear route home and let the keyboard or the next-slide action handle the rest. Delete any control you cannot justify.
Check yourself
1. A 6-slide talk is given by one speaker in order. What navigation is enough?
Show answer
Slide numbers. Buttons and a contents slide add little for a short deck given in order.
2. After you move slide 4 to position 2, a contents link goes to the wrong content. What likely caused this?
Show answer
The link was set to a fixed position or an old target. Re-link it to the slide itself and test every link after reordering.
3. Why should a Home button live on the master?
Show answer
It then appears in the same place on every slide, and a change or fix to it is made once.
Where this leads next
A deck with the right navigation still has to be checked in two forms: the live slideshow and the exported file. That is the subject of checking both versions separately. The Presentations practice set mixes all five skills.
Deciding which features belong is easier with someone reading your brief alongside you. See our online one-to-one ICT tuition.