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Senior 3 · ICT

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5 lessons

Lesson 3 of 5

Formatting Slides: Themes, Backgrounds, Layouts and Masters

50 min

Four authors, four styles

Four members of the history club each made three slides for a talk on the kings of the Nyiginya kingdom. When the twelve slides were put together, they used five different fonts, three backgrounds, and a school logo that jumped from corner to corner. The talk looked like four talks.

Formatting slide by slide cannot fix that quickly. A theme gives every slide the same colours, fonts and background in one click, and the slide master controls what every slide shares, such as the logo and the slide number.

Definition

Theme: a matching set of colours, fonts, effects and background designs applied to a whole presentation.

Variant: a version of a theme with a different colour scheme or background.

Slide master: the top slide in a hidden hierarchy that stores the formatting, placeholders and objects shared by every slide.

Layout master: one of the layouts under the slide master (Title Slide, Title and Content …); it controls only the slides that use that layout.

Handout master: the design of printed handouts: how many slides per page, and the header, footer, date and page number.

Fonts, themes and backgrounds

To	Do this
Format selected text	Home → font, size, bold, colour, alignment, line spacing
Swap one font everywhere	Home → Replace → Replace Fonts…, choose the old font and the new one
Apply a theme	Design → click a theme in the Themes gallery (point at it first to preview)
Theme on some slides only	Select the slides, right-click the theme → Apply to Selected Slides
Change the theme's colours or fonts	Design → Variants arrow → Colors or Fonts
Change a background	Design → Format Background: Solid fill, Gradient fill, Picture or texture fill, or Pattern fill; set Transparency; click Apply to All for every slide
Change a slide's layout	Home → Layout; Home → Reset puts moved placeholders back
Change the slide shape	Design → Slide Size: Widescreen (16:9) or Standard (4:3). Choose before adding content, to match the projector or screen.

Tip

Design rules that work in a bright classroom

Contrast: dark text on a light background, or light text on a dark one. Pale yellow on white vanishes on a projector.
Size: a common guideline is titles of at least 32 pt and body text of at least 24 pt, so the back row can read it.
Two fonts at most: one for titles, one for text. Sans-serif fonts such as Calibri or Arial read well on screens.
Quiet backgrounds: a busy photo behind text makes it hard to read. Raise the picture's transparency, or keep photos as objects beside the text.

The slide master

View → Slide Master opens Slide Master view. The large thumbnail at the top of the left pane is the slide master; the smaller ones below it are the layout masters. Changes flow downward:

Diagram drawn by Ganzaa.

In Slide Master view you can change the fonts and colours of the placeholders, insert a logo or picture, and switch footer placeholders on or off. Click Close Master View to return to Normal view. Slide numbers, a footer text and the date are switched on with Insert → Header & Footer (tick Slide number, Footer, and Don't show on title slide, then Apply to All); the master decides where they appear and how they look.

Worked example 1: one look for the history club

Select all twelve slides and apply one theme from the Design tab. All fonts and backgrounds now match; the logo is still jumping about, because it was pasted onto each slide by hand.
Delete the twelve pasted logos.
View → Slide Master. Click the top (slide master) thumbnail. Insert → Pictures, add the logo once, make it small and put it in the bottom-right corner.
On the slide master, select the title placeholder and choose a dark colour and a 40 pt font.
Close Master View. Every slide now has the logo in the same place, and every title matches.
Insert → Header & Footer: tick Slide number, Footer “History Club, S3”, Don't show on title slide → Apply to All.

Any slide added later gets the same logo, title style and footer automatically.

The handout master

Handouts are printed copies of the slides for the audience, often with lines for their notes.

View → Handout Master.
Choose Slides Per Page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 9 (or Slide Outline). The 3-slides option prints lines beside each slide for notes.
Set the Handout Orientation, and tick or untick Header, Date, Footer and Page Number; type the header and footer text in their boxes.
Close Master View. To print: File → Print, then under Settings change Full Page Slides to a Handouts layout.

There is also a Notes Master (View → Notes Master), which designs the printed speaker-notes pages.

Worked example 2: how much paper?

The talk has 20 slides, and 40 S1 students each need a handout.

6 slides per page: $\frac{20}{6} \approx 3.3$ , so 4 pages per handout. One-sided: $4 \times 40 = 160$ sheets. Two-sided: 2 sheets per handout, so 80 sheets.
3 slides per page (with note lines): $\frac{20}{3} \approx 6.7$ , so 7 pages per handout: 280 sheets one-sided, or $4 \times 40 = 160$ sheets two-sided.

The club chooses 6 per page, two-sided: 80 sheets instead of 280.

Warning

Common mistakes

Formatting every slide by hand instead of the master: slow, and one slide is always missed.
Editing a layout master when you meant the slide master (or the other way round): the change appears on only some slides. Check which thumbnail is selected.
Hand changes that block the master: a title you recoloured by hand will not follow later master changes. Select it and click Home → Reset.
Changing the slide size at the end: objects may be stretched or squeezed. Choose 16:9 or 4:3 first.

GCFLearnFree (LearnFree): PowerPoint Slide Master view: editing the slide master and its layouts so that a change reaches every slide.

Tip

Using LibreOffice Impress? Themes and backgrounds are under Slide → Slide Properties and the Master Slides panel of the sidebar. View → Master Slide opens the master; View → Master Handout opens the handout master.

✦

Hands-on: give your presentation one look

Open Club_Report_YourName.pptx. Check Design → Slide Size is Widescreen (16:9).
Apply a theme. Try three variants and keep the one with the best contrast.
Change the theme fonts (Variants → Fonts) to a pair you like. Use Replace Fonts if any slide still has an odd font.
Give the title slide only a picture background with 60% transparency.
In Slide Master view, add your club's logo or a small icon to the slide master, and make the titles a colour from the theme.
Turn on slide numbers and a footer for all slides except the title slide.
In Handout Master view, choose 3 slides per page and add your name in the header. Preview it in File → Print → Handouts. How many pages would you print?
Save.

Practice

Define a theme, a slide master and a handout master.
Write the steps to give every slide the same gradient background.
What is the difference between the slide master and a layout master?
Write the steps to show slide numbers on every slide except the title slide.
Give four design rules for slides that will be projected in a bright classroom.
A 26-slide presentation is printed as handouts, 4 slides per page, for 30 people, two-sided. How many sheets of paper are needed?
After Uwase added a logo in Slide Master view, it appeared on all slides except the title slide. Suggest two possible reasons.
A group wants each member's slides to “show their personality” with their own fonts and colours. Evaluate this idea for a group presentation to parents.

Show answersHide answers

Theme: a matching set of colours, fonts, effects and backgrounds for the whole presentation. Slide master: the top slide in the master hierarchy, storing the formatting and objects every slide shares. Handout master: the design of printed handouts (slides per page, header, footer, date, page number).
Design → Format Background → Gradient fill → choose the colours and direction → Apply to All.
The slide master controls every slide; a layout master controls only the slides that use that one layout.
Insert → Header & Footer → tick Slide number and Don't show on title slide → Apply to All.
Any four: strong contrast; titles about 32 pt or more and body about 24 pt or more; at most two fonts; plain or very faint backgrounds behind text; few words per slide; do not rely on red versus green alone.
$\frac{26}{4} = 6.5$ , so 7 pages per handout, which is 4 sheets two-sided. $4 \times 30 = 120$ sheets.
The Title Slide layout master may have Hide Background Graphics ticked; or the logo was added to a layout master (Title and Content) instead of the slide master; or a picture background on the title slide covers it.
Poor for this audience. Mixed fonts and colours make the talk look like several unrelated talks and distract parents from the content; it is harder to read and looks less professional. A shared theme and master give one clear look; personality can come through each member's photos, examples and way of speaking.

Sources and credits

Steps checked against What is a slide master?, Microsoft Support (facts only).
Video: PowerPoint: Slide Master View, GCFLearnFree (LearnFree), embedded from YouTube.
The table, diagram, worked examples, hands-on task and practice items were written by Ganzaa. The history club's talk is invented.

1Four authors, four styles

2Fonts, themes and backgrounds

3The slide master

4The handout master

5Hands-on: give your presentation one look

Four authors, four styles

Fonts, themes and backgrounds

The slide master

The handout master

Hands-on: give your presentation one look