Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!columbia!rutgers!pyrnj!mirror!ima!trb
From: trb@ima.UUCP (Andrew Tannenbaum)
Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
Subject: Re: gripe about Washington Usenix conference
Message-ID: <513@ima.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 16-Mar-87 11:13:24 EST
Article-I.D.: ima.513
Posted: Mon Mar 16 11:13:24 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Mar-87 02:48:42 EST
References: <7720@utzoo.UUCP> <1227@msudoc.UUCP> <2992@ihlpg.ATT.COM> <15246@onfcanim.UUCP> <1987Mar10.151850.14051@sq.uucp>
Reply-To: trb@ima.UUCP (Andrew Tannenbaum)
Organization: Interactive Systems, Boston, MA
Lines: 24

> Overhead projectors, as usually used, give images that are light gray
> on a white background.  Yuck!  Turning off the room lights makes it dark
> gray on white, but can also be unpleasant.  At the first day of the
> conference, however, instead of overhead projector foils we were given
> slides, typeset in white on blue.  Much better!  This was apparently an
> innovation of the organizers du jour; it should become a standard.
> (And if the speakers want to point at the slides, the dark background
> allows either flashlight or laser pointers to work nicely.)

Yes, the commonly accepted way to deal with these problems is to use
slides.  The speaker gets a remote control.  The problem of highlighting
should be dealt with *on the slides* by highlighting the proper data in
a brighter color.  You end up with several slides which contain the
same text, each with different highlights.  The best way to do this is
using two projectors pointing at the same screen, with a system that is
designed to fade one in as the other fades out.  No death rays, no
jiggle.

And make sure that the typeface is readable from a distance.  Roman
does not suit this purpose, a sans serif is best, since you can't see
the serifs from the back of a hall anyway.  And keep the text content
of each slide to less than six lines.

	Andrew Tannenbaum   Interactive   Boston, MA   +1 617 247 1155