Putting A PowerPoint
Presentation Online

WebCT directions based on those provided by Webtech Ivy LaGrone,
with additional information added by Sara Tucker, zztuck@washburn.edu

Putting PPT Online into WebCT

Converting PPT to HTML for WebCT use

• Open your PowerPoint (PPT) presentation within Microsoft PowerPoint and select Save as Web Page
• Select where you want to save the file on your computer; name the document, change the filename as you wish to create a Document Title, select the Publish button
• You will want to make sure the radio buttons next to "Complete presentation" under the "Publish what?" option and the "Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later" under the Browser support options are selected. You will also be given the option again to change the title of the page and to change the file name if you wish at this time. Select the Publish button at the bottom of the dialog box.
• Now open Windows Explorer. Do this by clicking the Start button at the bottom left corner of a Windows operating system. Select Programs from the menu that appears; Windows Explorer (or Explorer) should appear as one choice. Select it. It will show you the entire "tree" of your various folders and subfolders. Go to the folder in which you saved your PPT files and locate the files that were created when your PPT presentation was converted to html. 

Tech Tip: Note that Explorer makes it easy for you to see which file in a folder is the html one. It will be marked by an icon like the one on the left, which always identifies the file it accompanies as html.

• NOTE: when PPT files are converted to html, a) a base file is created named "filename.htm" and b) a folder named "filename_files" containing all of the files are both created. (Thus for a PPT presentation named "Hitler," you would have a "Hitler.htm" file and a "Hitler_files" folder.) The base file and the folder will both be saved the same place, but the basefile will be separate from the folder, not in it. Both are needed in order for PPT files to work correctly.


  Zipping your HTML-version PPT
 

• Before uploading the files into WebCT, you will want to Zip the folder with all of the PPT slides within it; otherwise you'd have to upload each and every different image file separately into WebCT. (If you don't have Zip software on your PC, you can get it by going to this WU zip download site. Do this before going on with these directions.)
• To zip the folder, right click on the folder "filename.htm" and select the Add to Zip option. This will bring up a Zip program box.
• Make sure the correct file name is listed within the "Add to archive:" box; select the Add (and replace) files option from the "Action:" menu; select the Normal option from the "Compression:" menue; and be sure the Include system and hidden files option is selected from "Attributes:" menu. Select the Add button in the upper right hand corner of the box. The Zipped version of the folder will appear in the same directory or subdirectory as the original unzipped file. 

Tech Tip: Again, icons shown in Windows Explorer make it easier to distinguish different types of files. Zipped files are shown by the icon, left.

  Uploading your PPT file & folder into WebCT
 
• Browse into your WebCT online course. Within WebCT's Manage Files, upload the base file named "filename.htm" and the zip file of the filename_files folder. Be sure both are in the same WebCT directory.
• Open the zip file by selecting the checkbox to the left of the zipped file; select the Unzip option from the middle drop-down menu box and select the Go button next to it.
• When linking to a PPT presentation you must link to the base file named "filename.htm" in order for it to work correctly. When this link is selected within WebCT a PPT presentation is launched.
Publishing PPT to the open web
 
Important Info: Current Limits to PPT on the Web:
• Browsing into PPT on the open web is still tricky. It seems to work reliably only when using Microsoft's Internet Explorer at least at the 4.0 level, and better at 5.0 and above.  Luckily IE comes with, and so is available on, all PCs with Windows operating systems, even if one has chosen to download and use Netscape instead. It is possible that Netscape 6.0 and above also works, but this is not guaranteed.
• Therefore keep in mind that students whose only web access comes through WU computer labs will not have reliable access to open web PPT presentations. They probably won't run at all, since WU uses only Netscape as a web browser.

Even students with home pc web access may have slow connections or be operating less advanced browsers. They may have to wait a very long time for large numbers of images to download, and may never hear sound files.
Converting PPT to HTML for open web use  (not quite the same as for WebCT)
• Open your PowerPoint (PPT) presentation within Microsoft PowerPoint and select Save as Web Page
• Select where you want to save the file on your computer; name the document, change the filename as you wish to create a Document Title, select the Publish button
• You will want to make sure the radio buttons next to "Complete presentation" under the "Publish what?" option and the "Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator 4.0 or later" under the Browser support options are selected.  (Notice this is different from the "3.0 or later" option chosen for WebCT use.) You will also be given the option again to change the title of the page and to change the file name if you wish at this time. Select the Publish button at the bottom of the dialog box.
• Now open Windows Explorer. Do this by clicking the Start button at the bottom left corner of a Windows operating system. Select Programs from the menu that appears; Windows Explorer (or Explorer) should appear as one choice. Select it. It will show you the entire "tree" of your various folders and subfolders. Go to the folder in which you saved your PPT files and locate the files that were created when your PPT presentation was converted to html.
• NOTE: when PPT files are converted to html, a) a base file is created named "filename.htm" and b) a folder named "filename_files" containing all of the files are both created. (Thus for a PPT presentation named "Hitler," you would have a "Hitler.htm" file and a "Hitler_files" folder.) The base file and the folder will both be saved the same place, but the basefile will be separate from the folder, not in it. Both are needed in order for PPT files to work correctly.
   Using FTP to transfer files to the open web
• What is FTP? FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is often the easiest way to move files between computers if one has access to accounts at both ends of the process. While unfortunately WebCT doesn't allow instructors this quick access, it is available for posting to the open web.
• If you don't already have FTP software on your computer, you need to get it by going the the WU downloads page and clicking on the download link for WS-FTP LE.
• In order to use FTP, you must be able to configure it with some very specific information. Often the easiest was to do this is to get WU's user services on the phone (x 2385) as you sit in front of your computer screen. But the following information may let you do it on your own.
• Start WS-FTP Do so either by clicking on the desktop icon or finding it in your Program Files. To do the second, click on the Start button at the far right of your bottom tool bar. Click on Programs in the popup box that appears. Ws-ftp should be one of the programs listed; click on it tot start.)
• General Session Properties. A Session Properties box should appear, with the "General" tab view showing. You will want to creat  a new configuration, so click the "New" button top right. The Profile Name box should now be blank. Choose and key in a name for this connection to your webpages (Ex: WUweb). For Host Name/Address put in the name of the basic server on which your web account exists. Often this is www.washburn.edu,  as below. Leave Host Type at "Automatic detect." At User ID: put your own login account (usually zzSomething), and then key in your password at Password. Check Save Pwd if you are on a secure computer and feel safe doing so.

WS-FTP Session Properties - General view; typical configuration

• Startup Configuration: Now you've got information entered that connects your whole computer to the correct (we hope) WU server. Next, you want to narrow things down so the connection goes directly to your own nitch on the larger WU server. And, just to make things easier, you might as well specify what drive and directories you'll be working from on your own computer. To do this,  click on the "Startup" tab, which is the second from the right just under the top blue bar.  On the Initial Remote Host Directory (the WU one), enter the correct path to your own web nitch. For someone in the History Department of the WU College of Arts and Sciences, this could be /web/cas/history/xxxxx, with xxxx being the individual's own individual account name. The Initial Local Directory refers to your own computer. The example below reflects the fact that most people's files are on their C drive, and often they are all in the MyDocuments directory of the C drive. All other boxes can be left blank.

WS-FTP Session Properties - Startup view; typical configuration
 
• Start WS-FTP. Once you've got it configured, it's time to start WS-FTP. Click the OK button at the lower left. Fairly quickly a larger WS-FTP box should appear. (If you get a transfer failed notice, call User Services for help.) The Local System shows the files of the computer or server you are currently using; the Remote System shows the files to which you want to make a transfer. Use the  down button and the  green arrow to move up and down directory levels in both computer systems. Do this until you have visible on your current system the PPT file and folder to be transfered, and open in the remote system, the directory to which you want it to go. Select the file or folder to be transfered by clicking once on its name (a blue bar should appear over the name, as is shown in the example below). Click on the bottom arrow button of the two appearing on the center panel of the box (it should point towards the Remote System box). The transfer process should start.

WS-FTP box
 
• Creating a link. The last thing to do is to put up a link by which people can find, and start viewing, your PPT presentation. The link will be the name of your activating file (remember "filename.htm," example - "Hitler.htm"). Simply create a link however you usually do so, with that filename (and any needed path statement).