Keynote Wish List

This is a compiled wish list from my own personal list, e-mails and forum posts on the apple site. This is by no means a complete list, it's been updated for the changes in K3.

Updated January 13th, 2007

  1. Better drawing tools, including Flowchart tools (including more shapes, more gradients, punch out functions). If Apple could put in almost a mini Illustrator engine this would allow for MUCH more advanced layout without relying on something else. Currently I use OmniGraffle, Illustrator & Fireworks to create things I'd rather make in Keynote, such as rounded boxes, better gradients, boxes with punchouts, etc)
  2. Ability to scale GROUPED Objects
  3. Ability to import EPS images
  4. AppleScript (well, FULL Applescript) (there's a 3rd party plug in that fixes this)
  5. HyperLinks that can trigger other applications or files
  6. Slide Sorter like PPT has
  7. Continous Audio tracks with more control, like how long they play, adding a fade out, and more than ONE song across the show (as it is now we get 1 song or playlist triggered at the beginning, or 1 song per slide, and nothing more)
  8. Ability to set Drop Shadow to NOT be affected by transparency of object
  9. 3D rotation & 3D charts (and better chart tools)
  10. Multiple "Body" type boxes. Or at least Two instead of One. Heck they could just add a Column button to the current one. Or even just add the Bullet option to regular text boxes.
  11. Gradient wipe transitions. There are TONS of gradient files out there for iMovie and Final Cut Pro, let us grab those and make a wipe transition. All we get now is Burn.
  12. Ability to drag a Master slide down to make a new slide from that master. Now you have to choose "New Slide' and then apply the master to it. I just keep trying to do it and it never works! :)
  13. Refine the Inspector. It takes a week to get used to where everything is, and switching back and forth between all the modes is annoying, even with multiple windows open. This is better in Keynote 2, but still somewhat annoying, especially when the SIZE of the inspector changes between modes. K3 is a bit better, but I still have to open the freakin' Fonts panel just to change the font.
  14. A Theme builder helper palette that would let you choose stuff globally without having to manually select everything and then set it.
  15. Better QuickTime/Quartz system. I KNOW there's more power in there, so why can't I bring in bullets without getting a pause in the movie? We haven't tested K3 with this yet.
  16. Movies play THROUGH the transitions, instead of stoping when the transition starts.
  17. Apply one Master Slide Style to another Master Slide, or copy & paste ALL attributes.
  18. Allow EMPTY text fields on a Master Slide so they can just be filled in on a regular slide, like the Title & Body boxes.
  19. QuickTime VR interactivity support. This is still not really supported in Keynote 2
  20. Full Flash Interactivity Support
  21. Better handout printing abilities. Everyone who uses PPT for this complains when they get Keynote We think they got this covered in K3 with the addition of the ability to print notes along with thumbnails.
  22. Ability to Build-in a QT movie with just "Play Now", and have it show a Poster Frame until then.
  23. Ability to use an Import function to just import certain slides from a PPT or .key file.
  24. Pause a QuickTime movie while the presentation is running. Note, you CAN hit the F key note to freeze the show, so this is sort of in there
  25. A pop-up menu (like the bullet image one) that lets you select from all the images in the .key file when choosing an image for an object. Currently you have to copy them from the Chart Colors file and copy and paste the style onto your objects. OR add a nice little library palette with images that can be dragged into the Color Well or right onto an object, table, table cell, etc. This SORT of works with custom bullets.
  26. A Style pallet similar to Fireworks & Photoshop. The ability to use custom Effects & Stlyes on text and objects. Say I want to blur (or feather the edge of) some text and then make it semi-transparent, but still editable. This could really enhance the layout capabilities of Keynote.
  27. The ability to tag a bullet style for ALL masters the way you can with a table or chart.
  28. Ability to use the main screen as a control interface to trigger slides during a show-when using 2 screens in an extended desktop setup. You'd pick up the Church market if you do this. This is BETTER in Keynote 2, but still not as handy as PPT 2004 for cuing slides out of order. Why not give us a way to KEEP the slide selector up and add a scroll bar to it, so we can scroll through the list and cue as needed?
  29. Blending option like Photoshop layers. Let me Multiply/screen/overlay, etc the text box over the background or other objects.
  30. Ability to move the image fill around inside and object-the way paste inside works in Freehand. In K3 you can now use a shape to MASK a photo, and move the photo around inside the mask.
  31. Ability to Paste text as UNFORMATED. A special key combo would work fine for this. There is an option in K3 that lets you past and match the format of the box you're pasting into.
  32. Built-in Equation Editor
  33. Save for Web function (html slide show like PPT)
  34. Key combo to jump to each GROUP of slides. That way you could jump through sections without knowing the slide numbers
  35. Better import of shapes, so that they can be edited inside Keynote. There are some tricks to getting editable shapes into Keynote, but you still can't do anything really complex You can now edit shapes in Keynote, as long as you could already change the fill and stroke. Complex imported shapes, such as those with holes punched into them usually either lose the hole, or the whole shape goes wacky when you try to edit in Keynote.
  36. Better Inkwell support, including writing on slides. This COULD come now that K3 allows for apps to draw OVER the running show.
  37. Play current slide transition when cueing slides with the slide number.
  38. Rotate text WITHIN Table Cells
  39. Overline text (for electronics stuff)
  40. Image Adjustment tools like PPT has.
  41. Ability to import text into the Notes area.
  42. Persuasion Import (I guess there are quite a few users still out there).
  43. Cursor proxy. This allows you to move the cursor around inside the current slide preview on the presenter display and have it show up on the main screen. We never realized PPT 2004 does this, but it does, and folks are asking for it in Keynote.
  44. Give us a punch tool so we can punch holes in a Keynote shape. This option alone would allow folks to create photo cutouts without leaving Keynote. Simply punch a hole in a slide sized object and fill that object with an image and you've got a photo cutout.

Okay, now here's the fun part. These are my thoughts on how Apple could REALLY move Keynote up in the world:

  1. Add an export to iDVD function (one click DVD creation so to speak). Give us plenty of options such as, include .Key file on disc, interactive or self playing or BOTH, etc. When we choose interactive, you could make it create a new track for each slide and drop chapters at each build so that the system waits for us at each build. This would allow for sales people to give the presentation right from the DVD. Let the designers make the thing and every salesman could use it.
  2. Build in the Safari engine and give us a Web container. This would let us drop an actual live web page right on a slide. PPT on the Mac has NOTHING like this. No need for hyperlinks, just show the page right there in the presentation. Keynote 2 ALMOST does this, but all you get is a preview window, no live navigation.
  3. Give us the ability to use a QT movie as a transition. Check out these movies at DigitalJuice. The ability to use one of these as a transition would totally change the way Keynote looks. In comes a hand, it clicks the remote, the screen goes fuzzy, the hand clicks again and the screen goes clean, showing the new slide. As long as at least one or two frames of the movie is 100% opaque, this would work great. DVD Studio Pro calls these Alpha Transitions.
  4. A new Conferencing module. You've got QT Streaming Server, you've got the iSight, you've got iChat, and you've got Keynote. MANY MANY companies are looking for a solution that lets them see a speaker, a chat or notes area AND a PPT file. Microsoft has this, and several other companies have it, but Apple has nothing that works with Keynote. They need this BADLY. So far the only option is to export as a PDF and go with a third party.
  5. Advanced compositing. I'd love to see a Lens container as one of the objects. Drop a circle on something and choose to force anything under it to black and white. One could even choose to magnify it, so that you don't have to duplicate your image and take it to photoshop to enlarge and crop in the shape of a circle. Other modes could be lense bulge, sepia, etc. Add the ability to turn on and off a border stroke and you've got a powerful tool. In addition to this I'd like to see some photoshop style composite modes working in Keynote. Heck, it would even allow one to import layered PS files and have the effects still WORK. Lastly, just the added ability to MOVE a photo that has been set as an object fill would be a great addition. So far you get what you get and you can't move it around, so you can't make your own cutouts this way.
  6. Drop Zones? This idea actually scares me, but if iDVD and DVDSP have it, and Keynote already has photo cutouts, it seems like a logical step. As a theme builder I have a feeling this one will confound me to no end if you do it, but I just toss it out there. The lense idea might come into play here also. Or, instead of calling it a drop zone, give us a different kind of masking tool, say a "cutout" object, that when applied actually cuts HOLES in things below it (but only on the master slide). Then on a regular slide, these holes would act just like the Photo cutouts. This would make theme creation and editing MUCH easier.