Remember the OpenOffice.org prototype? Now you can try the Renaissance Impress without any installation (but you do need Java installed). Remember that this is just a prototype, only to be used to see how it looks. That being said, you can download the Impress prototype from HERE.

Project Renaissance of OpenOffice.org opened up proposals for "Access Functionality" design changes for its office suite on April 20, 2009. The Impress presentation application was chosen as the Guinea pig. Deadline for submissions is just around the corner: May 4, 2009.

Getting started quickly with Impress is very easy. Impress will start by default with an Wizard that will take you through 3 quick steps to the place where you will be entering information into your presentation.

OpenOffice.org Impress makes LaTeX + Beamer look user-friendly. Now that I've gone through turning my OLF slides from boring black-on-white to prettier, I realize how much of a usability nightmare Impress is.

Everybody knows that you can liven up your OpenOffice.org Impress slide shows with animations. Did you know that you can also use several animation techniques, in combination, to really draw attention to your key points?

One of the major new features for OpenOffice 2.4 on Linux is the 3D capabilities for Impress, the presentation component. The new transitions are not part of the default install, but as an extension. If you’re an Impress user, you may be interested in installing it.

Impress Tables are one of the most welcome features in the recently-released OpenOffice.org 3.0. Using them is straightforward, but they have their limitations, and you may miss one or two useful features before you learn your way around their somewhat awkward interface

Animation is one of the less-known features in OpenOffice.org Impress. Its most obvious uses are for transitions for individual objects on a slide (rather than for the entire slide), or for dramatic emphasis and calling attention to objects.

Using a new product requires some re-learning. That’s unavoidable. But you rarely have to learn an entirely new set of skills - it’s just that the new stuff sticks out at us. This article is to emphasize the similarities between the OpenOffice.org Impress and Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation tools. These are the things you can instantly do with no relearning.