Deciding what type of project you want to create

How you organize the information you’re presenting in your multimodal project depends on the type of project you will produce and what different modes you might use.

A slide show presentation, for instance, is typically linear. Most slide shows have a title slide, an introduction slide or two, body slides, a conclusion slide, and so forth. If you’re giving background information or presenting a problem that needs solving, you will want to do so early in your slide presentation. If you are giving reasons for support, think about how to arrange those reasons: Strongest first? Strongest last?

The notes feature in PowerPoint and other presentation software can help you as you play with arrangement and build your script. What also helps is that you can move slides around fairly easily. Slide show templates can help you figure out what information should be placed where.

The first two slides from a slide show presentation

Unlike a slide presentation, Web sites don’t function in a linear way. They can be arranged with hyperlinks across pages, so you may not want to create a specific path for readers; instead, you can give them different options for experiencing your ideas. What is most important in organizing Web site content is making sure your categories of information are clear.

Related topics:

Using outlines, wireframes, and storyboards

Drafting to support your main idea