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I work with about 60 schools and many classrooms and would like to replace Powerpoint entirely (for many reasons). Moving to the browser and writing HTML and assets in a CMS that publishes to templates is standard, but we lose one key thing in the classroom environment: animations.

What I'm imagining is having our classes in the browser and writing them in an authoring tool that would allow the class writers to select CSS/JS animations (for text, images or scrolling (ex: next page/section animations)) as well as assets (sound, video, images) to work with.

I am not sure if anything like this exists, but if anyone has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate the feedback!

Edit: I should have included that by "replace Powerpoint entirely" I do not mean with a free or alternative version of Powerpoint (ex: WPS, LibreOffice).

Edit 2: By "class" I am talking about classes with students. I'm looking to replicate a Powerpoint experience in-browser and would like a CMS/authoring tool that allows me to build such an experience. As I mentioned above, most CMS's can do all this, but they are lacking animations. I'd like a CMS that can save a pre-set bank of CSS/JS animations that I can use to more easily create my content.

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  • Have you looked at LibreOffice Impress? libreoffice.org/discover/impress
    – Steve Barnes
    Jan 5, 2015 at 5:53
  • @SteveBarnes Thanks for the fast input. I should have clarified -- by "replace Powerpoint" I meant any kind of presentation software. I don't want to replace MS Powerpoint with any free version of Powerpoint -- they do the same things. I'm looking to do this a little more sustainably, through code.
    – BrendanC
    Jan 5, 2015 at 6:07

3 Answers 3

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I had difficulty parsing your needs and I think it might be because the word "class" could have at least three meanings in your text. Nevertheless, I think you are looking for libraries that allow you to animate HTML documents in ways that are similar to animations available in PowerPoint.

If I am right, then the blog post "18 CSS Effect Libraries for Creating Beautiful Animations" should give you tons of tools.

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  • I was hoping that "I work with about 60 schools and many classrooms" clarified that by "class" I am talking about classes with students. In fact, I already have the CSS effects in mind, what I'm looking for, as the title suggests, is a CMS/authoring tool/site builder (for lack of a better word) that allows me to write my content and then select a CSS or JS animation to go with it. You are correct in saying that I am trying to reproduce something similar to Powerpoint.
    – BrendanC
    Jan 6, 2015 at 9:30
  • Your most recent edit makes more sense to me. I wasn't sure if you meant CSS class at first. I'll write a new answer.
    – hunterhogan
    Jan 6, 2015 at 9:37
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I believe that you want WordPress as your CMS. There is a good chance you will be able to find a theme with the features you want, and if you cannot, then you can make your own theme with precisely the features you want. "Flipbook" style themes are quite popular right now and sme of them already have most of the features you are looking for.

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  • Thanks, but I'd very much like to find a CMS that does not require me to register a domain, new site, etc... I'm dealing with proprietary content, which means I'd want all of the HTML files to be saved locally, never online. If I were creating a blog, something public, this would be a great solution.
    – BrendanC
    Jan 7, 2015 at 3:48
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    1) WordPress only needs an IP address, it does not need a domain name. 2) WordPress runs on Apache, PHP, and MySQL. If you are already "saving your HTML locally", then your team must have the skills to administrate those three things. 3) WordPress started as blogging software, but it is the most used CMS in the world now. See WordPress.ORG not WordPress.COM.
    – hunterhogan
    Jan 7, 2015 at 5:38
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I think just yesterday I have recommended this opensource webapp for another question but it fits the bill perfectly for your usecase (that is if I have understood it correctly):

DeckDeckGo

This is an authoring tool and not only does it allow all the usual animation and stuff it has this very cool feature for polls which might be useful in a classroom environment whereby the question is on the screen and answer can be provided by using phone.

Hope this is helpful. :)

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