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But it's not really 14! Well, it's 14 if you have a zero transition, that is, when slides change very fast, slide A immediately following slide B in a very dynamic show. In all other cases, it's less than 14 because there are always a few moments when both slides are on the screen at the same time. Here, I've made a screenshot to demonstrate this: https://i.imgur.com/XPBOSrT.jpg - so this is the moment when the 7 seconds belonging to slide A are not over yet, but the 7 seconds belonging to slide B already step in. Hope it's easier to understand now.

It's on our updates plan as far as I know.

At any rate, thanks for the feedback, Lesley. It's been very helpful. I'm glad I found this program. It's perfect for the project I'm working on.

Michael

P.S.  An "Undo" option in the Edit drop-down menu would be nice

You say the transition duration is a part of both slides' time duration and is not an additional value, yet later you say if you change the duration of some transitions the total slideshow duration will change inevitably.

The transition duration does not add to the slideshow duration - that's true. It's vice versa actually. The longer the transitions, the shorter the slideshow.

I'd suggest that you re-read my explanation above, make a small test project of 4 or 5 slides, activate the Timeline mode (as opposed to Storyboard) and play with the timing there to see what happens. You can see it all in the Timeline - just look at the slide thumbnails, transition thumbnails and the actual timeline - try changing the transition duration and see how the slides move.

The total duration of slides C and D together was 7+7-2=12 sec. before you made the change. Now it's 7=7-3=11 sec. So if slide D ended at, say, 0:40, it will now end at 0:39 after the change. You can see that in the Timeline. This means that the rest of the slides will be 1 second off with the music.

You say the transition duration is a part of both slides' time duration and is not an additional value, yet later you say if you change the duration of some transitions the total slideshow duration will change inevitably.  Not sure what you mean. I'm currently working on my first slide show and initially thought the former would be true, but am now beginning to wonder.

Let me give you an example of my dilemma.

I'm creating a slide show with slides A thru Z that is synced to a soundtrack. Each slide comes in at a certain point in the soundtrack so timing is important. Let's say I've completed the project and all is good but then I decide to change the transition duration between slides C and D from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. The slide duration of slides C and D are both 7 seconds. I would think that increasing the transition duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds would just affect slides C and D, but what I'm finding out is that making this change causes the timing of slides E through Z to be off with the music.

Why is this happening if the slide durations haven't changed and, supposedly, transition durations don't add time?

Thank you.

I would think that the transition duration between slides would be a part of both slides' time duration and not add or take away total time of the slide project.

That's totally correct. The transition duration is a part of both slides' time duration, so it's not an additional value. You can clearly see it if you switch from Storyboard to Timeline.

The point is that during the transition, both slides are on the screen simultaneously. You can see the previous slide disappearing and the next slide appearing - both of these happening at the same time. So, for two slides, if the duration of each slide is 7 sec. and the transition duration is 2 sec., the total is 7+7-2 = 12 sec. In other words, for the first 5 seconds, slide 1 is on the screen on its own, then there are 2 seconds when it is being wiped off / dissolved etc. and slide 2 starts to appear, and for the next 5 seconds, slide 2 is on the screen. I hope you get it now.

So, if you change the duration of some transitions, the total slideshow duration will change inevitably. For example, if you make transitions longer, the whole slideshow will become shorter.

It's about animation modes actually. In smooth mode, there is some acceleration at the start, then constant speed, and the object slows down towards the end - it's all to prevent jerkiness.

And while we're on the topic of transitions, what's the difference between a constant speed transition and a smooth transition?

Thanks.