Here is the tenth edition of our Weekly Office 2.0 Roundup. Today, we will review 13 online presentation tools, from AJAX-S to Zoho Show. We will identify some unique features that might help your own selection process, and you will get a chance to cast your vote for the best online presentation tool.

With the help of many contributors, we completed the Presentation section of the Office 2.0 Database. From the 13 players we identified for this article, eight are actively developed by legitimate companies, three had not been released at the time of writing (Preezo, SlideAware, and Zenter), and two are virtually dormant, if not abandoned (gOFFICE Presentations and Thumbstacks).

Functionality
From a functionality standpoint, an online presentation tool lets you design a presentation directly from your web browser, then embed it into your blog or web site, send it via email, or deliver it in real-time to multiple users using a simple web browser. All the applications we reviewed are built in AJAX, Flash, or Java, and only one (Empressr) requires a browser extension. About half of the applications support the sharing of presentations for collaborative development purposes, as well as the import of existing presentations built with Microsoft PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org. A few applications, such as Spresent and ThinkFree Show, support both online and offline editing of presentations, while most of the applications we reviewed support offline viewing. Virtually none of the applications we reviewed support any kind of custom branding, custom domains or custom subdomains. For real-time presentations, the more advanced applications we reviewed support the invitation of participants via email, and the remote-control of slide transitions by the presenter, while all participants are logged to the same URL from their web browser.

Ease of Migration
Migrating from an offline presentation tool such as Microsoft PowerPoint to an online alternative is challenging only if you want to carry forward a set of existing presentations and templates. Complex presentations tend to make extensive use of graphics and animations, which makes it difficult for online tools built in AJAX to handle properly. In the case where existing presentations need to be imported, alternatives built in Flash (Empressr and Spresent) or Java (ThinkFree Show) should be preferred to their AJAX counterparts. Nevertheless, presentations built from scratch can really take advantage of the collaboration and web content embedding features usually found in tools built in AJAX, such as Thumbstacks or Zoho Show.

Price
At present time, all the applications we reviewed are entirely free, at the exception of gOFFICE Presentations, which charges $0.99 a month for usage, even though it does not seem to be developed anymore. Because most of these applications are still under Beta, we expect commercial editions to be released once they become generally available, most likely using a low monthly fee between $5 and $10. Some applications that are part of larger stacks might remain free for the foreseeable future, as should be the case for ThinkFree Show and Zoho Show for example.

Alternatives
The main alternative to an online presentation tool is a web conferencing tool such as Vyew, or the newly released Zoho Meeting. Furthermore, both online presentation tools and web conferencing tools might be used together, in the case where your presentation tool does not support remote control of slide transitions.

Top 10 Players
Several online presentation tools do make use of HTTPS, therefore the Alexa ranking is not as reliable as we would like it to be. Also, rankings for S5 and AJAX-S reflect the popularity of their respective authors’ blogs, rather than the popularity of the tools. Nevertheless, and according to this ranking, we can extrapolate a Top 10 list of players in the space, which is somehow corroborated by their respective Google PageRanks.

Editor’s note: Alexa only ranks primary domains, not subdomains. Therefore, traffic generated by Zoho Show is lost among the traffic generated by all applications provided by Zoho. According to Alexa, Zoho Show accounts for 4% of Zoho’s overall traffic, therefore it can be assumed that Zoho Show is one of the most popular online presentation tools currently available.

Quick Reviews
There are only 11 applications in our database, so all of them got a review.

AJAX-S: AJAX-S is an AJAX-based presentation tool based on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with data stored as XML files. It only works in Internet Explorer 6 and Mozilla-based web browsers, and requires manual programming for the development of any presentation. As such, it can be considered as an early prototype tool, precursor to the WYSIWYG tools that are available today. AJAX-S can be embedded into any blog or web site, and is entirely free to use.

Empressr: Empressr is a web application that lets you create, share and store Flash-based presentations online. Presentations developed with Empressr can embed rich media such as animations and videos, while intuitive wizards assist you in selecting fonts, images and multimedia assets.

gOFFICE Presentations: gOFFICE Presentations is an online presentation tool that generates PDF or HTML files that can be saved, emailed, faxed or mailed directly from the site. gOFFICE Presentations supports complex fonts and offers free letterhead designs. Unfortunately, the tool does not seem to be developed anymore, therefore users looking for a long term solution should consider other alternatives.

S5: S5 is a slide show format based entirely on XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript. With one file, you can run a complete slide show, and have a printer-friendly version as well. Even though the markup used for the slides is very simple, highly semantic, and completely accessible, manual programming is required for the development of any presentation, as is the case for AJAX-S, therefore most users will prefer to use a WYSIWYG alternative.

Scooch: Scooch is an accessible slide show creator and presentation blog. It is based on industry standards, and can be embedded within any blog or web site. Scooch requires installation on a PHP server, but is free for non commercial use.

SlideShare: SlideShare is a free service for sharing presentations and slideshows. As such, it does not let you develop new presentations or edit existing ones directly. Instead, it allows you to upload your PowerPoint, OpenOffice.org, Keynote or PDF presentations, tag them, embed them into your blog or website, browse others’ presentations, and comment on individual slides. What’s more, the transcripts of your presentation will be indexed by internet search engines and show up in search results.

Spresent: Spresent is a free Web-based presentation application built with Flash. Spresent does not have all the features offered by Microsoft PowerPoint, but sports a very intuitive user interface, therefore should be considered as an online alternative to a tool like Apple Keynote. Presentations can be shared via e-mail or published on your web site or blog. Remote control for real-time presentations should be supported soon.

ThinkFree Show: ThinkFree Show is an online presentation tool offering a quick edit mode built in AJAX, and a power edit mode built in Java. The ThinkFree Office Show’s formatting and rendering features ensure that Microsoft PowerPoint documents opened in Show will display correctly. Reversely, a document that is created in ThinkFree Office Show will render correctly in Microsoft PowerPoint. Undoubtedly, ThinkFree Office Show is the most feature-rich online presentation tool currently available, and one that offers a user interface that is as close to Microsoft PowerPoint’s as is possible in a web browser.

Thumbstacks: Thumbstacks is a lightweight online presentation tool, quite similar to gOFFICE Presentations, with an easy-to-use editor and a simple drawing tool. Thumbstacks does not seem to be actively developed anymore, therefore users looking for a long term solution should consider other alternatives.

Zoho Show: Zoho Show is an online presentation tool that allows you to import your existing presentations (.ppt, .pps, .odp, .sxi), develop new presentations from scratch, embed your presentations in your blog or web site, and give remote presentations with complete control for the presenter. Zoho Show is tightly integrated with other components of the Zoho suite, such as Zoho Creator and Zoho Sheet.

Personal Favorites
I currently use ThinkFree Show and Zoho Show. Complex presentations given to customers, partners, and investors are built using ThinkFree Show, from templates originally developed with Microsoft PowerPoint. Simple presentations served from my blogs and web sites and embedding charts generated by Zoho Sheet from data managed in Dabble DB or Zoho Creator are built using Zoho Show.

What’s Missing
Better looking templates and fancy transitions like the ones found in Apple Keynote.

Best Online Presentation Tool
Now that we know what’s out there, it’s time for a vote:

Note: if you cannot see the voting form, please follow this link.

Final results will be announced next week on Your Office 2.0 Setup and as an update to this post. In the meantime, please help me build next week’s roundup on Spreadsheet editors. You can use this form courtesy of Wufoo for suggesting new applications, or providing additional information about existing ones. I would also welcome ideas for domain-specific criteria that could be used for evaluating the players on our list.

See you next week!

Disclaimer: I serve as an advisor for ThinkFree and Zoho.