When Constraints Limit and Inspire: Characterizing Presentation Authoring Practices for Evolving Narratives

TL;DR

This paper explores how presentation constraints influence authoring practices, introduces the CMPA framework, and presents ReSlide, a prototype that helps presenters actively incorporate constraints into slide creation and reuse.

Contribution

It introduces the CMPA framework for understanding constraints in presentation authoring and demonstrates ReSlide, a prototype that supports constraint-aware slide creation and reuse.

Findings

ReSlide helps presenters treat constraints as active design drivers.

Presenters flexibly reuse and adapt content across sessions.

Constraints influence how content is structured and evolved.

Abstract

Authoring presentation slides involves navigating contextual constraints that shape how content is structured, adapted, and reused. While prior work frames constraints as limitations, little is known about how presenters actively reason about them. We conducted a formative study with ten presenters to examine how constraints emerge, are interpreted, and influence authoring decisions, leading to the Constraint-based Multi-session Presentation Authoring (CMPA) framework. CMPA treats time, audience, and communicative intent as key constraints shaping authoring. We instantiated CMPA in ReSlide, a research prototype for constraint-aware slide creation and reuse, and conducted two user studies on (1) single-session behaviors and (2) multi-session workflows. Compared to a baseline tool, ReSlide helped presenters treat constraints as active design drivers that guide narrative construction. The second study further shows how presenters flexibly reuse and adapt content across authoring cycles as constraints evolve. We then propose design implications for future constraint-aware presentation tools.