iWork ‘08: Pages

iWork, Apple’s office suit has received a long awaited overhaul and has brought aboard a new Application, Numbers as an Excel competitor. How does it stack up compared to other Office Applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint? Quite awesome actually. Here is part 1 (of 2) of my iWork ’08 review

While people use word processors to accomplish their needs whether they be pros or the casual users when it comes down to it we just only need the basics: the ability to type text. We can then manipulate it as we please which is one of the advantages of editing text digitally.

While I am sure you are familiar with most word processors under the sun from Text Edit to Microsoft Office. However are needs vary and as a casual user I my only requirement is being able to type and format text how I see fit. I don’t need to pay extra for features I will never use let alone know about.

The main reason has been finding what capabilities Microsoft Word has, it was cluttered and confusing. In addition I needed something fast and simple as my main Mac is an aging iBook G3, Text Edit fit the bill. But then I was turned on to iWork and decided to give it a test drive, Apple was providing a free 30 day trial so I had nothing to lose. My experience so far has been above satisfactory.

Pages

I am new to the entire iWork suite but have dabbled in Microsoft Office. One of the biggest advantages in making the switch is the huge increase in speed and simplicity. Even on my old iBook iWork runs much, much faster than Microsoft Office.

In addition learning most of the features of Pages is relatively simple and straightforward as the default toolbar contains most of them. While I won’t drill down on the features Apple lists I will go down on some of the more important items and the overall user experience.

Formats

One of the most important things when it comes to cross platform compatibility is which format will work the best. There is no such thing as a universal format for anything as sacrifices had to be made and features adjusted. But we can get pretty close to flawless integration. However Pages really loves to keep in the .Pages format with no way to set a default option such as .Doc or .Rtf but you do have the option to export.

While pages can natively read and write Microsoft Office documents you don’t have much of a say in how your file comes out. You have the option of .Doc, .Rtf, .PDF and .Pages and plain text, compared to other editors this is a minimal selection but still good enough for the average user.

However if you are dealing with cross platform compatibility you might choose a PDF document or Microsoft Word Document, you lose most of your format in Plain Text (obviously) and in Rich Text Formatting.

But there is one feature that Microsoft Office 2007 users will appreciate and that is Open XML compatibility. Here is the real kicker, Apple was able to release this a full 4 months before Microsoft 2008 ships. Your only alternative is a beta converter which is a half baked solution.

Use

Besides the usual function of typing up School assignments I tend to write up Blog posts offline so I always have an archived copy and that I am not too fond of using a Web Browser to edit massive posts either (I learned the hard way).

Nonetheless I need to keep track of links and tidbits of information easily and have it readily available. This is where Tracking and Comments come in. They are both straightforward in what they do

If I were to highlight the paragraph above I could add a comment on how much I love the Comments feature and link to the iWork ‘08 page on Apple’s Web Site. I could even add in a URL that will take me there via Safari.

With tracking I can see what changes have been made and can initiate it any time. If I accidentally delete a paragraph of text I needed or find out I need it later it is always there, right where I left it. It works much the same way comments does in that it shows up in the side bar and that I can delete certain changes.

The Interface

Like I said, everything is straightforward in Pages and I am still getting ahold of everything. The layout and orientation of objects such as the toolbar and sidebar is an extreme change but not so foreign that you won’t learn quickly. I love that iWork can handle templates and how you can customize your own or download templates from the Web.

I’d have to say that for the casual user such as myself who does not want to drown in a sea of features iWork provides an easy escape while maintaining a strong stance on function.