15596 I finally have iWork '08 installed on my computer, and I've been experimenting with using Pages. I really more of a text editor guy than a word processor guy. I very seldom print anything out in hard copy, and even more rarely use any significant amount of text or document formatting other than HTML. I also work with a lot of material that arrives by email, which makes the text-cleaning functions of a text editor like Tex Edit Plus or TextWrangler - my two favorites - indispensable. I also am addicted to the "right now" speed and responsiveness of those applications, and by comparison, most word processors feel ponderous and top heavy.

However, along with Internet applications like browsers and email clients, word processors are the next most popular software category, and after using it for a couple of weeks, I can say that Pages is a very nice one that for many users should prove a more than satisfactory alternative to Microsoft Word. Incidentally, Pages opens Word documents very nicely, and can export documents in Word format, as well as PDF, RTF, and plain text, but unfortunately has no HTML conversion/export function.

For one thing, Pages is a very pleasant environment to work in, with what in my estimation is the most aesthetically attractive user interface of any word processor ever - very white and clean-looking with sensibly laid out and intuitive controls and tools.

When you first start up Pages, it displays a dialog window that asks you to choose a document template in one of Pages' dual-personality categories - Word Processing or Page Layout, which is one aspect where Pages distinguishes itself from other word processor applications.

Word Processing templates include Blank (the default and my usual choice), Letters, Envelopes, Forms, Resumés, Reports, and Miscellaneous. When you click on one of these categories in the left pane of the template window, a selection of document subtypes within the category will appear in the right pane. For example, if you choose "Reports," you will be offered Modern Report, Term Paper, Research Paper, School Report, Syllabus, Business Report, White Paper, and Project Proposal options.

When you open one of these, it will appear with placeholder text to show you what your document will look like and where various categories of text will appear. To replace the placeholder text with your own, just highlight and type or paste in a block of text from the clipboard.

Alternatively, you might choose a Page Layout document instead of one of the word processing categories if your project will be graphics-intensive, such as a flyer or newsletter. Other page layout categories are Brochures, Poster, Cards & iNvitations, Business Cards (you can also create your own templates and add them to the template window under "My Template" - sort of the way "Stationery" used to work in the old AppleWorks and ClarisWorks applications.

The main differences between Word Processing and Page Layout documents in terms of how you work with them are:

1. With a Word Processing document, you can type text anywhere you want within the margins; with a Page Layout document you can only type in text boxes - either the ones provided in the that played or ones you add yourself.

2. In a Word Processing document, when you fill a page with text, a new page is automatically created, and you just keep on rolling. With a Page Layout document, you have to manually create a new page with new text boxes (you can also use text boxes in pages WordPerfect to documents as well).

3. In Page Layout documents, the page is a discrete entity.

4. You can add floating and in mind objects to page layout documents, but you can't change your object from one kind to another.

That's the basics of getting started creating documents with Pages. As I alluded to above, the program's AppleWorks/ClarisWorks ancestry is unmistakably evident, which should please longtime 'Works fans.

A few more early general impressions For this time.

Pages is not exactly a speedster on my 1.33 GHz G4 PowerBook. Documents open and dialog boxes appear at a leisurely pace, and even document saves are slow enough to display a progress bar. I find that a bit frustrating after being accustomed to the virtually instant response with Tex Edit Plus.

For quick word counts, it's a pain to have to root around in a submenu of the Edit Menu for the "Statistics" command, wich doesn't even have a keybpard shortcut assigned. The alternative is to keep the Inspector Window (click the "I" in the toolbar) open, which provides a running tally of document data.

Another thing that bugs me is the lag-time between highlighting a block of test and being able to drag it to drop somewhere else. I know that this is a Cocoa convention - a "feature, not a bug," - and other applications such as DEVONthink Pro, which I admire greatly in most aspects, are likewise afflicted, but I'm used to the responsiveness of Tex Edit Plus, and haviing to wait that annoying second or so before clicking to drag is a royal pain, and I end up double-pumping more often than not.

However, those gripes (which I'm sure would be less of an issue on Intel Macs or even faster G4s) notwithstanding, I'm enjoying Pages, and as I observed, it's a nice environment to work in.

Charles W. Moore

Tags: Hot Topics ï iLife ï iLife How To ï iLife Reviews ï

Login † or † Register † †