Pages: A Dusty Diamond [Archive]

MacBytes

Jun 20, 2005, 11:39 AM

http://www.macbytes.com/images/bytessig.gif (http://www.macbytes.com)

Category: Apple Software
Link: Pages: A Dusty Diamond (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050620113938)

Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)
Approved by Mudbug

Mudbug

Jun 20, 2005, 11:40 AM

wrldwzrd89

Jun 20, 2005, 11:43 AM

I agree with the article's points. Pages is an application with great potential - it just hasn't found a niche yet that it's meant to be in. Sure, it has its rough edges still - as the article mentions towards the bottom - that doesn't stop me from playing around with it.

EDIT: Load times for me weren't slow at all. I hope that's not because I'm stuck on MSIE/Win right now :eek: :(

IJ Reilly

Jun 20, 2005, 11:49 AM

simple question - this site is terribly slow to load 99% of the time, and I don't know if you guys think it's worth linking. Lemme know - I'll base future "thinking time" about it on your responses as a group.

Slow loading, and not very interesting once you get there.

However, I do appreciate a few good words about Pages, which I think is developing a poor and undeserved reputation among Mac owners.

Kagetenshi

Jun 20, 2005, 11:55 AM

Not the most deeply insightful of articles, but Pages needs some lovin'—I myself have been a slow convert. The load times were not noticeably slow, though.

~J

redAPPLE

Jun 20, 2005, 11:59 AM

On-topic: i tried Pages. i agree that there is this learning curve, which i didn't want to overcome. when i get to find more time, i would try Pages some more. but i never became productive quickly.

off-topic: i use a G5 1, 8 with 2 Gb RAM and x.4, the site did not open fast as i thought it should. there might be something in the code that slows it down.

Josh

Jun 20, 2005, 12:09 PM

page opened fine for me (3ghz p4, 512mb of ram w/ 1374.2 kbps connection).

I've fooled around with pages a little, and agree it does seem to have potential.

I;m going to try it out a little more in-depth when I get home from work tonight,

heaven

Jun 20, 2005, 12:15 PM

It has really got potential. I have done my english portfolio with Pages and it was really fun making it. At the end it looked amazing :D
Let's hope they don't mess up with the next version

guytoronto

Jun 20, 2005, 12:29 PM

azdude

Jun 20, 2005, 12:30 PM

It loaded fine.

Is it just me, or does his MS Word Resume look a whole lot better than the Pages one he's so proud of? :D

WildCowboy

Jun 20, 2005, 02:38 PM

Loaded in a snap on my PB.

I'm still not convinced about Pages' utility. And I won't even try it until there's a spreadsheet app in iWork. I already have to lay out the cash for Office...iWork isn't giving me a good enough value right now. If it was better than or as good as Office so that I could dump MS, I'd do it. If it offered significantly different abilities than Office, I'd consider it. But it doesn't yet...here's hoping it eventually does.

Oh, and I agree about the resumes...if he handed me his garish Pages one, I'd have a hard time giving him a serious look.

Kagetenshi

Jun 20, 2005, 02:57 PM

Is it just me, or does his MS Word Resume look a whole lot better than the Pages one he's so proud of? :D
It isn't just you, but that's because of some of the specific choices he made. If he'd toned down the colours (just used them to highlight text rather than the large sidebars) it would've looked far better.

~J

Orlando Furioso

Jun 20, 2005, 06:42 PM

What makes it awful? The user interface. The steep learning curve.

it is not awful, just different. As far as it having a steep learning curve; you were joking right?

maximumbarkly

Jun 20, 2005, 06:44 PM

What makes it awful? The user interface. The steep learning curve. Using a Mac is supposed to be intuitive and simple. Pages is neither.

If Pages is to be a replacement for AppleWorks, they have a long way to go. Get Numbers completed. Add a paint and drawing program. Make them integrate as nicely as Adobe applications. Then iWork might be something to look at.

The UI needs tweaking, but it certainly isnt bad. Just make two clicks in the window tab and its easy. What bothered me was that i couldnt open or save a .cwk file in pages. that just should not be.

i still use iWork rather than office, i dont really have any use for a spreadsheet app so im alright.

7on

Jun 20, 2005, 07:08 PM

1Ghz G4 with 1GB of ram... And Pages give me the beachball whenever I type in text or click on something... possibly a glitch? or just my rig?

Chobit

Jun 20, 2005, 09:25 PM

Page loaded fine for me-

I also have been a slow convert to pages. I don't think that the learning curve is difficult, i think its just so very different from word that it is just odd at first.

gabriel_uk

Jun 21, 2005, 02:43 PM

...mainly because Word is clunky, annoying, and well... un-Appleonian.

But the crucial question is: can Pages import Word documents?? Because I have a morass of them. :cool:

7on

Jun 21, 2005, 02:46 PM

Not complex docs (wordart for example). And my Pages wouldn't see certain fonts that Word saw (Wingdings for example) when opening a doc.

Solved my beachball problem, a restart was all that was needed

gabriel_uk

Jun 21, 2005, 02:52 PM

Not complex docs (wordart for example). And my Pages wouldn't see certain fonts that Word saw (Wingdings for example) when opening a doc.
Thanks 7on - but does complex docs include those with columns, text boxes and/or tables (if you know)?

CaptainHaddock

Jun 24, 2005, 06:37 PM

Not complex docs (wordart for example). And my Pages wouldn't see certain fonts that Word saw (Wingdings for example) when opening a doc.

Pages opens most complex Word documents for me fine, including complex table layouts. I also find Pages does a better job of letting you copy embedded images to other apps (since so many clients send me their logos embedded in Word documents for no discernible reason).

As for Wingdings, well, Microsoft designed Wingdings without any standard font encoding or glyph names, so a lot of non-Microsoft programs just don't know what to do with it. It's basically a non-standard font.

gabriel_uk

Jun 24, 2005, 07:28 PM

Pages opens most complex Word documents for me fine, including complex table layouts. I also find Pages does a better job of letting you copy embedded images to other apps (since so many clients send me their logos embedded in Word documents for no discernible reason).
Appreciate that, thanks! It will definitely sway me towards giving iWork a try. :rolleyes: