Pages 3 Features?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Alongside the introduction of 'Charts', ThinkSecret is reporting that Apple will be introducing a number of new features into the next version of Pages.

Pages is Apple's word processing application which comes bundled in iWork. Pages 3 is expected to debut in January 2007 with the release of iWork '07. New features include two new modes called "Word Processing" and "Layout" to better cater to different users needs.

A number of convenient features catered to writers and typists will also be wrapped into Pages 3, including a thesaurus and integration with Spotlight, Wikipedia, and Google. Apple is also said to be looking to build a robust grammar checking engine for Pages that could find its way into other Apple and Cocoa applications.

[gkhaldi]

Finally some really good news. I finally can get rid of Mickeysoft.

Olé !!

[iDrinkKoolAid]

As a frequent user of Pages 2, I would like more toolbars and less of the 'inspector' stuff, which to me is not as convenient.

[Jerry Spoon]

This could get me to finally start using Pages. Right now, MS Word is just something I'm a lot more used to and Pages doesn't give me a reason to switch. I'm not one for newsletters and other graphically oriented word processing.
I can see myself switching though, b/c I'm definitely a keynote user now and can't remember the last time I touched PowerPoint.
We've got awhile to wait though.

[WildCowboy]

I've been holding off on moving to iWork, but it sounds (if true) like the '07 version might just be enough to push me over the edge and at least try to use it for a majority of my work. I'll likely still need the power of Excel for some of my work if Charts is as predicted, but iWork may finally be coming of age!

[slackersonly]

all of this is very positive to a recent switcher like myself.
i am trying to tranisiton everything to mac and i am open to going with iWork IF it can truely be a replacement to MS Oriface for me.
i am a mid level user. really i am a consumer user who has put in the time and effort to learn some of the more powerful features.
i hope that apple will begin to verify some of this info so i can confirm whether i wanna jump on the iWork7 bandwagon right away.

[ITASOR]

Originally Posted by iDrinkKoolAid

As a frequent user of Pages 2, I would like more toolbars and less of the 'inspector' stuff, which to me is not as convenient.

Really? I love the whole Inspector idea and the side toolbar in Word type thing.

[~Shard~]

Nice to see the suite maturing like this. Pages 3 along with Charts will definitely make iWork 07 an improvement over the '06 version and a lot more solid of a suite in general.

[MacSA]

Lets hope it doesnt end up costing as much as MS Office....

[CommodityFetish]

This is good news. Not sure if it will be able to convert me away from Mellel, which has been a fabulous word processor for me for what I need...

www.redlers.com

But glad to see the progress for Apple.

[Some_Big_Spoon]

If they add the "word processing mode", then that simultaneously renforces my gripes with it (see other threads), then negates them.

It's an extra step in setting up a document, but I like the thought of it from a productivity standpoint. As long as there's no Clippy.

[heisetax]

Originally Posted by MacSA

Lets hope it doesnt end up costing as much as MS Office....

At $79 a year it will probably be 5 years before the program moves to a commonly useful level where it may have the ability to replace MS Office. The very casual Word Processor user will not have to wait very long, maybe Pages 3 or Pages 4. With the 5 X $79 = $395 we move into the price range of the non-educational price of MS Office. But for the heavy Office user, 5 years may not be long enough.

Apple would used to calculate the Real Total Cost of Ownership for Macs. They would include after purchase service & support costs. We need to do the same for iWork. iWork is not a simple $79 program useless you wait for the version you want, purchase it & then add no updates that have a purchase price. If you want a slimmed down program purchase now, but have few features to give few benefits. If you want a more complete program just wait for the 5th or 6th upgrade. But this way you have no program to use for another 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years. Anything else requires multiplying the $79 by by a 2, 4, 5 or even larger number to get the true cost of iWork.

Bill the TaxMan

[Felix_the_Mac]

I hope they build in support for ODF and stop giving support to MS Open XML.

[Collin973]

Good to see. I can't wait to buy it in 07. Knowing this was going to be released stopped me from getting Iwork 06...

[QCassidy352]

great news. I'd love to use iwork instead of office which is slow and crashy, but pages just doesn't cut it for me right now. What I'd really love is for pages to have a "notebook" kind of view like word does because that's much more convenient for taking notes in class.

[iMikeT]

Well that does it! I'll officially be done using MS Office come Janurary 2007.

Actually, since I discovered AppleWorks, my use of Office drastically decreased. I've been looking forward to taking iWork for a test drive but now with this news, I think I'll take it for a spin anyway and wait for iWork 07.

Is it just me or does Office seem to be more intuitive than it really should be?

[backupdrummer]

For me to upgrade iWork it will need to have some pretty killer features. I do like a different view for Pages as the alway layout view can be very annoying when you just want something simple.

One of my biggest gripes with Pages is when you select Blank page it still populates it with fields like header that drives me crazy.

[IJ Reilly]

Hmm, modal software. This used to be a very undesirable characteristic, a violation of the Mac interface guidelines. I don't see the problem with the way Pages handles layouts and word processing now. It sounds like Apple may be caving into the critics who want Pages to be more like Word. I hope not.

[MajorTom]

I think pages is a great app and these new features are most welcome IMO.

[bluebomberman]

A number of convenient features catered to writers and typists will also be wrapped into Pages 3, including a thesaurus and integration with Spotlight, Wikipedia, and Google. Apple is also said to be looking to build a robust grammar checking engine for Pages that could find its way into other Apple and Cocoa applications.

I'm going to a MFA writing program in the fall; would love to see how this turns out. I use Word exclusively but can't shake the feeling that there's a better way to do things.

[IJ Reilly]

Originally Posted by bluebomberman

I'm going to a MFA writing program in the fall; would love to see how this turns out. I use Word exclusively but can't shake the feeling that there's a better way to do things.

There already is.

[bigandy]

aaah yes, a wordprocessing mode.

just what it needs! at last!

[Demoman]

Originally Posted by heisetax

At $79 a year it will probably be 5 years before the program moves to a commonly useful level where it may have the ability to replace MS Office. The very casual Word Processor user will not have to wait very long, maybe Pages 3 or Pages 4. With the 5 X $79 = $395 we move into the price range of the non-educational price of MS Office. But for the heavy Office user, 5 years may not be long enough.

Apple would used to calculate the Real Total Cost of Ownership for Macs. They would include after purchase service & support costs. We need to do the same for iWork. iWork is not a simple $79 program useless you wait for the version you want, purchase it & then add no updates that have a purchase price. If you want a slimmed down program purchase now, but have few features to give few benefits. If you want a more complete program just wait for the 5th or 6th upgrade. But this way you have no program to use for another 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years. Anything else requires multiplying the $79 by by a 2, 4, 5 or even larger number to get the true cost of iWork.

Bill the TaxMan

I use pages exclusively as do all of the workers who are testing Apple at my business. After a short learning curve, everyone likes it and it is more than capable right now. You are really coming off as an Apple ball-buster. All I read from you is negative Apple. Are you collecting your checks from Redmond???

[Westside guy]

Ha ha... when I glanced at the RSS feed I thought it said "Page 3 Features?". I thought: "Why the heck would MacRumors add a 'Page 3'? Much of the 'Page 1' stuff never comes to pass, and they've got 'Page 2' for the even less substantiated stuff..."

[iDrinkKoolAid]

Originally Posted by ITASOR

Really? I love the whole Inspector idea and the side toolbar in Word type thing.

Well, I guess these kinds of things are preferential. Perhaps I'm more used to Micro$oft Office toolbars.

Anyhow, I find myself using Pages more often. I'll just tell my boss to buy a Mac Mini if he wants to read my documents.

If Apple does come out with a spreadsheet, it better be more usable than what one can get currently on Pages. One major omission is that one cannot create a graph directly from a table (you have to 'cut and paste').