Trying out iWork '05

[varmit]

You get two Serial Numbers so it looks like you can install iWork on two computers. You can register right after putting the in the Serial number which is done when you first start up one of the programs.

You also get 4 software coupons with the following saying, "To get software updates and other special offers from Apple, you'll need the coupons below as proof of your purchase."

Also, two quick reference guides for all the different keyboard shortcuts for each program. Each with 4 tiles of front and back information.

Two user guides with Pages being 191 pages long, and Keynote being 151 pages long. Both manuals are about 5" by 6".

Both Apps are fast on my old laptop. See below.

 

[varmit]

keynote start up. Give me time and I'll get other pics and stuff up.

 

[SuperChuck]

Congrats on your new software. I'm so jealous.

Can you create your own templates with the same functionality of those supplied?

 

[varmit]

1) Blank Page
2) Saving as a Template
3) Media, everything you need in media
4) Exporting, PDF, Word, HTML, RTF, and Plain Text
5) Easy to rap text around pictures, writing goes from left side of picture to the right before going to the next line.

 

[varmit]

keynote

1) Even played an AVI file. Futurama - Space Pilot 3000
2) Quick play button to go over slides.
3) Editing the Presenter display

What else do you want to see from Keynote?

 

[JDOG_]

Hmmpf...generally unimpressed with Pages so far. Keynote is awesome, they've made a lot of killer changes for the better that should have been there in the first place.

Pages on the other hand, it just seems soooo counter intuitive. The newspaper templates are hideously slow on my 933 iBook G4 with 640mb of RAM, which should be dealing with this program fine. My computer usually chews up Adobe inDesign and Pagemaker without any hiccups, but when dealing with pages I'm typing and waiting several seconds before the text can catch up...even when it's the ONLY program running! Things like changing the font have to be managed on a seperate font panel instead of just integrating it into the regular inspector palette and the import export is embarassingly flawed.

I know it's only at 1.0, but this seems more like Appleworks than a Word-Killer to me. Anybody else having similar issues?

 

[seamuskrat]

Keynote themes not working

I just set up my iWork.

First glance. Keynote is a nice improvement. They fixed and added many of the things i wished were there before. One thing that is annoying, is that I bought many third party themes. Many do not work with the new Keynote. I hope they get updated, but if you invested money in extra themes, be warned. Hopefully its just a matter of them being in the wrong folder, but they show up but do not allow you to work with them.

Pages seems sparse. I will have to play further, but it seems very lacking. I was hoping for an OS X kinda WriteNow app. Something that does 99% of what 99& of Word folks ned and without all the other stuff. So far, I just do not see it. It also opens some of my Word docs kinda funny but those have a lot of tables, and headings, etc. Time will tell.

 

[varmit]

Hmmpf...generally unimpressed with Pages so far. Keynote is awesome, they've made a lot of killer changes for the better that should have been there in the first place.

Pages on the other hand, it just seems soooo counter intuitive. The newspaper templates are hideously slow on my 933 iBook G4 with 640mb of RAM, which should be dealing with this program fine. My computer usually chews up Adobe inDesign and Pagemaker without any hiccups, but when dealing with pages I'm typing and waiting several seconds before the text can catch up...even when it's the ONLY program running! Things like changing the font have to be managed on a seperate font panel instead of just integrating it into the regular inspector palette and the import export is embarassingly flawed.

I know it's only at 1.0, but this seems more like Appleworks than a Word-Killer to me. Anybody else having similar issues?

Did slow down a little when I worked with the same template that they demoed. But it wasn't that bad at all. Sometimes Word can't keep up with my typing, and Pages did about the same if not better. I had no blank line, spining ball, then bam the two line sentence I just typed comes up like I get sometimes with Word. When moving the graphic around it did get a little choppy, but this laptop is old, so I would say that it was not that bad at all.

Pages is a little blan. If you look at the first picture I posted for Pages, a blank page just looks funny.

 

[Sky Blue]

how many "I just got IwORKzzz !!!!!!1111111" threads are we gonna have!!

 

[unfaded]

Make pages feel a bit better

If you like the look of Pages when you go to View -> Show Layout but don't want to deal with selecting it everytime...

Save it as your own template. Then go into the Pages app contents, and replace the Blank.template with your own template (which you could rename Blank.Template, like I did, just in case it checks for compatability or something). The built-in templates are in the language-specific folders in the app. And... I'm too lazy to go check the exact path.

 

[autrefois]

You get two Serial Numbers so it looks like you can install iWork on two computers.

This isn't true, at least for the Academic version. You get two stickers, which both have the same serial number. It says "You have two identical software serial number peel-off labels. Place one label on the inside front cover of your product manual and the second label in another safe location."

I tried both Pages and the new Keynote out, and am impressed with both! It's something you just have to go in and play around with, and the themes really help you to do that—it's easy to rearrange texts, objects, etc.

And I'm very happy that it DOES support language localizations! The menus are in whatever language your system is in (unlike Appleworks and even Word), and you can also select different dictionaries in Pages. Very cool.

 

[dstorey]

I have a couple of questions about Pages. When you save a document (a regular save, not an export) what format is it in? is it a custom apple bundle with an xml file and all the images stored in it, a la keynote, or is it in doc format or whatever. Secondly, what is the code like when you export to html? does it use clean html with css for the styles etc?

 

[rot@ti.org]

I have a couple of questions about Pages. When you save a document (a regular save, not an export) what format is it in? is it a custom apple bundle with an xml file and all the images stored in it, a la keynote, or is it in doc format or whatever. Secondly, what is the code like when you export to html? does it use clean html with css for the styles etc?

It is an xml file. The file extension is pages and when you control click it you get an option to "Show package contents." The contents of a simple document include an xml file.

Exports to html include stylesheets.

 

[rot@ti.org]

First look at Keynote

I posted an article to a new thread titled "First look at Pages" several hours ago. I may have picked the wrong forum -- it is under "Mac Buyer's Guide --> Buying tips, advice and discussion." If you want, you can see my comments <a href="https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=1228522&posted=1#post1228522">there</a>.

I've had a chance to take a look at Keynote and find it to be as advertised. Here are some of the improvements over Keynote 1.0:

* It is now possible to display the show on one monitor (or a projector) while your notes appear on another, which is a great help.

* A "mask" tool has been added that allows you to crop graphics (a similar tool is included in Pages).

* You can create self-running presentations with variable-duration slides (Keynote 1 required that all slides be of the same duration) and audio.

One problem with audio: If you want to narrate a show, you have to record the narration in another program, then add each slide's narrative to the slide. You can do it that way in PowerPoint as well, but PowerPoint also gives you the option of narrating directly in PowerPoint. This is much easier.

I'll post further comments after I get a chance to play with it more.there

 

[varmit]

This isn't true, at least for the Academic version. You get two stickers, which both have the same serial number. It says "You have two identical software serial number peel-off labels. Place one label on the inside front cover of your product manual and the second label in another safe location.".

Yeah, my fault, I thought they were different but I guess I didn't read them hard enought.

 

[MacNeXT]

You also get 4 software coupons with the following saying, "To get software updates and other special offers from Apple, you'll need the coupons below as proof of your purchase."

I also got these coupons for OS X with my iBook. They were discussed a while ago. It seems like they have never been useful for anything so far.

 

[mrgreen4242]

I have a question about Keynotes... someone mentioned that you could export presentations as Flash files... is that new in Keynote 2, or could you do that in the original Keynote? How well does this work? Anyone want to post a Flash file created with Keynote? I'm wondering if the combination of Pages and Keynote may be a decent web authoring package as well as it's 'intended' use.

Rob

 

[jsalzer]

Still Love AppleWorks

I don't know. I'm happy with Keynote's improvements, but Pages is pretty disappointing - not doing half of the things I usually use AppleWorks for.

1. No ability to save whatever's on the page (or export it) as a jpeg or any other image format. There had BETTER be a Draw component coming to iWork in its next life before they let AppleWorks go.

2. Maintains Keynote's horribly flawed idea that to choose a font (one of the most common things you need to do), you need to open that gosh dern Font palette. We don't all have 30-inch screens, Steve! Opening and closing that palette and moving it around to keep it out of the way is a royal pain.

3. Gradients. Come on! AppleWorks had such wonderful flexibility in letting you alter the default gradient choices. No starburst. No more than two colors. Of course, there are other great things (being able to make one of the colors transparent is something I frequently use in Keynote and will use here).

4. "Enter" as a page (or column) break key. If it weren't broke, why'd ya go trying to fix it?

5. Can I please have back my black arrow and my "A" button so I can decide that I'm going to be in text or object mode? While we're at it, can I just have the whole side bar back? Attached like in CW4?

6. Speaking of Enter - pressing Enter while you're in a text box no longer puts you out of text mode. It acts as a carriage return. Could this mean iWork for Windows is coming? Stupid change.

I guess it's obvious that I use Draw more than Word Processing in AW. I'm just so scared that Apple won't add a Draw component - opting for the idiotic Microsoft philosophy that pumping up a Word Processor with graphic toys is just as good.



(Sniffle, sniffle - don't do this to us, Steve!)

 

[deral]

I was a huge fan of Keynote 1.0, and wow, it's like Apple read my mind (or suggestions), cuz I'm impressed with 2.0. I can't believe the waterdrop transition and page flip ones would go so fluid on my G3 iBook! Granted, there are the burn and other transition that can't play on mines, but I am freggin impressed.

It's Freggin Truly amazing!

 

[MacSA]

I wish Apple would make better use of the toolbars in open windows. Those big icons with huge blank spaces in between looks preety weird. I noticed the same thing in the Mail for OS X Tiger preview.