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Apple Releases iWork '06

Tables, etc.

IJ Reilly said:
Pages works great for me, on three much older, slower Macs. What are you doing wrong, I wonder?
Click to expand...

I doubt he's doing anything wrong. I use Pages for a lot of things (and love it), but I quickly dropped the idea of doing any real Table work in it. For some odd reason, the use of (large) tables drags down the system. I have no trouble believing his 25 minutes estimate.

That said - I'm a firm believer in using the right tool for the right job. Pages is the right tool for a lot of jobs. It's obviously not the right tool for a 100 page document full of tables. He probably should have moved on to something else much earlier in the process. But, I'm sure he had his reasons for sticking it out. Perhaps Pages 2 will fix the issue.
 
aafuss1 said:
The HD themes are to me, a nice addition. Shame, that Apple didn't include a dedicated spreadsheet or database.
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It will be interesting to see if they do develop a standalone app for spreadsheets in the future, or if they will continue to incorporate functionality into the existing apps. At some point, I would get concerned about Pages and Keynote becoming bloatware, for lack of a better term, due to all the spreadsheet code in them. So if Apple did indeed develop a standalone app for spreadsheets, would they then remove that functionality from Pages and Keynote which they just put in? It will be interesting to see how the suite develops over the next couple of years...
 
dogsbody said:
From Apple Site:-

Under Your Thumb
The Apple Remote features a minimalist six buttons. Press menu to activate Front Row and the standard transport to navigate through your media. You can even use the remote to control Keynote presentations in the all new iWork ’06.
Click to expand...

So Front Row and the Apple Remote, even using the Remote for Keynote, are all features that trickle down together. I really don't see an IR accessory to give Front Row/Remote features to older, PowerPC Macs, coming any time soon.

Keynote themes are nice, 3D graphs and functions are good too. Keynote 2 was and is great for almost everything I need. Short of streamlining iPod integration for Keynote on the go, what more are we really expecting?

Upgrade prices of $39 for iWork '05 users would be really nice...
 
I do not know about you.... I am hoping that Appleworks will be made into an dual binary program.

I own iwork 05 and use Keynote all the time. However, for all my word processing i still use APPLEWORKS.
 
jsalzer said:
I doubt he's doing anything wrong. I use Pages for a lot of things (and love it), but I quickly dropped the idea of doing any real Table work in it. For some odd reason, the use of (large) tables drags down the system. I have no trouble believing his 25 minutes estimate.

That said - I'm a firm believer in using the right tool for the right job. Pages is the right tool for a lot of jobs. It's obviously not the right tool for a 100 page document full of tables. He probably should have moved on to something else much earlier in the process. But, I'm sure he had his reasons for sticking it out. Perhaps Pages 2 will fix the issue.
Click to expand...

Table-handling in 1.0 does leave something to be desired, but this is one feature that has been improved -- how much we'll see.

Still, I've worked with some pretty long tables in Pages 1.0 without anything like the kind of performance hit being suggested.
 
miloblithe said:
Pages seems nice as cheap layout software, but poor as a word processor. I wouldn't want to use it to write a paper, but doing anything with graphics in Word is intolerable.
Click to expand...

I had little discussion with one of the Apple reps about the way Pages is perceived by Mac users. I told him that Apple is making a marketing mistake by essentially advertising Pages as an entry-level DTP application instead of as a word processor with nice graphics handling capabilities. I think it is far more the latter than the former. Once you discover the powerful style sheet and template creation capabilities of Pages, I think you will change your mind about it being a "poor word processor." I've been using it for a year now, for all of my work, and I'd call it a very good word processor -- with a few reservations, one of the best I've ever used. It's kind of painful to hear Mac users dis Pages when they probably haven't really spent the time with it required to draw complete conclusions, and especially to hear recommendations for sticking with that great ball of fur and duct tape called Word. I blame this in part on Apple -- they do need to position the product better if it's going to find its audience.
 
digitalbiker said:
Pages SSSUUUCCCKKKS bad!. This is the worst app in the world. Now Apple wants me to waste another $79.00 on Pages 2 without an upgrade option. HAAHAHHAAHAAAHHAAAAAHAA
:eek:

Forget It!

Don't even get me started on Pages. I have a 100 page document with a small jpeg and a table of text on each page. It took me years to create. This piece of cra@p software can't handle *****. It literally takes 25 minutes for the document to open. I am using a PB 1.67 Ghz G4 with 7200 rpm drive, 1 GB ram, ATI 9700 and it takes 25 minutes to open.

Apple you need to pay me $79.00 to work with your crappy office suite.

Keynote is OK. Even good. Almost as complete as PowerPoint only prettier.
Click to expand...
What! I have a 300+ page book that I am using Pages for. It has plenty of graphics in it and it only takes a few seconds to open.
Pages really is a good program although the learning curve was a bit steep. Once you figure things out it can do most anything that the High priced apps can do. But as I have said before it really needs an auto save feature. There is nothing worse than spending two hours typing away only to have a Power surge cause my Powermac to go off and then back on. I know, I know I need to get a battery back-up, but dang it, Apple should put an auto save in too.
 
bbyrdhouse said:
...but dang it, Apple should put an auto save in too.
Click to expand...

As long as it can be shut off in the Preferences. Speaking of which, there need to be a lot more preferences. Some of the "default" settings are just strange.

But maybe that's just my fear of hyphenated words. :)
 
jsalzer said:
As long as it can be shut off in the Preferences. Speaking of which, there need to be a lot more preferences. Some of the "default" settings are just strange.

But maybe that's just my fear of hyphenated words. :)
Click to expand...

Agree. Some folks do not like the auto save feature and I don't miss it when I am using my Powerbook.
 
Something funny went on.

I'm not saying that from an informed stand point, just a hunch.

Watching the Keynote yesterday, Steve seemed to become quite moody when very quickly brushing over iWork.

I couldn't decide if he was a bit ashamed that it hadn't been received well, and that the update isn't anything special, or whether he was expecting to be announcing a major upgrade to the software, but prevented from doing so because of new contracts with Microsoft.

Maybe they're developing a full office suite just in case Microsoft does the dirty some time in the future.
 
iWork 06'

Ive been using Pages for a year now and it has been brilliant. I have Microsoft Office 2004 and Adobe Indesign but i find that pages is much more suited to what i want. :rolleyes: Pages is much faster with high res photos then word plus it allows you to apply drop dynamic drop shadows and in pages 2, image reflection. I've found the learning curve in InDesign a bit step and not worth the time. Pages is for people who want a basic and cheap version of word which has more style. It is that true that Pages does not have most of the features of word but it suites me much better. I really like the new feature of pages 2 and i think pages 2 and keynote 3 is work the $79 (though i would buy iLife 06' before iWork 06') ;)
 
IJ Reilly said:
I had little discussion with one of the Apple reps about the way Pages is perceived by Mac users. I told him that Apple is making a marketing mistake by essentially advertising Pages as an entry-level DTP application instead of as a word processor with nice graphics handling capabilities. I think it is far more the latter than the former. Once you discover the powerful style sheet and template creation capabilities of Pages, I think you will change your mind about it being a "poor word processor." I've been using it for a year now, for all of my work, and I'd call it a very good word processor -- with a few reservations, one of the best I've ever used. It's kind of painful to hear Mac users dis Pages when they probably haven't really spent the time with it required to draw complete conclusions, and especially to hear recommendations for sticking with that great ball of fur and duct tape called Word. I blame this in part on Apple -- they do need to position the product better if it's going to find its audience.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I agree 1100%. I LOVE Pages.
 
I scanned most of the responses above REAL FAST.
So if I get anything wrong, please bear with me.

My feelings about iWork 06 --

Sure, I would love an Office killer. But it is quite apparent Apple has no intention of doing so at this point.

Re. the standalone spreadsheet --
I think they made it incorporated, because they want a simple, no brainer product for the masses. When you think about it, Office is 4 or 5 programs (or whatever, depending upon version) with 4 or 5 windows. Appleworks is one program, with ca. 4 or 5 windows (haven't opened it in awhile). Pages is one program, one window, ca. 4 or 5 basic functions.

At least some of us 'jack of all trade' folks out there, who wear many hats and use many programs, like the idea of not having many windows open, when it could all be done in one. Sure the table could likely have more power - but frankly, I am still waiting to get my mitts on this thing and evaluate it.

If all you want is simple spreadsheet - don't use the other parts of the program. But the great thing, is that apparently you will be able to add all kinds of fancy annotations, charts, explanations around the periphery if you want.

I would like a flat file database though, as in Appleworks. Then that thing could be put to rest once and for all.

Re. Keynote - I don't do much presentation. I am my own boss. So I haven't played with this type of thing much - ergo - no comment.
 
Does anyboy know of a forum for those of us who actually like and use Pages. Where we could exchange templates or share ideas and have some "How To's" or should I say "How I Did's"
 
Multiple bulleted lists in Keynote 3?

Does anyone know if Keynote 3 will support multiple bulleted lists on a page? If you add text fields to Keynote 2, you are not allowed to make those fields bulleted. This is a major shortcoming in my opinion, and one that does not need to exist. Simple enough to fix.....
 
gauchogolfer said:
Does anyone know if Keynote 3 will support multiple bulleted lists on a page? If you add text fields to Keynote 2, you are not allowed to make those fields bulleted. This is a major shortcoming in my opinion, and one that does not need to exist. Simple enough to fix.....
Click to expand...

I noticed this as well, some time back I put together about an 80 page presentation and the problem you described agrivated me, but at the time I figured out a way to work around it. It's been some time ago so I will have to go dig out the file and see what it was I did.
 
IJ Reilly said:
I had little discussion with one of the Apple reps about the way Pages is perceived by Mac users. I told him that Apple is making a marketing mistake by essentially advertising Pages as an entry-level DTP application instead of as a word processor with nice graphics handling capabilities. I think it is far more the latter than the former. Once you discover the powerful style sheet and template creation capabilities of Pages, I think you will change your mind about it being a "poor word processor." I've been using it for a year now, for all of my work, and I'd call it a very good word processor -- with a few reservations, one of the best I've ever used. It's kind of painful to hear Mac users dis Pages when they probably haven't really spent the time with it required to draw complete conclusions, and especially to hear recommendations for sticking with that great ball of fur and duct tape called Word. I blame this in part on Apple -- they do need to position the product better if it's going to find its audience.
Click to expand...

Spot on! On the apple site, it also says that there is a new endnote function in pages 2. Now this is all I need to use it all the time for word processing. I would like to hear from anyone who buys it, how well the function works and whether it is better than Endnote. I hate Endnote, btw. Word is not a terrible app IMHO, but it cannot handle images very well and the templates are ugly for the most part. I've loved the template in pages - and learnt a lot about fonts in the process. If only I could download a pages 2 trial...

YOJ
P.s. Like the 'Dunces avatar!
 
gauchogolfer said:
Does anyone know if Keynote 3 will support multiple bulleted lists on a page? If you add text fields to Keynote 2, you are not allowed to make those fields bulleted. This is a major shortcoming in my opinion, and one that does not need to exist. Simple enough to fix.....
Click to expand...

Seems like it does, browsed a bit through the Keynote 3 user guide (at http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Keynote_3_User_Guide.pdf) and on page 16 at the bottom under new features it says that it supports bullets in multiple text boxes. Should be more detailed info in the document, but I'm too lazy to browse through the whole thing. :)
 
Good news!

Thanks for the quick response...I'll head on over to the manual now! That was about my only complaint for the last version vs. Powerpoint, now I think I'll have to upgrade ;)

EDIT: Of course I mean upgrade from Keynote 2 to 3...PPT is a thing of the past for me.
 
gauchogolfer said:
Thanks for the quick response...I'll head on over to the manual now! That was about my only complaint for the last version vs. Powerpoint, now I think I'll have to upgrade ;)

EDIT: Of course I mean upgrade from Keynote 2 to 3...PPT is a thing of the past for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know what you mean. This was really my main issue with Keynote as well. Seems they've added a lot of other nice features with this update as well. With my student discount and Apple offering free shipping, it may be worth it for Keynote alone.

Edit: This manual for Pages might also be interesting, http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Pages_2_User_Guide.pdf. It's so nice that the manuals are so detailed. Gives you a good idea what the apps will be like.
 
Education Price can't be beaten

$49 for iWork 06 is a pretty sweet deal. Any idea if I can just pay for a license and get the DVD from a colleague at my university? This would cut down on my wait time :D .
I'm looking forward to using some new transitions in my presentations, as my research group is getting jaded by the cube and paper flip. Keep 'em coming, Apple.
Keynote Manual said:
To create a free text box:
1 Click Text in the toolbar (or choose Insert > Text).
2 In the text box that appears, double-click the text and type.
Note: You can add bullets to paragraphs in free text boxes. To create formatted bullets
(in which all text aligns and the bullet “hangs”), you use the Bullets pane of the Text
Inspector. For details, see “Formatting Bulleted Text and Numbered Lists” on page 46.
Click to expand...
 
Apple-designed themes/transitions

Does anyone know if Apple will make the new themes available to older versions of iWork, or as an exclusive perhaps to .Mac subscribers? It might be an interesting value-add for .Mac to have some other transition effects as well. As a corollary to this, are there any Keynote template resources from third-parties?

I'd also like to see better outline/handout printing, as right now it's a bit weak.
 
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