Is Pages 2 a decent competitior to Microsoft Word

[miseldine]

I'm a PhD student and write all my papers (http://academic.miseldine.com) using Word 2004 on my Mac. The major problem with Pages is that products like EndNote do not integrate with it, making referencing a chore. Similarly, when you can be denied publication simply for missing a few margins etc. I feel safer in Word using Word templates for IEEE CS, IOS Press etc. Pages just feels a little flimsy when it comes to writing tens of thousands of words in a document. But that might just be me

What I love Pages for is when it comes to designing a stunning, striking layout for a document. Often, I write the text in Word, and import it into Pages, as its style system is far cleaner.

Lastly, Keynote is awesome for presentations. I've been to a few conferences and always received great feedback on the software...probably more so than the content and delivery ;-) iWork 06 is worth it simply for the higher definition templates + new 3D transistions IMHO

 

[nutmac]

While I like where Pages is heading, I have few but major gripes:

1. Font smoothing: I realize this would be a minor nuisance for many, but my eyes get sick starring at buggy font smoothing implementation (it defaults and locks to Standard, which is too blurry and fuzzy on my iMac LCD).
2. Word interoperability: I need to share documents with other people fully knowing all the formatting and tracking features will be in tact. Although Pages 2.0 is somewhat improved, it's got a long way to go. The least it should do is support Open Document format.
3. Why can't I create a template?
4. Table of contents and cross reference are still weak. My wife had to submit college thesis in very specific format, and Pages would not accommodate. Word implements these in user unfriendly ways, but at least the functionality allows for flexibility.

 

[njmac]

I LOVE the notebook layout in Word. Otherwise, I like pages.

 

[kgarner]

While I like where Pages is heading, I have few but major gripes:

1. [clip]
2. Why can't I create a template?
3. [clip]

You can. Just create what you want and choose Save as Template... from the File menu. Youcan even create filler text and images by using the options in the (I believe) Advanced menu (not at my Mac right now). I've create a few templates for different things and it works great.

 

[IJ Reilly]

While I like where Pages is heading, I have few but major gripes:

1. Word interoperability: I need to share documents with other people fully knowing all the formatting and tracking features will be in tact. Although Pages 2.0 is somewhat improved, it's got a long way to go. The least it should do is support Open Document format.

For complete Word compatibility, obviously only Word will do. One goal, one solution -- with the caveat that to achieve this total compatibility you need to stick to the common boring and ugly fonts that you can confidently assume everyone has installed on their computers. Yuck. Why bother with a Mac if you're going to do that? Just buy a Windows PC preloaded with Office and get it over with.

I agree, Apple should support Open Document. But then neither does Microsoft.

 

[neocell]

what do you mean by references?

Basically having one document with ~300 articles cited, creating an appropriate bibliography (one that can be easily changed without having to change 300 references) and being able to move text (paragraphs) and have the referencing automatically update, just like what EndNote or Reference Manager does, but have it integrate with Pages.

like MLA?

Don't know what this is

you could go to this page.

http://landmark-project.com/citationmachine.net/

Thanks for the link, but I didn't really understand what was trying to be conveyed by the page (other than not to email the guy about formatting problems )