bluebomberman said:
IJ Reilly said:There already is.
Not for what I'm doing. Pages strikes me as something for newsletters, not writing well-researched articles and novels.
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Not for what I'm doing. Pages strikes me as something for newsletters, not writing well-researched articles and novels.
if charts can do basic formulas (using mostly only simple arithmetic), pages has a word processing mode, grammar check, and integrates with a thesaurus, wikipeida, spotlight, and google, office is immediately deleted from my system
one problem:
will eductional institutions really want the wikipedia integration? my school is certainly not big on wikipedia. if apple could strike a deal with MacKiev, World Book software could come with iWork and be integrated with pages and the whole suite in general.
one problem:
will eductional institutions really want the wikipedia integration? my school is certainly not big on wikipedia. if apple could strike a deal with MacKiev, World Book software could come with iWork and be integrated with pages and the whole suite in general.
bluebomberman said:
Maybe that's the way it strikes you, but this isn't the way it strikes those of us who've been using Pages since it came out.
But all of my work is poorly-researched, so maybe that's why I like it.
iDrinkKoolAid said: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').
I'm with KookAid, I find that the Inspector is far more time consuming than a well laid out Icon Bar with drop boxes. Maybe it's because I've been using Microsoft Office forever. But I have given Pages a serious try and I find that I really like it, except for it's lacking AutoCorrection and Inspector.
Randy
I'm still on iWork 05, couldn't really see the need to update it every year so I'm waiting until iWork 07.
I agree that there is loads of potential in Pages, and found it very usable once I got used to it. I would also like to see a standard 'word processing mode' as using the templates as the main focus of the application doesn't work awfully well for regular word processing.
I also prefer the sidebar palette in Word as you can easily drop down multiple sections rather than having to have open 2 or more inspector panes.
These would be welcome additions and would definitely make me more likely to upgrade in the new year.
I agree that there is loads of potential in Pages, and found it very usable once I got used to it. I would also like to see a standard 'word processing mode' as using the templates as the main focus of the application doesn't work awfully well for regular word processing.
I also prefer the sidebar palette in Word as you can easily drop down multiple sections rather than having to have open 2 or more inspector panes.
These would be welcome additions and would definitely make me more likely to upgrade in the new year.
randyharris said:
Toolbars and drop down menus are the things Microsoft have DROPPED from Office 2007.
Demoman said:
Yep. That's what I get too. People who actually take the time to use Pages and explore it's features, leaving their Microsoft Word prejudices behind, enjoy using it.
I find it amazing that someone would argue that Apple updating it's software every year is a bad thing as opposed to Microsoft's upgrade every 3-4 years. Come on, we're at v2 for Pages as opposed to v12 for Word. You've got to expect a v2 product has a little growing room yet.
I checked out Pages last year, but the lack of a thesaurus was a deal-breaker. The added wikipedia and google support is just a bonus for me - I'll be ordering this the day it's released.
bluebomberman - I'm working on a novel right now, and I've found that less is definitely more. All I need are a thesaurus, spellchecker, page numbering and find-and-replace. Anything else is just a distraction, but everyone has their own work style - that's just mine.
bluebomberman - I'm working on a novel right now, and I've found that less is definitely more. All I need are a thesaurus, spellchecker, page numbering and find-and-replace. Anything else is just a distraction, but everyone has their own work style - that's just mine.
1. Pages 2 does have an auto-correct feature. It's in preferences.
2. All Cocoa applications have a thesaurus. Hold down cmd-control-d and point to the word -- the dictionary definition pops up, which can be changed to a thesaurus by dropping the tab at the bottom.
2. All Cocoa applications have a thesaurus. Hold down cmd-control-d and point to the word -- the dictionary definition pops up, which can be changed to a thesaurus by dropping the tab at the bottom.
IJ Reilly said:Maybe that's the way it strikes you, but this isn't the way it strikes those of us who've been using Pages since it came out.
But all of my work is poorly-researched, so maybe that's why I like it.
A bit harsh, aren't you? They're supposedly integrating better search features into the next version of Pages precisely to improve the researching component of writing. So it's not like I'm the only one who thinks that Pages needs more to better compare to Word. As it stands, I'll give Pages a shot if I need to do something fancier than writing for MFA workshops.
Plus, I save a couple of bucks.
Maybe they'll even offer ground-breaking features like bi-directional text editing
Seriously, if Apple wants to compete in the word processing field, they need to start addressing people around the world, not just those who they consider guranteed target audience.
Seriously, if Apple wants to compete in the word processing field, they need to start addressing people around the world, not just those who they consider guranteed target audience.
How about if inspector sections could be 'torn off' and moved or docked below like in photoshop? There are certainly 2 or 3 sections that I would like open all the time.
I can't stand Office's toolbars. The first thing I did was make my own custom box of tools that sits above the formatting palette on the side.
With wide displays, vertical space is the most valuable.
I can't stand Office's toolbars. The first thing I did was make my own custom box of tools that sits above the formatting palette on the side.
With wide displays, vertical space is the most valuable.
Good!
As someone who uses MS word as the default word processor... a 'word processing' mode in Pages sounds dandy... some of use just don't have the time or inclination (energy) to learn pages which is so very different (not worse) than word....
As someone who uses MS word as the default word processor... a 'word processing' mode in Pages sounds dandy... some of use just don't have the time or inclination (energy) to learn pages which is so very different (not worse) than word....
wmmk said:
Mine already provides links to Wikipedia from it's math's pages. It's a pretty reputable University too (top 10 in the UK), it's a great idea especially as wikipedia has a lot more articles than any other encyclopaedia. Britannica for example has only 100 000 articles (compared to wikipedia's 1.2 million)
EDIT
I have to admit wikipedia got me through my exercise sheets for first year maths, the articles seemed pretty well targeted to it!
I think I need to start wearing glasses!
I could have sworn that the title was in regards to a Macrumors Page 3 unveiling.
I will now pay closer attention!
I could have sworn that the title was in regards to a Macrumors Page 3 unveiling.
I will now pay closer attention!
840quadra said:
You and Westside_guy should get together...see post #24 in this thread. Then go see post #27.
bluebomberman said:
Not true
I used Pages to do a college term paper which was over 40 pages long. My lecturer commented it was the best presented he had seen for years.
Perhaps the issue people are having with Pages is that it looks too easy compared to Word and that confuses them. You really do need to use Pages as a Word replacement to appreciate how good is actually is.
iWork '07 will be great.
Bern said:Not true
I used Pages to do a college term paper which was over 40 pages long. My lecturer commented it was the best presented he had seen for years.
But how much of that is Pages? Not trying to knock you down, but my last short story was 27 pages, double spaced, and used a 12 pt. Times New Roman font. There's not much room for pizazz there. I don't see how Pages as it exists right now could have helped.
WildCowboy said:
#24 HAHAHA !
I was aware of the link in post #27, that's why I thought it was an unveiling of the tricky little macrumors feature.
aegisdesign said:
The pictures I've seen of Windows Office 2007 most certainly still has icon bars, it's just redesigned to be grouped more than a scatter approach.
And just because MSFT is changing it, doesn't mean that it will be more efficient. (It may be, but I haven't tried it yet.) I have heard a few pundits harp on the new setup saying in efforts to make things more simple they dumbed it down too much for a power user.
Randy
IJ Reilly said:
A major functional snafu is that you can't add auto-correction data from the GUI of Pages, you have to go into the preferences. In Word you are able to right click on your red squiggly word, and you can set a default auto correct right there from the Contextual menu. NeoOffice has the same function. This is sorely lacking from Pages.
Randy