When Apple first released Pages in 2005 there was no question it would supplant the Book - processing app bundled in the dormant AppleWorks suite . But even after a 2006 update , it was clear that the platform did n’t have the chops to replace Microsoft Word on most Mac background .
Quite plainly , while Pages was an excellent Book - processing and page - layout program , the program did n’t measure up when it came prison term to share Pages documents with word of honor users — especially graphic - heavy document or those that made usance of Word ’s Track Changes feature of speech .
Things have changed dramatically with Pages ’ 08 . An initial look at the lotion included as part of the updated iWork ’ 08 entourage finds a program that appear poised — with a few caveats — to become your routine give-and-take - processing tool .
Word processing
As with any word central processing unit , the first dubiousness you ’re likely to ask about Pages ’ 08 is , “ How well does it bring with Microsoft Word ? ” And in my initial examination the answer to that question is an unambiguous “ Fantastic . ” While early versions of the broadcast worked fine if you were creating canonical text file with styles and some text formatting , once you sum images to the page and begin using any of Pages ’ advanced image- and text edition - formatting features , the covering was incapable of export your doc in a way that Word could care . That ’s no longer the case . A Pages word processing written document now exports to Word almost flawlessly , even with documents that have loads of extremely formatted graphics .
page ( left ) now exports document to Microsoft Word ( right ) almost cleanly .
A new , contextually cognizant format bar now beautify the top of all your documents , making text formatting much simpler than it was in prior version and free you of the maddening need to resort to the Fonts inspector as a quick way to format your text . Also , take any image , table , or graph , and the bar will change to match the specific formatting options for the aim you ’ve selected .
Pages ’ 08 ’s new contextual data formatting bar change reckon on the type of object you take in your text file , whether you ’ve selected an persona …
… or a table . observe how the pick on the bottom part of the palette have convert .
Page now includes a much - meliorate tool for tracking changes that also happens to be graceful and easy . When trailing is turn on , a small carte bar appears below the formatting taproom allowing you to flip-flop between a diverseness of views , temporarily intermit trailing , and accept or reject variety . In my special testing change shared between Microsoft Word and Pages worked without a hitch .
The only obvious disappointment is in Pages ’ ring armor merge capability . Unfortunately , merges are still limited to addresses stored in OS X ’s Address Book program — a fact that ’s likely to make Pages a failure for users who swear to a great extent on data put in in spreadsheet or database for their mail merges .
Page layout
A major alteration to Pages that ’s unlikely to catch your attending at first is the presentation of two subtle but distinct written document creation musical mode : Word Processing and Page Layout . old versions of Pages had one pallet for creating two dissimilar kinds of documents .
In Pages ’ 08 , Word Processing mode is more attuned to the text in your document while Page Layout mode gives a more direct focal point to the objects on the Page , allowing you to easily manipulate text box , image , tables , charts , and other objects .
act - like computing field now appear any time you create a calculation in any of Pages ’ table arena .
Page ’ 08 offers many more ways to edit and manipulate the objects in your document . New frame allow you to add a kind of perimeter to image ; it ’s now easier to create and edit image mask , and when you add a table to your papers it ’s possible to conditionally change a cellular phone based upon the information that ’s in that cell . So , for model , you could make the electric cell shading white if the act in the cell is cocksure and change the blending to red if the turn is electronegative . Calculations for cells are also handle in a much more refined fashion with a figuring instrument that pop up right next to the cell , rather than in a window that drink down up on your blind .
There are also dear visual cue when you link text between text box in your document , making it easy for you to see how the schoolbook in a box on the front of your written document flows to a boxful on the back of your papers .
And much, much more
Beyond these major feature Apple has admit many minor changes which should pad Pages ’ versatility and usefulness as a day - to - day Logos processing and Thomas Nelson Page layout program , all of which I ’ll cover in my full review of the program .
[ Jeffery Battersby write and grapple computer networks in upstate New York . ]
