Customer Reviews

Apple iWork '05 (Mac) [Old Version]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

iWork is a nice start to an alternative to Office on the Mac but for most people it won't replace it.

Pages is a fine v 1.0 product. It has its flaws and isn't for everyone. If you need .doc compatibility you may want to stick with Office. On the other hand if you want to creat great looking documents for printing or saving as a PDF which most people can view then Pages is perfect. The templates are of the highest quality and you can really create stunning documents very easily. Think of Pages as Publisher for the Mac, but better.

Keynote which is also included is probably the finest presentation software you can buy. It really puts anything created with PowerPoint to shame. File compatability with PowerPoint is a little less important especially if you are running your own presentations off of a PowerBook or iBook.

I'll give it a 4/5 because Pages doesn't play too nice with .doc or .html files but I hesitate to even do that since it has so many positives. At $79 it is worth it for Keynote alone at $49 educational price from Apple, I highly recommend it to any student that needs to do presentations, they really stand out.

As a long time AppleWorks user, it's great to see that Apple finally got around to writing a *modern* word processor in Pages. AppleWorks had grown quite long in the tooth and the user experience was basically unchanged from Mac OS 9. Not a big fan of Word (too slow, UI inconsistent with the rest of OS X), I had grown used to using the bundled TextEdit program which comes with every Mac. TextEdit takes advantage of OS X system wide features like as you type spell checking, speech, floating font and color palettes, etc.. However, TextEdit can't do advanced things like multi columns, wrapping text around pictures, etc.. So the choices on the OS X platform were rather meager - slow an inconsistent Word, underpowered TextEdit, or old and clunky AppleWorks (aside from a few other third party tools which aren't very widely used).

Pages is basically TextEdit on steroids - all of the major features 95% of people expect a word processor to have are present and much easier (and faster) to use than in Word. The regular OS X features such as customizable toolbar, floating font and color palettes, as you type spell checking, etc. are all present. Moving graphics around is quick and seamless even on a slightly older Mac (667MHz G4). Also, the import and export options seem to work very well from my limited testing - most importantly, it imports and exports from Word without any problems that I can see.

Sure, there are some things which Word can do that Pages can't, but most of them are not things I'll ever use any way. I'd much rather have an easy to use and efficient word processor than have to deal with Word.

Keynote 2 (the other half of iWork) is also a great program. I can't really compare it to PowerPoint since I haven't used Powerpoint much, but I have to say that it was incredibly easy to learn how to use. The master styles are very handy for applying consistent features across your presentation, and the transitions and animation effects are nifty looking as well as easy to create. The import and export from Keynote to Powerpoint also seems to work seamlessly. It also allows you to export as QuickTime, Flash, PDF, etc..

All in all, highly recommended - especially for the very reasonable price.

I use Word and Powerpoint every day, and I still do use them both everyday for many things. However, I picked up iWork for two reasons: 1) both have great export capability, and 2) I was very tired of trying to do a basic newsletter in Word. The frustration of trying to basic desktop publishing in Word was actually what drove me to take a $79 gamble and buy iWork.

I have not been disappointed.

Styles and Templates:
Keynote and Pages are good (great actually) at creating very professional looking documents, from standard sales presentations to highly animated pseudo-movies to basic word processing files to complex brochures and newsletters. There's just something about the way each application handles styles that makes the end result beautiful. The included templates are brilliant also, for those that dont want to delve into styles of their own.

Image Handling:
Both applications handle images one zillion times better than any MS Office application. The only file format that I haven't been able to drag directly into a document is a raw .eps file. iWork displays images well, doesn't mess with the files (meaning you can copy/paste them back out of iWork and have them still be useable) and honors transparencies. In fact, both apps can wrap text around and through an image based on the alpha index. Very powerful. You can paste a picture of a donut into pages, and have text wrap around the curved edges AND in the donut hole. Cool.

Interface:
The inspector is very easy to figure out, and places many features at your command without taking up a lot of screen space. The only thing that seems odd to me is that "Font" and "Text" are two separate items - and only one (text) is available in the inspector. That is, the way text is handled in terms of spacing, wrapping, bullets, etc. is in the inspector, but the actual font, font size, etc. is in a separate Font palette. It works, but just seems disjointed somehow. However, the inspector is very intuitive.

Price:
$79 bucks. 'nuff said. It's cheap enough that you can use it as a supplement--not a replacement--for other suites. Which leads to...

Compatibility:
You can import or export from PowerPoint and Word, you can import just about any graphics file (including photoshop files!), you can export to jpeg, png, or tiff, quicktime and flash. Some work better than others. The two that are of most concern are the Office apps, so I'll start there.

I still use PowerPoint, but I also use Keynote now. I use it every day, in fact. Because it handles images and transitions so well, I create all complex technical diagrams and animations using Keynote. I then either a) export directly to Powerpoint, b) export to quicktime and embed the movie in powerpoint, or c) export to quicktime for direct online posting. I've had ZERO trouble exporting to quicktime. The flash export worked horrible the first time, but after playing with and learning some of its quirks, I've been able to produce fairly reliable .swf files as well. This feature is so important and powerful that I'm willing to go through some pain to try and get it right, but Apple could make some improvements here to save me the trouble.

I use Pages as a mini-PageMaker more than I use it for word processing. It opened my basic word files (whitepapers, resumes, letters) flawlessly, and saved those documents as word files with little to no errors. Complex desktop-publishing-type documents weren't flawless; my newsletter, for example, required some serious tweaking after the import from Word. I eventually gave up and created it anew in Pages, and was pleased because it looked much better after being pages-born. This new version, when saved as a .doc, had a few errors still.

HTML Export:
Didn't even try it. I'm an html purist. If you want web design, study html, xhtml, xml, css, etc. and then buy BBEdit.

However, Keynotes quicktime export will let you create cool .movs to embed or stream online. The Flash export, once wrinkles are ironed out, will kick some serious buttocks.

Performance:
Neither app is light. On my aging Powerbook G4 (867MHz model), both apps respond a tad slow. Not slow enough to annoy me however. I anticipate that on newer machines (or machines with decent graphics cards) the performance is probably much much better.

Summary:
Very powerful applciations. Compatibility issues were minimal. I imported a 90,000 word manuscript from word and then exported it back to word again -- all with no flaws at all. Issues did occur with more complex .docs or with complex PowerPoint/Keynote layouts. The more complex the file, the more likely there would be an issue. However, the image handling (and in keynote's case, the transitions) are worth it. In short - I still use Office for day to day stuff, but I use iWork for anything that needs to be "cool"

If you're looking at Pages as a replacement for Word, it isn't -- and wasn't designed to be. As they say at Apple, Think Different. Pages is somewhere between a word processor and a page-layout tool. It has some features from both, but not all of the features you'd want, or need, from products in either of those categories. That Apple has decided to go after this "in-between market" is interesting in its own right. They have a well-earned reputation for this type of thing. Pages will in all likelihood eventually succeed, in no small part due to the platform it's on (OS X) and the ability to integrate it with other software, especially iPhoto. Pages 1.0, though, has some significant weaknesses.

If you're hoping that Page's Export to Word, PDF or HTML features will allow you to use its beautiful designs as a starting point (i.e., you want to design in Pages then export and finish the job), don't buy this 1.0 version. Exports to Word don't work well or, for HTML, at all. It's not just that "things look a little different" in the exported files, the exports are often unusable (except when for the simplest layouts) and often so different as to be unrecognizable. Also, as is typical for any product that makes use of the built-in OS X "export to PDF" capability, be aware that the exported file size will be huge -- an order of magnitude larger than it would be if you created the document with Adobe software.

If you're hoping to make use of Page's "professionally designed" templates, also be aware that as exceptionally well designed as they are, this can be a double-edged sword. Why? Because they're designed as a whole unit, including the "placeholder" photographs. When you replace one of those photos with your own (a process that is very easy to do because of the integration with iPhoto), you will most likely lose a lot of that "professionally designed" advantage unless the colors in your photo are quite similar to those in the placeholder photo it replaced. Put another way, all the surrounding colors in the template were chosen very carefully to match those in the template photo. Change the photo and you're back to square one (okay..., maybe square two) and will have to figure out which new surrounding colors to use on your own. A similar problem occurs if your photo is significantly different in size or shape or if you get "too creative" in your choice of fonts. You can easily weaken or ruin a page's design with a seemingly minor change.

None of the above, except for the PDF export size issue, has anything to do with Keynote which, to the extent I've used it, seems to be a great product completely in line with what one comes to expect from Apple. My impression of what went wrong with Pages is that it got rushed to meet an unrealistic release date. Hopefully Apple will make good on what this product appears to promise in its next release.

Mac users have been abandoned by Adobe Framemaker. There are some unix-based page layout programs, some with Mac interfaces, but they are difficult to use compared to Framemaker. MS Word is hopelessly unstable on long documents. Framemaker still runs in Classic, but it's orphaned and Classic ends when we move to MacTel. If you are writing very long documents, your choices are few.

Pages is a good start and a decent partial substitute. It does a fair subset of Framemaker, and it is considerably easier to learn. I missing running headers - I REALLY miss running headers - and Pages does crash on occasion. But it handles long documents, has a nice implementation of styles, and comes with a terrific set of templates. For a version 1.0 product, it is very nice. (I strongly suspect that the Pages manual was written in Framemaker, not Pages.)

Keynote, which has been around a little longer, is a fine product. Properly used, the transitions can knock your audience's socks off. They leave Powerpoint in the dust. And Keynote is far more stable than it's MS cousin. The connectivity to iPhoto is also a plus. I use Keynote professionally and it has never let me down. I can't say the same about Powerpoint.

iWork admittedly needs a spreadsheet. A simple drawing program like OmniGraffle would be useful. But it is a terrific start. Recommended.

Fed up with all the bugs and crashes I experienced with Office for Mac I bought iWorks - at least it cannot be worse I figured. Well, was it a pleasant surprise! I have so far only used Pages, but Keynote seems to be very highly rated by all its users already.
As usual, Microsoft is able to make Office appear easy to use, but in reality it is quite complicated. Pages appear more difficult, but when you get up to speed it is actually more easy to work with. The menus are more logical for instance, and you have more freedom in designing your document. Now, we must make one thing clear: Pages is a layout program with wordprocessing added. The layout functions are just amazing, and they are really easy to work with. Microsoft Word is a word processing program, but with some layout functions added. So if you are just writing, Pages have more functions than you need, and less writing utilities. On the other hand, I am not so 100% sure that Word's writing utilities are that useful.

iWork comes with two programs, Pages (a word processor) and Keynote (Apple's version of PowerPoint). Both of these programs are very simple to use and very effective. Without a doubt, there are better programs available, but their cost several hundred dollars more and for the average user don't provided more bank for the buck.

When I first turned on Pages I thought "How cheesey!" But as I got to using it I found my first impression was totally wrong. It's simple appearance is very deceptive. This is a word processing program that can do everything that is needed for ordinary personal documents and beyond. You have to be willing to explore the program to discover its gems, but once you learn were things are you will find it a very fast and easy to use. The real value of the program is its desk top publishing. The 40 some templates let you create profession grade newsletters, journals, resumes, invitations, marketing brochures, and many other kinds of documents. This is worth the price of the software alone. It seamlessly works with your iPhoto, iTunes and iMovies. This is one powerful piece of software. With it you can produce commercial grade color brochures or newsletters at an entry level price.

Keynote makes wonderful multimedia presentations, and like Pages is seamlessly integrated with iPhoto, iTunes and iMovies. If you are using graphics or want to import photos into your presentation, Keynote is significantly easier, quicker, and simpler to use that PowerPoint. You can't miss with this program. You can even save you presentation as a PowerPoint, Quicktime, or PDF file or post it on the internet for all to see with the easy of a single click.

I have used both Microsoft Word and PowerPoint and keep them on my hard drive but rarely use them. As my skill with Pages and Keynote has grown I have found them to be more than sufficient in producing quality documents from personal letters, teaching handouts, to professional grade overhead presentations.
For the cost, iWorks cannot be beat! And you will not be disappointed.

iWork `05 System Requirements
- Macintosh computer with a 500 mhz or faster Power PC G3, G4 or G5 (G4 for PowerBook); G4 or G5 recommended
- 128 MB of physical RAM (512MB recommended)
- 8 MB of video memory (32MB recommended)
- Mac OS X v10.3.6 or later
- QuickTime 6.5 or later

A number of reviewers have commented upon how easy this program is and, I suppose, in one sense it is, especially if you stick to using the templates. However, as one who has had occasion to work with "Adobe Pagemaker," this program can do sophisticated page layout and, as such, there will be a learning curve for the inexperienced.

But, the User Manual is good and there are good books coming out, like one from Visual Start in July, that will help people learn.

It is wrong to think of this program as a word processor "in competition with" Word. "MS Word" is a robust word processor; "Pages," as its name implies, is a page layout program. Having also worked with "MS Publisher," the real point of comparison and not "MS Word," "Pages" far exceeds "Publisher" in capabilities and yet for relatively simple layouts is as easy as "Publisher" to use.

I have not as yet put any real strain on the program, but at first blush, on my Powerbook G4 1.5, speed of operations is just fine. Yes, as a few reviewers have pointed out, some of the palettes could be more elegantly combined. One tends to get a clutter of open palettes. But, these are refinements that will be made in future editions, I am sure.

Bottom line: If you want to layout pages with a lot of the sophistication possible in the more expensive "Quark" and "PageMaker" programs; if you want to be able to export your documents to universal portable PDF file format and print out beautiful documents; if you want to pay, basically, only about $40 for these benefits ["Keynotes," the other half of iwork represents another $40], then buy "Pages."

And, if you are a novice with respect to not only page layout programs but also to very robust word programs like "Word," don't expect that everything will be simple. You will have to learn, but you will be rewarded relatively quickly.

This program makes me look like a genuis every time I make a presentation whether oral or written.

Pages
Pages can do anything MS word can do, and it is much more functional. It also can export and import word documents that are fully compatable with the MS word and, thus, MS office world.

Keynote
Keynote out does MS power point. It's the functionality and ease associated with mac that makes the difference. Your presentations are a little better than MS power point versions, and this higher quality takes a little less effort with keynote. Also, like word, you can move power point presentations via import and export functions.

I am not a programmer, but it seems to me that "anything MS word and MS power point can do, pages and keynote can do better." This includes such things as making (and exporting) MS word documents and power point presentations onto wintel (IBM/microsoft) machines!

Could this be the end to AppleWorks? For those of you who are not already vested in Adobe's InDesign, Quark's XPress, or the aging PageMaker or Ready-Set Go, Apple's new Pages could be a breath of fresh air! Before you plunk down three-digit amounts for any word processing or DTP software -- or their upgrades -- get Pages. You might discover you no longer need them.

Pages is a quick-to-learn, easy-to-use, "lite" page layout and desktop publishing program that ships with an array of starter templates making production of great pages a snap. Yes there are some problems -- but if you don't know what's missing you really won't care.

I'm the editor for the User Group Network and it's always a pleasure to encounter new software that really does something new for a change. What Pages does is make complicated DTP operations uncomplicated. You simply type or drag and drop your images.

The collection of templates is pretty good -- offering a full spectrum of finished publications from simple stationery to full-blown newsletters. If you want to customize, the Help files are excellent and you'll have no problem. If you want to originate all new templates with your own branding look, it's as easy as dragging some guide rules.

You can find my full review at www.user-groups.net, but seriously folks, for the price, if you're a Macintosh user, you owe it to yourself to try Pages. Even if you own and use those others mentioned above (like I do) with Pages, you'll be asking yourself if you really need to send them another fat upgrade check.

Good day!