Shocked at how good iWork is

[c84216]

Used iWork WAY back in the day (like when it first came out) and was lukewarm on it. Especially after the 2009 updates it just felt unfinished and broken.

Fast forward to earlier this week and a colleague gave me a Keynote presentation to work on. I was rather miffed at first but tried it and....it was actually intuitive and created a better slide deck faster than PowerPoint? Okay...

For dungs and giggles I did a spreadsheet budget I was working on in Numbers and I was left agog at how intuitive it was to put together and write formulas; they make it so easy to follow what's what and where. Beyond that, it all worked perfectly and edited perfectly across Mac/iPad/iPhone.

iWork is so much better than I remember it and Apple, inadvertently, got a convert out of me. Plus it means I won't have to pay $70 for Office this fall.

 

[fanboy-ish]

It is!

I like Pages way more than Word, probably because I don't use Word's more advanced functions, but I find it that with Pages it's easier to create a better looking document that it is with Word; of course the main problem with using iWork is unfortunately collaboration, many times I'm asked to send a Word document and if I create it with Pages and export it to .doc the layout is usually messed up. (Yes, many people still don't realize that there's no need to send the actual file in order to collaborate on it)

But, I think that, in general, if you want to create beautiful documents, iWork is easier than Office.

 

[Ifti]

Can you not save the document in iWork as a general MS Office document before sending to others??

This is my main issue with moving across to iWork - the fact that it may be difficult to work with general MS Office documents...

 

[TechRunner]

I tried creating a resume a few months back in Pages and it was so easy, I was impressed. I'm dabbling in using bits and pieces of the Apple suite now to accomplish certain tasks.

 

[fanboy-ish]

Can you not save the document in iWork as a general MS Office document before sending to others??

This is my main issue with moving across to iWork - the fact that it may be difficult to work with general MS Office documents...

Well, yeah, you can. Instead of saving it you can just directly export it to Word, but the layout will be messed up anyway.

I tried with a Pages template - one of those Pages shows you when you launch it - I've exported it as a .docx file without edits, the layout is not kept.

Of course, if it's just text there will be no problems - I think -, but when you start adding visual elements (pictures, graphs, charts), Pages is much more flexible than Word, and Word, will not recognize and keep the layout; I think it's because Pages is a desktop publishing software, Word is a word processing software, Pages acts more like Publisher rather than Word.

 

[Ruggy]

Well, yeah, you can. Instead of saving it you can just directly export it to Word, but the layout will be messed up anyway.

I tried with a Pages template - one of those Pages shows you when you launch it - I've exported it as a .docx file without edits, the layout is not kept.

Of course, if it's just text there will be no problems - I think -, but when you start adding visual elements (pictures, graphs, charts), Pages is much more flexible than Word, and Word, will not recognize and keep the layout; I think it's because Pages is a desktop publishing software, Word is a word processing software, Pages acts more like Publisher rather than Word.

Yes, but this also happens reading any Word document on a different machine anyway or in a different version of Word.
It depends to some degree what the settings are on the receiving computer: is it defaulting to printer settings like margins, paper size etc. But also fonts, line spacing etc.
It's an enormous headache however you look at it and it's why .pdf is so commonly used as it nearly always looks the same.

 

[neutrino23]

You may already be doing this, but here is a tip.

If you insert a shape such as a triangle, select it then choose:

Format / Shapes and Lines / Make Editable

This gives you incredible control over the shape. You can distort it amazing ways. Every vertex can be pulled or moved. Also, each side can be bowed out or in.

One way I use this to gain perspective. I start with a rectangle then shrink one side as needed. This is really helpful when overlaying a shape on a photograph and you want to match something like a window.

Go one step further and add two shapes, one over the other, then choose:

Format / Shapes and Lines / Subtract Shapes

Also, Unite Shapes, Intersect Shapes and Exclude Shapes. These are very powerful controls.

 

[fanboy-ish]

Yes, but this also happens reading any Word document on a different machine anyway or in a different version of Word.
It depends to some degree what the settings are on the receiving computer: is it defaulting to printer settings like margins, paper size etc. But also fonts, line spacing etc.
It's an enormous headache however you look at it and it's why .pdf is so commonly used as it nearly always looks the same.

Definitely PDF is the best option, whenever I'm creating flyers or presentations I'll just send the PDF and make any edit with the original file, after all, I'd be the one in charge of making those edits anyway.

If it's just text, with a very simple layout, I send the Word file.