Pages

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Pages
Developer: Apple Inc.
Latest release: 2.0.2 / September 28, 2006
OS: Mac OS X
Use: Word processor / Page layout
License: Proprietary
Website: www.apple.com

Pages is a word processor and page layout application developed by Apple Inc. and a part of the iWork productivity suite sold by Apple for US$79 in the United States (£55 GBP in United Kingdom, €79 in most European countries). Pages 1.0 was announced at the beginning of 2005 and started selling in February 2005. As with most of Apple's other recent software, Pages runs on Mac OS X only. Pages 2, part of iWork '06 was introduced at the 2006 MacWorld Expo.

Contents

[edit] History

Pages on Mac OS X is the successor of Apple's multipurpose office suite AppleWorks. The first rumors of a new Apple word processor to replace AppleWorks circulated the Internet through Mac rumor websites in 2003, suggesting a new software package to be released by Apple called "iWorks" or "iWork". Many Mac users were expecting the new program (which rumor sites then claimed would be called "Documents") in 2004. Steve Jobs, Apple CEO finally announced iWork '05 along with iLife '05 at the beginning of 2005.

There was a program of the same name made for NeXT computers by Pages Software, Inc., including similar WYSIWYG page layout features as Pages for Mac OS X. Since Apple acquired NeXT in 1997, this has led to suggestions that these programs are based on the same codebase. However, since Pages Software's NeXTSTEP assets seem to have been acquired by a Chicago-based IT solutions company, this speculation appears to be unfounded. It is known that Pages for Mac OS X was developed by the same team that developed Keynote 2, a presentation program included in iWork.

[edit] Features

Pages includes support for multi-column layout, text paragraph styles, footnotes, and other advanced typographic capabilities. It makes strong uses of templates to get users started. AppleWorks and Microsoft Word documents can be imported, and files can also be exported to a variety of formats. Graphics can be drawn directly into documents, and updated dynamically.

Pages is well suited for basic page layout and word processing tasks. Pages can create lists, columns, bullet point lists, URL links, dates and times, page breaks, and will accept data from iTunes, iMovie and iPhoto. Pages can be used to create newsletters, invoices, blank documents, essays, stationery, invitations, educational materials and other types of documents. Any documents created can be exported to RTF, HTML, Word, PDF or saved as a Pages document.

[edit] Pages and Word

Most people tend to compare Pages with Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac OS X. The following functions are present in Word 2004 but absent in Pages 2.0:

  • Visual Basic macros
  • Revision Marks
  • Comparison of two documents
  • Versions
  • Organization Charts
  • Linked and Embedded Objects
  • US Barcode printing
  • Master documents
  • Grammar Checks
  • Vertical Script and Japanese furigana
  • WordArt
  • Drop Caps
  • Intelligent caps formatting (like Title Case).
  • Autosave (which can be used to recover unsaved documents in case of a crash)
  • Native "Save" of RTF and Word format (Pages "exports" to RTF and Word format, but subsequent changes have to be exported again through a number of dialogue steps.)
  • Split document window
  • Multiple document windows for the same file
  • Italics and bold in fonts with no built in typeface for it.
  • Word count of a selection (available in Pages only using third party Services such as wordservice)
  • Hidden text
  • Different page orientations within the same document
  • Save and open RTF files with pictures (Pages opens and saves RTFDs which may contain images, but does not handle pictures embedded in RTF.)
  • Convert text to table

Pages has the following functions, which Microsoft Word 2004 lacks:

  • Save and open Pages files
  • Save and open RTFD files
  • Support for Mac OS X Services
  • Image Masks
  • Image Levels
  • Embedding PDF images
  • Snap images to Alignment guides
  • Text fit/wrap along a curved border
  • Copy/paste text formatting
  • Instant font size scaling
  • Customizable text shadows
  • Multi-language dictionary (Word has several language dictionaries, but for each part of the text, one has to decide which language it shall be checked against.)
  • Formatting previews (Apart from the Formatting Palette, the dialogues in Microsoft Word do not show previews of formatting changes until they are applied.)
  • Ligature control
  • Advanced typography features (glyph variants, ornaments, etc.)

Neither Pages nor Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac OS X has fully working support for right to left scripts like Arabic, Hebrew and Persian. Neither product supports the OpenDocument format.

Other functions that exists in both products are often implemented in very different ways.

[edit] Version history

Version Number Release Date Changes
1.0 February 2005 Initial release.
1.0.1 March 17, 2005 Fixes isolated bugs and issues causing problems to some customers. It also allowed the deletion of template pages.
1.0.2 May 25, 2005 Addresses issues with page navigation and organization.
2.0 January 10, 2006 Released as part of iWork'06. Includes new templates, table calculations, photo masking with shapes and freestyle bezier curves.
2.0.1 April 26, 2006 Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.
2.0.1v2 May 1, 2006 Pages 2.0.1 addresses issues with charts and image adjust. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.
2.0.2 September 28, 2006 Pages 2.0.2 addresses issues with Aperture compatibility.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Apple's iWork
Keynote  | Pages
 v • d • e Apple Inc. software
OS: Mac OS X • Mac OS 9
Consumer: .Mac • iLife • iTunes • iWork • AppleWorks
Prosumer: Final Cut Express • Logic Express
Pro: Aperture • Final Cut Studio • Logic Pro • Shake
Bundled: Front Row • iChat • Photo Booth • QuickTime • Safari • TextEdit
Server: Apple Remote Desktop • Mac OS X Server • WebObjects • Xsan
Discontinued: HyperCard • MacDraw • Mac OS • MacPaint • MacProject • MacTerminal • MacWrite
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