Word vs. Pages: What exactly makes Word better?

Steve,

It not only depends on the use, it depends on individual experience. I have a 350-page manuscript in Pages, and it performs flawlessly. And, by the way, Pages offers bookmarking.

As for whether features constitute bload, that's in the eye of the beholder.

EDIT--Yes, of course, everyone should use what works for them. I was just giving my opinion based on my use. Also, I wonder whether adding more memory might solve the typing slowness in Pages.

Thanks for the info on the bookmarking--it's a feature I like. How do you get to it in Pages?

Steve,

Try this:

- Open the Inspector
- Click on the Link Inspector (second icon from right)
- Click the Bookmarks tab
- Highlight some text in your document (like a chapter title)
- Go to Insert > Bookmark

Dennis, thanks.

Here is my biggest issue.

Pages is great if you are working in isolation or only among mac users.

However, I have to work with and send documents among Windows users. The fact I have to take a second step to Export to .doc is a pain. Also (and a bigger problem) it then creates a second set of files for each document.

Why does not Pages allow you to directly save files as a .doc? Other programs, such as other mac WP programs do.

Welcome to Apple Discussions Myles

Why does not Pages allow you to directly save files as a .doc? Other programs, such as other mac WP programs do.

A Pages document is different than those created by these "other programs." A Pages document is actually a package. Having thought about this question that gets brought up here periodically, I think exporting may be the best & safest way to take all the parts of the package & make a single document out of it.

I tried to use Pages the other day and fournd it was very very sluggish. Each letter I typed took about 30 seconds to appear during which the colored ball spun. For that reason, it took me three times as long to create a brochure in Pages than in MS Word 2004. Also there is no phone tech support for it like there is for MS Word 2004. Sure its cheap,but it acts cheap and is unuseable

If you search this site on the word 'speed' or 'slow' you'll find several things that explain the slowdown and can be done to speed it up. Your experience is extreme and isn't typical. Given that I touch type 65-75 words a minute I'd never tolerate a program that slow. Pages has no trouble keep up with me on my PowerBook.

There is NO endnote feature in Pages, Word offers endnote

As a long-time Word user, after Appleworks, I didn't think I'd take a second look at an Apple word processing program but with the iWorks free trial, I tried Pages. It looked really good and I think it is good but I'm not convinced that it's at a point to be able to switch from Word yet. With the first template I tried, I couldn't change some of the things that I really wanted to in the heading and couldn't find a suitable alternative template to use. I hadn't thought of it but you're right, I guess I could create my own templates but I actually don't use templates; my documents really aren't that similar to make it worthwhile to create a template. For me, part of the value would be in not having to make a template (in which case, I could simply continue using Word) but being able to sufficiently customize an existing template (thus saving time).

Even as far as graphics are concerned, I find that I can do whatever I want with Word. Word allows you to place an manipulate objects on the page also.
Pages looked nicer as an app and I think it's easier and quicker to use if either Apple or a user creates their own template or shortcut. But I feel that you can also create whatever you want from within Word.

As per some of the replies, admittedly there are unnecessary features in Word (I don't know enough about Pages; is the situation different such that every feature in Pages is fabulously useful?). I find that I don't use the styles at all and I don't use the comments and highlighting features except for my own personal drafts - I like it as the equivalent of using post-its on a hard copy. Comparing successive drafts was a useful feature for legal documents.

I wouldn't say that Word is more for Professional use than Pages but I still feel that Word is more useful for professions that are extremely text-centered and require for lack of a better word, a formal writing style (with high formatting needs - both within the main text and footnotes, endnotes, references, TOC, tables, charts) such as law and academia (particularly the Humanities and Social Sciences). I actually think that for many Pages would produce more professional looking documents in less time.

It's possible that many of the features are there if you take the time to learn them. But, I felt they were not apparent when using Pages during the trial period or by reading Pages Help section or Apple's on-line descriptive materials. I'm perfectly fine with simply using Word because I've done so for so long.

I also think it's a time issue. With documents that are regularly long and lots of footnotes, references..., I don't have the time to figure out whether Pages can do all that I need it to do and I don't want to take the risk that at some point in the writing process, I'm going to find that Pages really is inadequate or incapable of doing what I want to do. Further, I certainly don't want to run into problems sharing my documents or presentations with the predominantly Windows-based workforce, where compatibility with Word and PowerPoint is important.

I was interested in the poster who said s/he used Pages for a 350 word manuscript, but generally I haven't heard enough about it's usability for long documents to think that it can compete with Word yet or that it can handle all the extras such as endnotes, footnotes, references etc as easily as Word can.

That doesn't mean that subsequent versions of Pages won't do so but there's still the compatibility issue. Many of us have work situations where we do have to share documents with PC users and usually it's the more complex or idiosyncratic formatting that easily gets lost when you're using different systems.

But as per your query:

Is it a super function only hard core Word users know?

Yep. That's the secret that truly makes Word better. if you were a Word User, I'd tell you - Just kidding 🙂

I have a 350-page manuscript in Pages, and it performs flawlessly.

Dennis and others,

I'm interested in hearing more about your experience (and that of any others who have done either very text-heavy large document w/ or w/o substantial text and style formatting) with a 350-page manuscript. Because ultimately, my main concern is how Pages would do with large documents, formal writing style, heavy formatting within the main text and additonal parts of some written texts such as TOC, Index, footnotes, endnotes, references, etc.

I've posted elsewhere and on this topic my preference for Word. But when I first got the iBook, I found iWorks very interesting. I don't know if the current version of Pages will work for my needs but I'd like to learn more.

Specifically, I'm interested in the characteristics of the manuscript (and other long documents people have done successfully in Pages.)

Did you feel that your document had massive amounts of text (e.g. like a history book, legal document etc)? Was it easy to add pages for whatever you needed, go from page to page, scroll through all your text and pages, revise & edit, etc?

I'm sure Pages is fine with things like fonts, text styles, formatting location of text on pages, but what about multiple and different bullet/numbered lists, outlining etc.?

Did you have things like footnotes, endnotes, References, TOC, Index, charts, tables, graphs, appendices; if so, how do these fair in Pages?

JNK,

Pages came along fairly late in my manuscript process. I wrote most of it in a program called CopyWrite, which does a terrific job of letting you get your thoughts down on paper, but isn't intended to provide much in the way of formatting. For that, I exported to RTF, then opened the doc in Pages the first day the program became available. Right off the bat, I thought the way my text looks on the screen was beautiful -- sort of like the way Nisus Writer Express renders text, but without NWE's crippling flaws.

I have no need for a lot of the features you're asking about, so I can't really comment on them. But I will say this: it was extraordinarily easy to set up a manuscript template for my document, then format it. I found that the doc scrolls quickly and can capture my text as fast as I can type it (I used Pages for the last three chapters of my book). I'm aware that some folks are having problems with slow downs, but I haven't experienced any. Creating a TOC was incredibly easy and intuitive, as was making Bookmarks, so I can jump from chapter to chapter. Tables have worked flawlessly in other documents, although I haven't tried to insert one in my manuscript document.

One feature that's missing for me is a Jump To Page command. When you're dealing with a very large document, like I am, that's a handy feature to have, but the Bookmarks feature gets me close to where I want to be.

I'm not sure what I was expecting in terms of capabilities, but all in all, I was shocked by how well Pages handled my manuscript particularly when I considered that it was a version 1 application. It's been extremely reliable and trustworthy, unlike Nisus Writer Express; it looks great on the screen, unlike Mariner Write; and even its more esoteric features are simple to use, unlike Word.

To be honest, I originally bought iWork because I wanted to play around with Keynote. But I found Pages to be so useful that I use it for all of my text entry.

I hope this answers some, if not all, of your questions.

Being a dedicated Mac user since 1990 and having to change environments at work in 2001, I've always enjoyed the AppleWorks programs. My school changed to the Windows world while I was teaching the 7th and 8th grade computer classes and I had to change my ways. Of course there are plusses and minuses to both...but on to Pages.

Becoming the editor, for our Mac newsletter for SWiMaCS group in WI, last year I went from using Word to InDesign and am completing my first newsletter in Pages this week. I find working with graphics a little more difficult as I would like to have a selection cursor for the graphics. I had trouble bringing in my header from Illustrator as it would only show on the first page until I learned the flashing cursor must be flashing when I pasted in my title. I do like the styles and am working form my own creation. I tried the templates but became frustrated with their limited space for information. Things are progressing nicely with all the hours I've spent learning the new program.

I'm hoping the Missing Manual will help with other questions.

The only other complication I really had was how to email the newsletter (7 pages) to another person. There isn't any help in online help or the PDF manual. Peggy was very helpful telling me how to create an archive. I'll always be learning new information during my retirement.

I guess I still favor InDesign over Word and Pages, but I'll know more after my yearly newsletter work.

Nancy

Dennis - thanks for the info - it is useful.

I wrote most of it in a program called CopyWrite, which does a terrific job of letting you get your thoughts down on paper, but isn't intended to provide much in the way of formatting.

I wonder if what makes CopyWrite great for initial drafts would be true in Pages also. When I first looked at Pages it didn't strike me as "long-document friendly." I didn't feel like I could just start typing away. That's why I'm interested in hearing of people's experiences with long text-heavy docs.

After reading your comments, I almost bought iWorks (I even put it in a saved shopping cart at the on-line Apple store! -your comments were quite persuasive!) but again this weekend I tried to do an event Program with it - something I would think would be ideal for Pages. Alas, no template applied or seemed readily customizable and it was quicker for me to do it on MS Word than figure it out on Pages. I think I'm going to wait for version 2 but would love to hear of more experiences with long documents - yours or others.

thanks

The thing that really sold me on CopyWrite was the ability to attach notes to specific chapters and to the document as a whole. That makes implementing ideas so much easier than having to deal with sticky notes.

I think if you spent about an hour playing around with Pages, you might realize how much easier it would be to do your event program with it than with Word. Pages is pretty spiffy as a desktop publishing lite program.