Pages 5 features checklist

It is all online now http://help.apple.com/pages/mac/5.0/ opens up when you choose help. It says nothing.

Images within Tables is surly gone

I don't know how to make my image perfectly

and also I can't customize my tool bar.

Missing: Manage Pages...

The absence of Capture Pages... and Manage Pages... (both relate to Templates) removes the ability to have multiple defined sections in Templates completely. A major issue for us (we use the feature alot).

Separately you might want to add "file format changes" to your list - I found today that if you 'roundtrip' a Pages 09 document through the new Pages and export back to the '09 format you lose all the template information along the way.

In a very real sense this is Pages in name only. Apple didn't upgrade it, they re-imagined it and its easy to understand why. The huge disconnect between the iPad and the Mac version (not to mention the new browser version) was a headache. It reminded me of the early days of notebook computers with WordPerfect and WordPerfect Lite (or whatever it was called). I'd open a document on the iPad and there were so many limits to what I could do with it. That may no longer be a problem but whether it is a good solution or not only time will tell.

I've been gone from this forum for quite a while so many of you don't know me or my dislike of bloated software. I despise Office and use it only when forced to. What I like(d) about iWork is that it gave me nearly all the tools I needed without the bloat and assumptions that Microsoft knew what I needed better than I did. Pages certainly has less bloat than ever - but does it still have the tools I need? I dunno yet.

Positives:

I was never a huge fan of the Inspector and all the buried 'treasures' it contained. The new interface unhides the features.

The web version and Mac version look very similar. That'll be a plus for those of us who use a Mac at home and are forced into Windows at work.

Minuses:

Quite a list has already been compiled.

Thanks, Peter. I'll be watching this space, I have yet to make up my mind whether I'll update from Pages 08.

dwb, thanks for sharing your opinion. It's good to read a more optimistic perspective.

This is the part that is amazing to me. You cannot even delete a page out of a document, you cannot duplicate a page in a document, and you cannot move pages around in a document. This renders it 100% ridiculous never mind unusable.

Amazed that this actually got to the point of release without someone saying "hey, wait a minute, you can't even delete a page in a document

No more tracking bubbles or reading comments in the sidebar. Apparently they decided to take all the complaints the iOS version was getting about track changes and address the problem by making the desktop version equally bad. Maybe they thought we'd stop complaining about the iOS version if the desktop version didn't have the features either?!?! Like we'd forget they ever existed???

Another hard to believe ommission: image wrapping choices have been severly dumbed down. I've been editing a 40,000-word newsletter since October 2011 in Pages, and this (and many many other ommissions) will make be fetch my Time Machine tonight and go back to Pages 09.

A true shame.

I'm not blind - iWork '09 is in a folder and ready to swing into action if need be.

We know that Apple listens (sometimes) and we know Apple has a vision that often differs from ours. Believe me, I've just ended a period of extreme frustration with Apple in regard to the vision difference thing. But given Apple's track record vs my vision I'm more willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt. Me: a phone from Apple is stupid! Me: a tablet built on iOS is dead in the water. Me: A computer that cannot be upgraded and only has 256GB of storage max is a non-starter. Apple: 3 Me: 0

For me personally the question is whether Pages has had enough features removed to have a large negative impact on my work. My initial answer is no with reservations. I also recognize that my workflow is different from many others. I prefer using several small agile tools rather than one multi-purpose tool. Others prefer a larger feature set.

Obviously I'll be using the feedback button a lot. On the web version I've logged quite a large number already.

Love it. I wrote a review in the app store just politely (not dramatic, not crude etc) mentioning some of the feature changes that have happened with this release, and that if those specific functions are important to you, be careful with the upgrade. Apple deleted my review