Pages 5 features checklist

You're a real gem Peter.

I'm 1000% sure Apple didn't knowingly damage user's work.

And I'm accused of bickering.

Sometimes it is necessary to discontinue software and replace it, especially if the earlier software has become a tangled bowl of spaghetti. For the sake of argument, let's say it was necessary to replace Pages. Where Apple went wrong was in calling version 0.5 of SoftwareTwo a successor to version 4.0 of SoftwareOne and forcing us to downdate to the new software.

There was a TV show which reconstructed actual crimes. They began the show with a disclaimer, "The story is the same but the names have been changed." This downdate of Pages should have had a disclaimer, "The name is the same but the software has been changed."

Pages 5 is not the successor to Pages 4.3, any more than Numbers is the successor to iWeb.

fruhulda wrote:

3 b. Can't rotate objects.

Am I missing something? I have a shape (triangle) and a group of a shape and a text box in a testing page. In both cases, clicking on the item brigns up an "boject-framing box" with anchor-points at the corners and at the middle of the side. Bring the cursor over an anchor point and it changes into a "resizing" tool. Hold the Command key while the cursor is over a corner point, and it changes into a rotation tool; press and drag to rotate. Also, while a chape or a textbox are selected, the Format/Arrange sidebar has the "Rotate" wheel, angle field and flip buttons; for a group of shapes & textboxes, the Format sidebar only has an Arrange "tab" and the rotation wheel is there. However, it seems that charts and tables cannot be rotated.

for the millionth time, this is a rewrite, 5.0 release. At 5.1 this will all be on its way to being fixed. I never said Apple could do no wrong. I know there are lots of problems with this release. I never said otherwise. I'm just trying to get people to leave constructive feedback instead of wasting time badmouthing the company. I can't believe I'm taking heat for that. Even your beloved thread starter is continuing to fan the flames of negativity (about something he hasn't even used, no less) rather than sticking to making a simple list, which is why I got on him in the first place. But go ahead, shoot the messenger.

noaliase wrote:

"Fanboy" as stated is a common reference to the fans of Apple- whether I like it or not, it is common term for those that can see no wrong in what Apple does or does not do. Trust me, I am a fan of Apple products but when I see crap- I call it such. "Fanboys" don't see it as such. Developer or not- this release is crap. We all know that. iWork Beta was better than this. If a developer were to come on here and defend their position, that would be great. However, I assume that they too agree that this release is less than stellar. It may not be their fault- rather the fault of the superiors, but in all reality- even as an entry-level subordinate, a responsible developer should have run this disaster up the flagpole to the bosses. By no means am I critiquing the developers. I predict that there were way too many involved in this to say that any particular group is solely responsible. But if your development groups act in a silo- then must come together at release time-they should have a fairly good understanding of what the right hand is doing. It doesn't appear that is has happened. It seems rushed and forced upon the customers- not at Apple's expense but the users.

Now I can be a condescending putz but I'll save that for others.

See, this is what I mean. There's nothing constructive here. Nobody was forced to download anything. Why do I get railed for not sticking to the list when all these other people are just in here to trash talk the developers? man.

Kenneth Collins1 wrote:

Sometimes it is necessary to discontinue software and replace it, especially if the earlier software has become a tangled bowl of spaghetti. For the sake of argument, let's say it was necessary to replace Pages. Where Apple went wrong was in calling version 0.5 of SoftwareTwo a successor to version 4.0 of SoftwareOne and forcing us to downdate to the new software.

There was a TV show which reconstructed actual crimes. They began the show with a disclaimer, "The story is the same but the names have been changed." This downdate of Pages should have had a disclaimer, "The name is the same but the software has been changed."

Pages 5 is not the successor to Pages 4.3, any more than Numbers is the successor to iWeb.

I did another check in the Help files and it seems there is a possibility. BUT when I try it doesn't work for tabels but for charts, images and shapes. You are supposed to rotate in the same way as you did in the older Pages versions but I can't make it work.

To rotate a tabels was one of those important features in Pages. Gone

I whish I could get the help on the net in English. I seem to be stuck with Swedish. No choice there!!

fruhulda wrote:

...

3 b. Can't rotate objects.

...

Not sure what you mean by this: objects text, images, Pages shapes, can all be rotated in Format/Arrange.

Pages went into "not responding" mode whilst testing it how deals with printer margins show/hide Layout. There doesn't seem to be an option to "Use printer Margins", mind you, it wasn't easy to find in 4.3.

Just to be clear, you were censored for insulting a user, Peter. Be clear about that. The mods didn't censor your objective, logical and well thought-out statements. They just don't tolerate calling someone names. That's exactly what I've been trying to point out. You're not sticking to the list, Peter.

Karabuni - I am sorry I couldn't at first but if you read my post before this you'll see that I have changed my facts.

Peter,

I know you said you might be busy today, but it might be helpful to everyone and perhaps to any on-lookers if you (or perhaps someone else) would sum-up briefly where we are at in all this. Perhaps even a restatement of purpose.

As for me, I don't see a certain amount of venting of frustration as being completely out of line. I don't necessarily see this as a flaw in the discussion, but a natural result of Apple's unwillingness to be transparent in this issue. I've seen several news articles appear referring to Pages problems and this discussion - I think it is well past time that Apple respond. I also think that while a well thought-out checklist is certainly the stated goal, I think there is now enough data to compile a brief formal statement, a declaration of sorts, to not only focus the discussion, but to clarify to on-lookers, and mainly to focus to Apple where we are coming from and why they should take this seriously.

Two Words: Time Machine. I think the first mistake was not issuing a warning about the files being changed. But behind that there was most likely a misjudgement about the ability to revert to a previous version. They probably assume, as I would, that everyone has a backup. And they should.