Q: Pages 5 features checklist

Numb …ers

PeterBreis0807 wrote:

 

Added

 

+ Unite overlapping Textboxes

Actually, there's more: When you select two or more individual shapes and/or textBOXES (even if within a single group of objects), the Format/Arrange context-sensitive sidebar has the Illustrator-like path operations "Unite," "Intersect," "Subtract" (bottom - top) and "Exclude." In these operations, the box of a textbox acts like a (rectangular) shape; i.e., you can't "Subtract" text from a shape in the background.

Note that the Format/Arrange context-sensitive sidebar is completely different (fewer and different options) when one of the initially selected individual objects is a table or a chart. This makes me believe that these latter objects are not simple/primitive, but are in fact complex combinations of primitives, which is why Pages 5.0 won't combine them further.

I don't think I've seen the word count issue mentioned yet. This used to appear in the bar at the bottom of the window. Now, you only have the option to open a really ugly, oversized bubble (View->Show Word Count) that you can move around the screen, where it is *always* somewhere in the text field, blocking your text. I guess this would go under "altered."

On another note, how do you go back to the previous version? I've read that some users have done it but I don't see where I can download previous versions on the app store (for a mac, not the iOS app store).

PeterBreis0807 wrote:

 

Given its birth from the wrong side of the blanket in iOS, the suite of "Productivity" Software could be called fauxWorks.

byeWork? cryWork? dieWork? lieWork? (well-)nighWork?

Pagelets? (For my 2¢, like "(ugly) duckling" or an "X-Men"-style changeling, "Pageling" could indicate that it is still Pages, but able to morph into something else such as a Keynote presentation with embedded functional Numbers tables & charts, which would be smashing; to me, Pages 5.0 is more like Piglet from the Winnie the Pooh lore.) Pagicles? Pagettes? ...

Pages 4.3 is still on your Mac, unless you deleted it. It's in the same folder as it used to be. However, you can't make it the default app to open Pages document.

The must frustrating thing of it all is Apple's position to call this an upgrade. This means we will see no stability updates for the "legacy" iWork. The only way to update is to upgrade! Right?

So if the "legacy" iWork gets more buggy with Mavericks or a future OS, we have no other choice than to downgrade the whole OS or upgrade to the new iWork.

Between a rock and a hard place...

It is clear to me Apple doesn’t see iWork as professional software anymore. It has become the cheap disposable toy inside a Happy Meal in order to sell more hardware.

It isn't a consolation but when upgrading from Pages08 to 09 the same applied.

fruhulda wrote:

 

It isn't a consolation but when upgrading from Pages08 to 09 the same applied.

But at least iWork was moving forward!

Yeah, you're right! I still sometimes prefer Pages '08 for particular files. I'll have to keep using Pages '09 for the foreseeable future, and definitely the new Pages 5 is gonna stay collecting dust in my computer for a long time, I guess.

Cheers

The big irritant is the language selection in Pages 5.0.

As an attorney in Puerto Rico I write documents that contain both English and Spanish. The language pop up mene in the old Pages allowed me to select language for a specific paragraph, instead of document wide.

How do I do that now?

You are both right. I did say far above that the new stripped down version should have another name as it is very much another application than Pages as we know it.

@JoseHM

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't think you need to tell Pages 5 what language you are using at all. In my very brief tests, the automatic detection kicks in right away. I tried typing something in English and German in the same document - even in the same paragraph - and the spell check was unfazed.  The German words had German spelling suggestions, the English had English. I added some French in the same document, and had no problem.

It does seem possible to easily break the auto-detection. If you mispell something early enough at the start of a new language - before Pages has figured out that you've switched languages - it doesn't recover. You may have to remove and retype that section, without the initial mispelling.

Ah well, after my previous post in this thread, I waited until this morning to be sure I wasn't spending money purely in a fit of pique, but, no, I'm not. I've just bought and downloaded VMWare Fusion, nipped down to PCWorld and got a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium (not ready to go to Windows 8.1 yet) and an Office 365 subcription. Yes, I know that Office 365 comes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for Mac, but since I'll have to spend some time getting to know the MS apps in detail again, I figured I might as well have access to the full suite. Windows 7 is actually pretty good to use and VMWare Fusion 6 is so good I don't even know it's there. Shame that neither make best use of the retina display but I can live with that.

Now, I've just got four years worth of work in Pages (and a few Numbers and Keynote files) to sort through, decide to archive, PDF and archive, or start to convert to Word or Publisher. I doubt that Microsoft will treat its customers as badly as Apple has (again) - Word 2013 can still happily open Word '97 files. Who knows, maybe I'll be converted to Surface and Windows 8.1 shortly? Now, where do I sign up for Creative Cloud ...