With all due respect to a Level 7 Pages guru, the fact that you have to ask what 'Page Layout format for a new document' is gives me pause...
In Pages 4.3 the open dialog box shows Page Layout as a default choice with a plethora of templates associated with the blank versions.
In Pages 5.5 you must select the basic word processing document, then click on the Document button on the tool bar. Then, deselect the three check boxes for Header, Footer and Document Body and then agree to convert the document to Page Layout view in the resulting pop down dialogue box. Great new intuitive design that Apple can be proud of...
I can then open and work with this document in iOS on my iPad, but cannot create that document on the iPad. In the iOS or Mac v5.5 open template box, you can select a Page Layout template, but it is only by guessing that you get the right one. Then you have to delete all the boiler plate to get a working blank document.
The Page Layout format is, for most users, all they will ever need for simple design projects. The option of going the InDesign route, which in typical Adobe fashion, is beyond the pocket book (and comprehension for that matter) of the average newsletter designer.
I have given workshops and tech support for Mac (and MS Office) for the last 29 years. I find it very disappointing that Apple has taken the path to dumb down their MSWord beater to get iPad synchrony with the Mac version. They should have taken the path of bringing the iPad version up to the Mac version.
Perhaps the conspiracy theorists are right that Apple is dumbing down Pages (and now Aperture,) so that Microsoft and Adobe will continue to support a Mac version of Office and Creative Suite (Cloud). The irony is that Microsoft originally developed Word for the Mac back in the DOS days with no GUI to be had for Windows machines (I still have an original unopened Word 4.2 sitting in my office.) Adobe's early success was cemented by Apple licensing Postscript for the LaserWriter in 1985 to give professional output for vector graphics.
