church photo directory

Welcome to Apple Discussions rpoe

I wouldn't use Pages for this, especially for a 350-member church, since you would have to create each entry manually. The rearranging would be a nightmare!

I've done a photo directory for my church of about 60 families the last two years & used AppleWorks. Actually, I used a combination of AppleWorks & Pages this year. I used AppleWorks for the database & creating the layout including a multimedia field for the pictures. Because AppleWorks 6 databases, especially those with multimedia fields, are more prone to corruption, I used a copy of my "regular" database to add the pictures. I used Pages to create the text pages of leaders & committees. Still, it's a very time consuming process & I am very familiar with AppleWorks. I printed both the AppleWorks & Pages files to PDFs & then used a program to combine the two into one for printing.

I refuse to do this again this year & will be printing a plain text directory. You might consider looking at a photo directory program/service by Newsletter Newsletter, a Christian church publication resource company.

I have to agree with Peggy that trying such a large project in Pages would require too much effort.

The best way I have found to do a photo directory is actually to use iPhoto. Though it lacks database features, iPhoto has a Year Book Template which can be used for this type of project (listed under the Large Hardcover Book themes). The Year Book template has about twenty different page designs to choose from, which should give you enough layout variation if needed. Just drag the picture into the box and type in your text. Done.

iPhoto books do not need to be ordered and printed through Apple. Just choose Print>Save as PDF and iPhoto will compile the entire book into a pdf you can take to Kinko's.

If for some reason the iPhoto Year Book template doesn't give you enough control over your layout, you can use Aperture's fantastic photo book creation feature. Apple is currently providing a free, fully-functional, 30 Day trial of Aperture, which should be long enough to get the project done (www.apple.com/aperture/trial/). [But: If your Quicksilver unit is your only Mac, it may not run Aperture.]

May not be the perfect solution, but worth a try.

Another possible solution is to put the family information into Address Book, which integrates with Pages. I haven't played with Address Book much, but it is a database specifically designed for this kind of information.

I had considered trying Address Book myself, but it is just too limited in the information you can include. I need to be able to list a spouse such as "John & Peggy (last name), but not have it look obvious when there is no spouse. Address Book insists on needing a year in birthdates. That's fine for children when I do want the year, but not for adults. Same with anniversary dates.

Address Book is great for keeping e-mail addresses for use with Mail, but otherwise I'll stick to my AppleWorks databases.