Is Pages as bad as it seems?

You managed to skip Pages '09 which was far superior.

The current version of Pages is Pages 6.2, which requires macOS Sierra and has a couple of new features, but is still far short of Pages '09 which still works with a couple of caveats on all the recent MacOSes.

Pages 5.2.2 will not open documents from later versions and only runs on specific versions of MacOS which along with all the hidden User Interface is the handiwork of whoever is "updating" all the Mac software to be less functional and too many obstructions to getting work done on the Mac let alone in the broader computing community.

There are a large number of Word Processors on the Mac, you do not need to use a specific App.

Look on http://www.Macupdate.com to see what suits, Bean is rather nice, but we do not know what your requirements are.

Give feedback to Apple:

Menu > Pages > Provide Pages Feedback

and also review it in the App Store, many have already and mostly show their disappointment, but Apple is doing what Apple does, at its own pace and mostly disregards the customer.

Peter

You might also check out the "Apps for Writers" section of the Mac App Store.

Scrivener has a large and devoted following, though I've personally never warmed to it. I used Nisus Writer (not listed in the App Store) for a while, but I'm not sure whether it's still being maintained actively by the developer.

"I do notice version 6.2 is in the App Store, so maybe we should at least try the upgraded version."

Pages 6.x requires macOS 10.12 (Sierra).

Your profile information (and your reference to using Pages 5.x) indicates you are using OS X 11.x (El Capitan)

Pages 5 requires El Cap, and will not run in Sierra.

To Try Pages 6, you first need to upgrade your OS to Sierra, under which you will no longer be able to run Pages 5 (although Pages 4.3, if you have that installed, will function (with some lost features) in both El Cap and Sierra.

Regards,

Barry

Well, hush my mouth (as my Southern relatives say). I must have stared right through these.

By coincidence, Ulysses — another writing app that's popular at least among the folks in my twitter feed — just went to a subscription model as of yesterday. ($5/month, I think.) It seems chiefly useful for writing primarily for the web, so may not be what uncleE is looking for.

I continue to like Pages 6. Vive la différence.

Ulysses depends on one learning their markup language in order to properly format document content. For one accustomed to traditional word processing input, this will be an issue until, or if they choose to learn the markup. The markup learning curve will reduce productivity, but afterward, may improve it — depending on the document content requirements.

VikingOSX wrote:

The markup learning curve will reduce productivity, but afterward, may improve it — depending on the document content requirements.

Ulysses uses the standard Markdown syntax, I surmise? That's not so hard to pick up (Daring Fireball: Markdown Syntax Documentation) and is pretty widely used by various text-editing tools, so you only have to climb the learning curve once.

A side-note: The creator of Markdown, John Gruber, was recently soliciting recommendations on Twitter for a text-editing app for his own use; as I recall, the leading suggestions were Ulysses and BBEdit. This is a whole other world than the one I work in.

There is no reason to presume El Capitan is better than Sierra.

I run Sierra and think in general it is a tighter, smaller OS and with reasonably good extra features.

I also run Snow Leopard OSX 10.4.8 because it is extremey solid, retains features I like, and lets me run certain very useful Apps which Apple has destroyed in later versions.

I am surprised you are only now discovering incompatibility issues. Apple has hamstrung its users with a never ending disregard for continuity of both hardware and software. But that's only my 34 years experience of Apple.

I have no way of knowing that they will change, for the better. Recent evidence shows that they are losing interest in a coherent software environment. As well as deciding Software for Schmucks pays a whole lot better than trying to satisfy people who know what they are doing, and why.

Peter

You misunderstood what I said.

Pages 6 opens Pages 5 documents fine, just not the other way, so people with different systems let alone Mac/PC have trouble exchanging files unless all the ducks are in a row.

Experience says that Apple will yet again! introduce yet another version of Pages that will not run or let you open its documents on previous versions, because that is Such A Good Idea!

Install alternate OSes on a Western Digital (because they are reliable) Passport USB hard drive. Hybrid SSD/HDD drives are reasonably priced and fast if you want a quick boot up, you can build your own with a drive and snap together USB case. USB sticks are not a good idea for boot ups, they are slow and very limited in size.

Peter

Currently in the Mac App Store. Last updated Mar 2, 2017.

Pages 6 is definitely better than Pages 5 but still far short of Pages '09.

Peter