Apple iWork ‘09
Office suite for Mac
James Sugrue | Tuesday, May 26 2009There are two things that Apple CEO Steve Jobs is famous for. The first: resolutely holding on to the Seinfeldesque sneakers-with-jeans motif. The second: a desire for absolute minimalism in design and functionality. If you look at any Apple product sold under Jobs’ watch you will see clean, clear lines, and the lack of anything that doesn’t need to be there. The prime example of this is the lack of a removable battery on the iPhone – it would be too ugly, and spoil the lines! What does this have to do with a review about a productivity suite, you may ask? Read on, and the answer will become clear.
Like iLife ’09, reviewed in PCW last month, iWork ’09 is an annual update from Apple. A productivity suite, iWork includes three succinctly named applications; Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
Pages ’09
Pages is a word processor and page layout application in one. You can use it (as I am to write this review) purely as a word processor, or to create flyers, brochures or even invoices.
New in ’09 is a full screen outline mode, where all you see is a blank white page, a word count, and the text you are writing. This saves you from distractions from other applications and allows you to concentrate on your writing workflow. I found the full screen mode to be a surprisingly good addition.
The other major new feature in Pages for 2009 is enhanced sharing of documents. You can email your document directly from within Pages as either a Pages document, Word document or as a PDF. Pages will also open any Word document, which you can then
save as a native Pages document, or even as a PDF. Pages
also allows online collaboration via the beta website iWork.com. As we don’t review beta products, this hasn’t been tested, but it’s an interesting glimpse into the future of iWork.
There are a few minor new features in Pages such as enhanced templates, the ability to hook directly into EndNote and MathType applications for easier equation and bibliography editing, enhanced outlining features and easier mail merging from a Numbers spreadsheet or Address Book.
Overall, the new enhancements in Pages are nice and add to an already very good application. Pages doesn’t have the advanced collaboration and document change tracking features that other word processors have, but it’s an excellent word processor/page layout tool that has everything that 85% of users will ever need.
Numbers ’09
Like Pages, Numbers has 180 new templates, and has the same sharing features, but saves to an Excel document, rather than Word. There are also more charts and more chart options.
There is a new Formula View, which displays a list of the formulas in your spreadsheet, and allows you to search the list for a specific formula and jump to a formula by clicking it in the list. You can also edit formulas in the Formula View.
If you have a lot of data stored in one spreadsheet, Numbers now allows you to group data in a column by creating what Apple calls a “Table Category”. In simple terms, this feature groups like data together automatically, allowing you to easily add things like totals to groups, or hide groups from view.
The last new feature to Numbers is a bit 1990, but allows linking Numbers data or charts to Pages or Keynote documents. Once the spreadsheets have been linked, changes to the data flows through to the other linked documents.
Overall, Numbers is to spreadsheets what Pages is to word processors. It has most things most people will ever need, in an easy to use package.
Keynote ’09
Keynote isn’t a memorandum from the Prime Minister, but presentation software. Like the other applications in iWork, Keynote has increased sharing capabilities – share as Keynote, Powerpoint or PDF.
Keynote also introduces eight new themes and employs the same theme chooser as Pages and Numbers.
The major new features for Keynote ’09 are animation based. Keynote now has advanced text and object transitions. For example, you supply start and end text, and Keynote will create the animation to transition the text.
The other animation effect is called Magic Move, which creates an animation around a key object – an image or logo or any other object. You simply place the object in two different places between slides, and Keynote will create an animation, transitioning the object. Magic Move can also work with multiple objects, creating compelling animations to add interest to your presentation.
I rarely do presentations, so I asked for opinions of Keynote from a few people who do. It soon became clear that amongst people who use it, Keynote is the ‘ultimate’. In fact, one comment was that it was so good, “I would buy a Mac to use it”. Not much more I can add to that.
Verdict
iWork ’09 adds some nice features and enhancements over ’08, but no one compelling reason to upgrade. But, when you consider bang for your buck, features, ease of use and the fact that iWork can open, edit and save any equivalent Office document, its $179 purchase price is more than justified.
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