Discover the Power of iWork with The Missing Manual
Charles W. Moore - 2007.08.06
iWork '05: The Missing Manual
A packet of books for review I received from Pogue
Press/O'Reilly a couple of weeks ago included iWork '05: The
Missing Manual, which, as the title indicates, is not exactly
hot off the presses. Apple updated its iWork document and
presentation creation software suite, introduced in January 2005,
to iWork '06 last year.
The '05 volume is the most recent Missing Manual covering this
program, and the changes to the '06 version were not radical.
Presumably the author and Pogue Press/O'Reilly determined that a
new edition of the book was not necessary yet, given the modest
scope of differences included in the '06 update.
New in iWork '06
iWork '06 included some enhanced features in Pages 2 and Keynote
3 that enable the creation of more sophisticated documents and
presentations. Tables with spreadsheet-like calculations can now be
inserted into any document or presentation, giving users the
ability to add, multiply, or average numbers in rows or columns.
Users can also create three-dimensional charts featuring realistic
wood grain, metal, and marble textures and fully control the
viewing angle. iPhoto-like advanced image editing tools help to
perfect photos directly within documents and presentations.
Freeform shapes and curves, including Bezier curves and shapes with
perfectly smooth edges, are easy to create and use to mask images.
iWork '06 also adds the ability to include reviewer's comments in
slides and documents without affecting the layout.
Pages 2 supports mail merge with Mac OS X Address Book, making
it easier to personalize documents with predefined fields within
templates and quickly drag and drop individual contacts into
documents. It also includes two dozen new templates for projects
like newsletters, flyers, posters, school reports, scrapbooks,
brochures, business proposals, and invoices, plus new thumbnail and
search views that make it easier to work with large documents and
quickly find words or phrases within a document.
Keynote 3 includes new cinematic transitions, including vertical
or horizontal blinds, revolving door, swoosh, and more. It offers
even more Apple-designed themes, including four specifically
designed to take advantage of high definition displays. A new Light
Table view mode makes it easy to view an entire presentation at a
glance and reorganize slides using drag and drop, while flexible
build animations provide more control of bullet lists, tables, and
charts including unique timing and sequence of individual bullets,
rows, columns, or series.
However, for the most part readers of iWork '05 The
Missing Manual should find it quite relevant to the '06
version.
iWork consists of the Pages word processor and the Keynote 2
presentation application inherited from the iLife suite.
A more introductory work than most Missing Manuals volumes, due
to the early version status of the subject, this book, authored by
Jim Elferdink, owner of Macs for the Masses, a Macintosh consulting
service in Northern California, and co-author of AppleWorks 6:
The Missing Manual, is intended to inform readers about the
iWork program's capabilities, advantages over similar programs, and
its limitations, as well as providing instruction and reference
information on using the software.
When he announced iWork at Macworld Expo '05, Steve Jobs
indicated that it is intended to replace Apple's time-honored
AppleWorks application suite, but the new program is positioned
upmarket from AppleWorks and aimed more at advanced amateur and
professional Mac users, who want to create slick and stylish
documents and cinema-quality digital presentations that say
precisely what they want them to say. That said, there is no reason
for beginners to pass it up if they have a need for this sort of
program.
If you have purchased a new Mac recently or a retail copy of
OS X 10.4 "Tiger", you already have a trial copy of iWork that
will provide you with unrestricted access to the program for 30
days before you must decide whether to purchase a license or not.
If you decide not, the trial becomes an iWork player after 30 days,
so you will still have access to any documents you created with the
program - a nice touch.
The book's introduction contains a more thorough and detailed
overview of what iWord is than might otherwise have been the case
with more familiar software. The body of the book is structured in
two main parts, respectively covering the two application modules,
followed by four appendices and an index. The book's design follows
the familiar Missing Manuals formula, which means an attractive
page layout with lots of white space and plenty of screen shot
illustrations.
Elferdink maintains the conversational prose style that Missing
Manuals series creator David Pogue is noted for, which makes this
book an easy read.
Part One, Pages, has seven chapters.
In Chapter 1, Creating a Basic Document, we learn the
ropes of Pages' template motif, which includes 40 preformatted
documents of varying types (you can, of course, also start with a
blank page if you want to). Templates can be modified or created
from scratch as well. There are tutorial sections on creating
document windows, changing your page view, basic editing, and so
forth.
Chapter 2, Formatting Your Document, covers the bases of
character formatting, effective use of fonts (including a Power
Users Clinic on ligatures), a list of typewriter-throwback
formatting bad habits that haven't quite been eliminated, alignment
and justification, line-spacing, background colors, layout and
section formatting, spell checking, and much more.
Chapter 3 moves along to Advanced Word Processing,
using find and replace, creating and using styles, lists and
outlines, creating column formatting, working with headers and
footers, and adding a table of contents.
In Chapter 4, we are Moving Beyond Text: Laying Out
Pages. Besides being a powerful and capable word processor,
Pages is also a page layout program - sort of a junior version of
InDesign
or QuarkXPress. While print professionals are not likely
to abandon those industry standard applications for Pages, the
Apple application can certainly be used to produce a professional
looking brochure, newsletter, or magazine/e-zine. This chapter
contains concise but thorough tutorial material on basic page
layout techniques using Pages templates as your starting point. If
you are interested in learning how to do this sort of thing, this
chapter alone could be worth the price of the book.
Chapter 5, is on Building Charts and Tables. Pages
incorporates some powerful table and chart creation features, the
use of which is explained in this chapter.
Sharing Pages Documents is the topic of Chapter 6
- printing, faxing, importing and exporting.
In my description of Chapter 1, I noted that you can create your
own Pages templates. Chapter 7, Streamline Your Projects -
Creating Templates, is all about how to do that, from scratch
as well as modifying existing templates.
Part Two: Keynote 2, has five chapters.
Chapter 8, Planning and Creating Great Presentations, is
a general overview of the purpose and use of presentation software,
of which Microsoft PowerPoint is the industry standard. The reader
is briefed on the essentials of creating an effective presentation
and reminded that no matter how cool the tools presentation
software puts at your disposal are, the content - not the medium -
should be the star of show. There is also a section on presentation
hardware: laptop computers, projectors, and remote controls.
Chapter 9 addresses the specifics of Building a Basic
Presentation using Keynote themes and user interface controls,
working with slides and the outline view.
Chapter 10 covers Laying Out Your Slides in
greater depth and detail: working with objects, adding and
formatting text elements, inserting photos and other graphics,
tables and charts, changing slide backgrounds, adding movies and
sound, adding Web views, working with hyperlinks, recording
narration, and adding movement and transitions.
Sharing Your Presentations is Chapter 11's topic,
viewing and printing, presenting keynote slideshows, creating
self-playing and hyperlinks-only slideshows, printing slides and
handouts, exporting to other formats (i.e.: PowerPoint or
QuickTime), and exporting to PDF or image files.
Chapter 12 is about Customizing Keynote, modifying
themes or creating your own from scratch, importing and modifying
master slides, and so forth.
Part 3, Appendices, contains four.
- Appendix A, Pages Menu by Menu, provides a reference
overview of each element of Pages' menus.
- Appendix B: Keynote 2, Menu by Menu does likewise for
that module.
- Appendix C is a tutorial on installing and upgrading
iWork.
- Appendix D he is iWork on the Web - a list of Web
references and resources for getting more information on using
iWork. This appendix also includes a Power Users Clinic on Mac
troubleshooting basics.
There is also a 13-page Index.
One criticism is that for a book about a software suite for
creating slick and swish documents and presentations, the
all-grayscale illustrations are a bit drab, but the lack of color
helps keep the cover price down.
There is a ton of useful information in this book, and anyone
who is serious about working with iWork should have a copy. While
Apple does include printed manuals for Pages and Keynote 2 in the
shrink-wrapped retail iWork box, they're pretty light on depth and
detail and not really up to the job of helping you get the best of
this program.
iWork 05: The Missing Manual is written to address
readers of all technical levels, with the primary discussions
directed to advanced beginners and intermediate users, with Up To
Speed and Power Users Clinic sidebars expanding the scope in either
direction for basic beginners and experienced Mac veterans
respectively.
"iWork follows the path blazed by the iLife programs - and
generations of kindergarten classes: it's important to work, play,
and share with others, says Jim Elferdink, adding that "step by
step instructions for using every Pages and Keynote 2 feature,
including those you may not have even quite understood - let alone
mastered - such as styles, hyperlinks, animations, charts, and so
on."
With a list price of $24.95, the book is not expensive, and it
also includes 45 days of free trial access to the O'Reilly
Network's online Safari Bookshelf, where you can search thousands
of top tech books, download whole chapters, cut and paste code
samples, and find answers fast.
- iWork '05: The Missing Manual
- Jim Elferdink
- First Edition: September 2005
- ISBN: 0-596-10037-X
- 406 pages
- $24.95 US, $34.95 CA, £17.50 UK
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