| The $79 iWork '08 appears to be a good deal for | | | | lets you create relatively complex designs without |
| anyone needing an affordable office suite for the Mac. | | | | software such as Adobe InDesign, great if you're |
| Apple has finally added a spreadsheet application. At | | | | throwing together reports for work. It lets you layer |
| first glance, Numbers is an elegant no-brainer for | | | | images on top of images too. The Instant Alpha |
| anyone migrating from Microsoft Excel. In the past, | | | | feature, also found in Keynote, lets you cut out |
| many Mac aficionados bought Microsoft Excel | | | | backgrounds in images without dealing with alpha |
| because iWork lacked a spreadsheet application. | | | | channels, a la Photoshop. And we prefer Pages' color |
| However, with the addition of Numbers and the | | | | wheel, crayons, and spectrum to Word's color options. |
| release of Microsoft's Office for Mac 2008 delayed | | | | Keynote |
| until January, Mac users may stick to Apple's less | | | | Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 may be richer, but Apple |
| expensive option. We're also happy that Mac hasn't | | | | Keynote '08 adds some smart features that |
| changed its file formats as Microsoft did with Office | | | | PowerPoint lacks. It's also a breeze to figure out from |
| 2007. | | | | the get-go. Action Builds let you create basic |
| We like the sparse interfaces throughout the iWork | | | | point-A-to-B motion animation, without needing to deal |
| package. Its features aren't as deep or rich as in | | | | with motion tweens as in complex apps such as |
| Microsoft Office 2007, but iWork also hasn't changed | | | | Adobe Flash. Smart Builds enable animation, such as |
| radically from its last incarnation, unlike Office. iWork | | | | rotating photographs, using images you can grab from |
| also covers much more than just the basic productivity | | | | the iLife media browser. And new voiceover |
| tasks offered by online tools like Google Docs & | | | | recordings enable you, say, to narrate podcasts with |
| Spreadsheets or the Zoho suite, so it should be | | | | pictures. There are new between-slide transitions and |
| adequate for the vast majority of home and | | | | slide show themes too. |
| small-business users. | | | | Numbers |
| System requirements, thankfully, are gentle to users of | | | | Our early look at the new Numbers reveals ease of |
| older Macs. You'll need an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 | | | | use novelties that competitive tools don't provide. |
| machine with a 500MHz or better processor in addition | | | | Microsoft Excel 2007 still appears to be more robust, |
| to 512MB of RAM minimum, running OS X10.4.10. | | | | particularly for number crunchers such as scientists, |
| Pages | | | | accountants, or engineers. Yet the majority of users |
| Apple tore a page out of Microsoft Office's book by | | | | who rely upon spreadsheets as one-size-fits-all tools |
| creating a Contextual Format Bar that displays | | | | for household and light office work should be pleased |
| different features according to your task at hand. | | | | to have a new option for Macs. |
| Select text, and the bar shows font options. Click on a | | | | Numbers comes with plenty of templates, including |
| picture, and the bar displays image-editing features. | | | | travel planners, business expenses, and school science |
| Unlike the contextual formatting Ribbon interface within | | | | lab reports. Of course, it can also save and export |
| Microsoft Word 2007, however, Pages offers no live | | | | Excel-readable files. This application pleases the eye |
| previews of font and image changes as you hover | | | | and can make attractive spreadsheets. We dragged |
| over them. | | | | around text boxes, images, and tables using alignment |
| Pages '08 also adds Change Tracking, similar to the | | | | guides without a hitch. You can add 3D bar, pie, and |
| Track Changes feature adopted many years ago by | | | | other charts and even integrate maps into a |
| Microsoft Word. We're glad that Pages gets this | | | | spreadsheet. |
| treatment for displaying document revisions rather than | | | | The controls for working with tables were extremely |
| the often confusing revision and commenting history | | | | user-friendly in our early tests. Slider bars allow you to |
| offered by the online Google Docs. | | | | adjust the numeric values within cells, handy if you're |
| Pages includes the usual must-have features for | | | | looking to add a range of values. Resizing columns and |
| writers such as footnotes, bookmarks, and tables of | | | | rows appears to be less of a hassle than with Excel. |
| content, in addition to integration with charts and | | | | You can drag data from a file of contacts or into a |
| functions from the new Numbers app. In addition, | | | | Numbers table that will automatically partition |
| Pages now detects when you type a list and formats | | | | information into the appropriate columns. And sorting a |
| bulleted points automatically. We just hope that this | | | | table smartly leaves the headers alone. Formulas |
| won't drive us batty (as it does sometimes in Microsoft | | | | appear to be the same as those in Microsoft Excel, |
| Word). | | | | but Numbers also has easy-to-find natural language |
| There are plenty of page templates for letters, | | | | shortcuts for common calculations, such as sums and |
| resumes, reports, and the like to get started if a blank | | | | averages. |
| slate poses too much pressure. Page Layout mode | | | | |