The price tag is the first remarkable thing that strikes you about Pages 08. It costs just $79 for the whole iWork suite. Compare it with the $399 for the standard MS Word: Mac package and you know why it has become so popular so quickly.
Pages 08 is fully compatible with all your favorite document formats and allows import from, as well as export to, all of them. These include the more common.doc as well as PDF, Plain Text or Rich Text Formats to be used with Editpad or TextEdit.
When you open Pages 08, it will first load a template selector. Whatever your requirements, you can find a pre-prepared template for them here. But if you don't want to use the templates, you can switch it off, or switch it on later if you want. If you don't like those template designs, you can create one for yourself which will be stored along with others.
When you open your documents, you find a built in header-and-footer on every page that can be accessed more easily than the ones in MS Word. Just at the click of a mouse, you can change these invaluable items without having to navigate through so many menus.
A useful feature in Pages 08 is inspector window. A click at the bright-blue icon at the top right-hand corner brings it into view. All the basic information about the document, like the dimensions, is given on the first panel. Additionally, it contains 3 mini menus below the main inspector menu. The Info menu allows you to add title, author name, keywords, comments, etc., without putting them into the main document and, thus, without changing the word count. The feature also comes in handy when you want to put any restrictions in your document which you may otherwise forget, like a word limit, or a topic. It also gives a running word count so you don't have to click that annoying tab again and again to check it.
The Inspector Window actually gives you almost complete control of your document. Whether it is inserting tables or hyperlinks, or modifying them, shortcuts for everything can be found in the Inspector Window.
In short, Pages 08 has all that can be found in MS Word, and much more. It comes in a concise little package with an unbeatable price tag. Apple has already done a home-run with this software package without counting Numbers and Keynote, the other two iWork apps.
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