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 Apple's iWork '05 collects two applications: Pages, an all-new word processor, and Keynote 2, an updated version of the popular presentation program. They share similar interfaces, make extensive use of templates and use charts, tables and graphics in the same way. Learn one, and it's easy to learn the other.
Turning Over a New Leaf
Pages is actually more of a page-layout program camouflaged as a word processor. It's designed for ease of use; colorful buttons in the toolbar allow you to choose the number of columns, set the text style and add shapes, tables and charts. Another button allows you to call up the iLife Media Browser, a cross-application interface that makes it easy to access your photo, music and movie libraries. You can add any item to your document just by dragging and dropping it into place. (Obviously, access to your photo library is the central appeal; music and movies have little purpose in printed documents.)
A number of niceties help you create great looking documents in Pages with minimal effort. It has a host of document templates that let you quickly lay out personal letters, school papers, newsletters, invitations, postcards and even catalogs. Each template is expertly designed and includes a set of alternate page layouts that fit with the theme. Once you choose a template, you can replace the placeholders with your own text and photos. It's extremely simple.
It's also very easy to add tables and charts to your documents. Choosing Insert>Table gives you a basic table with a gray header. You can change the number of cells and the placement of the header using the Table Inspector, and you can change the color of the cells and width of the table border in the Graphic Inspector. Charts are just as easy using the Chart Data Editor and the Chart Inspector. Completed tables and charts can be resized, rotated and repositioned just like any other graphic.
Pages puts a heavy emphasis on the use of paragraph styles to format text. It's a smart move; after all, it's far easier to choose a preset style than to set the font, set the style and set the size each time you want to reformat a block of text. The Styles drawer shows all available styles in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get listing. Selecting a block of text and clicking a style applies that style. Each template is equipped with a long list of styles, but you're not stuck with these; you can create your own style presets.
Pages happily imports documents created by both AppleWorks and Microsoft Word. It also supports the exporting of documents to five different formats: PDF, HTML, Rich Text, Plain Text and Microsoft Word. Of course, the only format that can retain complex layouts is PDF.
Unfortunately, Pages is not without problems. A serious shortcoming is the convoluted separation of font controls. There is no font nor font size menu. You must make font changes through OS X's Font Panel, a clumsy three-column window that files fonts into collections. It allows you to change the font, font size, font color and apply a shadow to the text. Unfortunately, to adjust the alignment and spacing, you'll have to hop on over to the Text Inspector. Other controls, such as capitalization and ligatures, are only accessible from the Format menu. This complicated division of controls makes little sense in a layout program that strives for simplicity.
Another problem affects how the text is drawn onscreen. OS X allows you to choose a font smoothing style that is optimal for flat-panel displays, using a sub-pixel rendering technique to ensure the text is crisp and clear. Sadly, Pages ignores this setting. It defaults to standard font smoothing, which results in ridged and unrefined text that is hard to read on flat-panel displays (especially at smaller sizes). Cropping template graphics for a better fit is cumbersome, too. You must enter mask mode, set the mask size and then double-click it to make the crop. The frame then contracts to the cropped size, skewing the layout and forcing you to resize and reposition the image.
One final frustration is that the software can be slow. There is a clear lag in performance when moving around and masking images on an 867MHz G4. Consumers should not have to buy a new computer to run this application at an acceptable speed.
Stepping Up to a New Podium
 Keynote 2 is a slideshow application that allows you to put together professionalquality presentations with very little effort. After launching it, you're asked to choose a theme for your presentation. Each theme includes a variety of master slides that can be edited as you see fit. You construct your slideshow one slide at a time, replacing the placeholder text and graphics with those of your own. Keynote 2--like Pages--includes the iLife Media Browser so that you can access your photos, music and movies. An item can be added to a slide simply by dragging and dropping it into place. You can add charts and tables too, editing them in the exact same way you would in Pages.
One of the most striking additions to Keynote 2 is text animation. You can animate a text object in dozens of different ways, including flying in from the left or right, spiraling into view and dropping down from above. You can set the duration of each effect and choose a separate animation for both the build in and build out. The animation is smooth as silk, and it's sure to grab an audience's attention.
Another welcome addition is the Presenter View mode, which shows special information for the presenter on the internal display while sending only the slide to the external display (requires dual-display support). The Presenter View can be configured to show the current slide, next slide, notes and a timer, so you'll know what's coming next, what to say and if you're wasting time.
Keynote 2 is rounded out with a number of new slide transitions (such as Motion Dissolve, Page Flip and Droplet) and several new themes (including Portfolio, Hardcover and Scrapbook) that liven up presentations. It can also create selfrunning interactive slideshows, which are ideal for kiosks and special events. All in all, it's a capable update that has few shortcomings: it shares the same convoluted font controls as Pages, but that's much less of an issue when creating slideshows.
Working Well
At $79, iWork '05 is a worthwhile investment. Although Pages has its share of problems, it is a promising application with a lot of polish. With Keynote 2 in the mix, you have a very compelling package deal--especially when you consider that the original Keynote sold for $99. -CHRIS MCVEIGH
iWork ‘05: 
Apple | www.apple.com | 800-692-7753 | $79
Pros: Pages is an easy-to-use page-layout program with convenient templates; Keynote 2 is a killer presentation program with amazing
Cons: Pages has counterintuitive font controls, text isn't rendered nicely on flat-panel displays, it can be slow.
Requires: G3 or better, 500MHz or faster, OS 10.3.6 128MB RAM
macHOME recommends: G4 500MHz or faster, 256MB RAM
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