Pages 5.0 for Mac review: Apple writes a new chapter for its word processing app
Let me state this from the start: If you’ve been using Pages ‘09’s more sophisticated page-layout features, Pages version 5.0 for Mac is not the app for you. Pages 5.0 is not an upgrade, it is a brand new application and it is not (yet) the Pages you’ve been waiting for. This may make you sad; everyone wants something shiny and new. But don’t be—Pages ‘09 still works and you can use that for now. Your day is coming, but it’s not today.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me say this: I like the new Pages and I like it a lot. Not for a massive new set of features. Not because it’s completely stripped down. But because it appears that Apple is setting a foundation for amazing things to come.
The newly redesigned user interface changes depending on the type of object you're editing, making for a much cleaner interface.
The new Pages is, without question, only related in name to its predecessor. The app’s list of missing features is significant: It has limited page-layout capabilities, no linked text boxes, you can’t customize the toolbar, it has almost no AppleScript support, no style drawer, and lacks file-level compatibility with Pages ‘09. Honestly, the list of what’s missing could go on and on. This makes it a huge disappointment for users who have been happy with Pages and who have developed incredible workflows around the app. Interestingly, the current Pages disappointments mirror what users of AppleWorks were disappointed with when the first version of Pages was released. In fact, in my review of the first release of Pages, what’s notable is how many of the features missing from the original Pages are the same features missing from the new version of Pages.
Anything but dumbed down
As stripped down as Pages seems, this is no piddly update. Completely rewritten as a 64-bit application, Pages now offers features previously unavailable or even possible. And, take a look around you, it has features unavailable in almost any other word processing application.
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