Which is the better Word processor - Pages or AppleWorks

[Ceroc Addict]

Haven't had much chance to use Pages and just wondering what people thought of it so far (and in particular, what features are badly needed for Pages 1.1).

Kap

[Qion]

I really don't have a ton of experience in AppleWorks, but I think that's because I thought it was too much of a hassle to mess around with, and also why I'm voting for Pages. Pages is a great program, in fact I'm using it right now. I love the professional looking templates.

I think that you should also include TextEdit in this poll. It's a really overlooked app, but it is extremely fast and easy and really gets the job done. I have wrote numerous reports in TextEdit.

[Viro]

You could add MS Word there. I'm keen to see how people feel it compares towards Pages.

[Ceroc Addict]

I'd be happy for any moderators around to alter the poll.

However, I suspect I already know the result of adding Word to the poll i.e. "Yes, Word is significantly more powerful (even with it's bugs), but most Mac users would give their right arm to be able to move away from MS and embrace a powerful Apple word processor (and even better, a whole Apple office suite)".

Kap

[fryke]

I think this poll doesn't need MS Word. We can one day do a more complete one. But I'm interested in _this_ poll. I personally voted for Pages, but I guess it depends on what you exactly use it for. People who've been using MacWrite, MacWrite II, MacWrite Pro, ClarisWorks and later AppleWorks might have issues with Pages, I guess. Some things, Pages just can't do yet AFAIK. I personally only use Pages for actual writing two or three page stories (Poetry Slam texts). Nothing fancy, so I could also use just TextEdit. But Pages looks good and gives me a bit better controls for layout.

One feature that's SORELY missed in pages is a way to have Shift-Return work. In a justified text block, I should be able to create a line-break without it justifying the last line. A full return should - as it does - give a new paragraph, but a Shift-Return should make the last line 'left' instead of 'justified'.

[AdmiralAK]

The last time I used "applework" it was called "clariswork version 2" lol
I tried using it again on some of the iBooks that we have at work, but I could not get into it. I prefer MS office (for more complex stuff) or TextEdit (for simple stuff). I have not bought pages. MS office is free for me (work pays for it), so I opt for using something free rather than buy the apple alternative

My JOb did buy me Keynote as a testing version. I use it when I do not have to share my presentations (not often) but when I collaborate with others, I use PPT

[Mikuro]

I'd rather not have extra options added to this poll. I was about to make a thread myself asking how Pages compares to AppleWorks. IS Pages a full-featured word processor? Or is it just TextEdit + fancy templates?

I've been using AppleWorks for over a decade (of course, back then it was called ClarisWorks). It's served me very well, and it's a still a fine program — but Apple just won't update the damned thing! I mean, OS X's been out for, what, 5 years now? And AppleWorks hasn't been given anything but an obligatory carbonization! It still uses QuickDraw (read: butt-ugly) text antialiasing. Bleh.

I really want to know if Pages a true and complete successor to AppleWorks, or more of a sister program.

[fryke]

Well, it's clear by now that AppleWorks will die once iWork is complete. But I, too, think Apple should've spent a little more time fulfilling the task of having an OS X ready office suite instead of creating nice templates. But now, I guess, it's Pages that will become the 'real thing' over time. Until then, users of AppleWorks that need some of the features not present yet in iWork, will have to use the old thing...