Apple introduces iWork '08 with 'Numbers' spreadsheet app

[AppleInsider]

As part of its Mac product introductions on Tuesday, Apple introduced a significant upgrade to its iWork productivity software suite featuring new versions of Pages and Keynote, as well as an innovative new spreadsheet application called "Numbers."

Making its debut in iWork '08 is Numbers, which introduces the concept of intelligent tables on a flexible canvas, a new approach that makes it easy to organize information, create calculations, analyze results and make spreadsheets look as great as they work.

Similarly, Pages '08 now features distinct modes for streamlined word processing and flexible page layout, a new contextual format bar and change tracking. And Keynote '08 now includes text effects, transitions and themes that help users easily compose spectacular presentations, and Smart Builds with easy-to-set-up A-to-B animations that make impressive animations easy for anyone to create.

"Pages and Keynote make it incredibly easy, and even fun, for anyone to create stylish documents and presentations very quickly," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. "Numbers rounds out the iWork suite, which is far more intuitive and easy to use than anything else out there."

Numbers '08

Numbers '08 is a new approach to spreadsheets that allows people to organize their information, interact with their data and calculations and make their spreadsheets easy to understand and print. With multiple intelligent tables on a flexible graphics canvas, users can rearrange information, resize and add columns—all without breaking their spreadsheet. Each table is a full-blown spreadsheet with automatic header and footer rows, easy sorting and filtering, and automatic cell naming so creating, reading and maintaining formulas is easy. Common functions can be dragged to any cell, and a total of 150 functions are available spanning a wide range of calculations, including numeric, date and time, financial and statistical. Interactive checkboxes and sliders let users change cell values easily to explore different scenarios and see their results instantly. Users can create stunning 2D and 3D charts that are automatically updated as data changes, then complement them with rich graphics, photos and text labels. Interactive printing makes it easy to fit a document on a single page or rearrange and resize tables and objects across multiple pages.



For those interested, AppleInsider first reported on the development of Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet application back in June of 2005.

Pages '08

Pages '08 now has two distinct modes: streamlined word processing that makes it easy to create stunning documents in seconds; and flexible page layout, which gives users complete control over the position of objects on the page. Pages includes 140 Apple-designed templates that let users easily create letters, reports, newsletters and brochures. A new contextual format bar gives users the exact set of tools they need at their fingertips whether they're editing text, creating a table or adjusting an image. Change tracking lets users collaborate with others on a document by displaying each person's edits in different colors, then accept or reject each proposed change.



Keynote '08

Keynote '08, Apple's industry-leading application for creating cinema-quality presentations, introduces new Smart Builds to make it easy for anyone to create spectacular animations by simply dropping graphics onto a slide. More advanced users can control every aspect of their animations with new A-to-B animations to define movement, rotation, scaling and opacity. Keynote's new Instant Alpha feature makes it easy to remove unwanted backgrounds from photos and graphics without needing a graphics department. Users can record their presentations along with a voice-over, then deliver them to audiences in person or over the Internet via podcasting or YouTube. The new Keynote also includes a collection of new text effects, transitions and themes.



iWork '08 can import Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and AppleWorks word processing, presentation and spreadsheet files, and can export documents in Microsoft Office file formats or PDFs for easy sharing.



Pricing & Availability

iWork '08 is now available through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $79 (US). A 30-day iWork '08 trial will be available on new hardware and with copies of iLife '08 sold at retail. After 30 days, the trial becomes an iWork '08 player. iWork '08 requires Mac OS X version 10.4.10 or later, a Macintosh computer with a 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5 or Intel processor, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 32MB of video RAM, QuickTime 7.2 or later and 1GB of available disk space. iLife '08 is recommended.

[Buck]

I'm thoroughly excited about Numbers. They've managed to bring something to the world of spreadsheets that instantly makes Excel look obsolete.
Anyone not planning a switch after seeing all that goodness must be insane...

[plus]

<Dup>

[plus]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Similarly, Pages '08 now features distinct modes for streamlined word processing and flexible page layout, a new contextual format bar and change tracking.

Change tracking is a good addition. I write formal technical specification documents, and would love to be able to use Pages for it (and say goodbye to Word ). When we assessed its viability for this purpose a couple years ago, there were three key features missing, and change tracking was one of them.

So now what I'd like to know is if Pages yet supports the other two:
- Being able to have multiple windows open into a single document
- Being able to insert "internal cross references" to numbered paragraphs and headings (i.e., a particular form of a within-document hyperlink).

Anyone know?

- Paul

[heesey1010]

I'm dying to know two major irritants that I've had with Pages:
1) Is there a word count selection feature? In other words can I select some text and get an accurate word count? (I know there's freeware, but for a $79 word processor I'd hope there'd be something inside for a word count?!

2) Is there a way to change the page numbering? For example I'd like my cover page to be 0 and my next page to be 1, and so on.

With Keynote:
1) Any better export options? That's all the qualms I really have.

[ajay]

I guess it's finally time to get M$ out of my (i)Life now....
unless Office 2008 has some really kick-ass features, I don;t see myself buying it... edu discount or not!!

[panamajack]

I've had persistent performance hangups with Pages; frequent crashes, problems exporting documents to PDF, etc. Pages/iWork is something I WANT to love ... but hasn't made the grade so far. Here's hoping !

[dutch pear]

Originally Posted by plus

Change tracking is a good addition. I write formal technical specification documents, and would love to be able to use Pages for it (and say goodbye to Word ).

I really hope change tracking works back-and-forth with Word change-tracking info (working in a 99.99% windows/office environment....). I'm pretty pessimistic about that, though...

[neondiet]

Has anyone else been onto Apple's web site, viewed the Video Demos of the iWork08 and iLife08 apps and noticed the voice?

It's not human. It's dam close, and I didn't realise it wasn't a real person at first. At least I don't think it is. It's hard to tell, but every now and then there's a small change in a word that gives it away, if you listen carefully.

Could this be the new voice from Leopard? If so, it's stunning! My girlfriend was watching the demos and didn't notice at all until I pointed it out.

[aiolos]

I'll have to go check this out, if it's good, I'll stop using MS for Macs

[Ireland]

Originally Posted by neondiet

Has anyone else been onto Apple's web site, viewed the Video Demos of the iWork08 and iLife08 apps and noticed the voice?

It's not human. It's dam close, and I didn't realise it wasn't a real person at first. At least I don't think it is. It's hard to tell, but every now and then there's a small change in a word that gives it away, if you listen carefully.

Could this be the new voice from Leopard? If so, it's stunning! My girlfriend was watching the demos and didn't notice at all until I pointed it out.

That's scary, I'm sure it's just a real person with zero personality though.

[meh 2]

NUMBERS. I Knew This Would Happen.

I've decided to sell what little MS stock I have tomorrow - before the market catches up.

I guess I know a death knell when I see one.

[SkimKlaw]

There is a word count tool under Edit->Writing tools->Show Statistics.

Never tried to use word count on 06, just did testing of about 30 words, selecting variable numbers and it was correct, but it did count series of numbers (without spaces) as one word. Sorry I didn't want to actually count out a whole page to check accuracy. It was updating in real time as I highlighted different numbers of words.

[Kolchak]

Originally Posted by panamajack

I've had persistent performance hangups with Pages; frequent crashes, problems exporting documents to PDF, etc.

Frequent crashes? That's unusual. I always have at least two documents open on my Mac and sometimes as many as ten. It's never even crashed once on me in over two years.

What I find strange is that Apple never sees fit to integrate Quicktime into Keynote. That is, allow us to embed movies in Keynote presentations. (Correct me if I'm wrong. I've never really worked with Keynote.) With QT being one of Apple's core software technologies, you would think they'd be able to integrate it.

[admactanium]

Originally Posted by neondiet

Has anyone else been onto Apple's web site, viewed the Video Demos of the iWork08 and iLife08 apps and noticed the voice?

It's not human. It's dam close, and I didn't realise it wasn't a real person at first. At least I don't think it is. It's hard to tell, but every now and then there's a small change in a word that gives it away, if you listen carefully.

Could this be the new voice from Leopard? If so, it's stunning! My girlfriend was watching the demos and didn't notice at all until I pointed it out.

i'm pretty sure that's a human but they've taken out a lot of spaces and breaths in audio editing. that's why you here an occassional pop or clip.

[mnorris]

Originally Posted by Kolchak

Frequent crashes? That's unusual. I always have at least two documents open on my Mac and sometimes as many as ten. It's never even crashed once on me in over two years.

What I find strange is that Apple never sees fit to integrate Quicktime into Keynote. That is, allow us to embed movies in Keynote presentations. (Correct me if I'm wrong. I've never really worked with Keynote.) With QT being one of Apple's core software technologies, you would think they'd be able to integrate it.

Consider yourself corrected. QT works beautifully in Keynote. You should try it. (Though a little more control over the movie playback would be nice - at the moment it's click and play - anyway, hopefully there's something in the new version).

[hdasmith]

Originally Posted by heesey1010

I'm dying to know two major irritants that I've had with Pages:
1) Is there a word count selection feature? In other words can I select some text and get an accurate word count? (I know there's freeware, but for a $79 word processor I'd hope there'd be something inside for a word count?!

2) Is there a way to change the page numbering? For example I'd like my cover page to be 0 and my next page to be 1, and so on.

With Keynote:
1) Any better export options? That's all the qualms I really have.

I can help with the page numbers thing, but the word count annoyed me a bit with my dissertation, couldn't solve it, just figured no-body would go through and check. With the page numbers though, instead of inserting a new page where you want page numbers to restart again, insert a new section from the same menu. The inspector then allows you to sort out page numbers to start with each new section.

Apparently, my new iLife and iWork are already on route to me as I type. Looking forward to having a play, and making use of the new web gallery feature.

[dutch pear]

Ok, I have been playing around with the iWork 08 trial (ordered the thing last night).
So far it is really great! Pages and keynote have been upgraded nicely with pages feeling a lot more mature than 06 version. Enough so that I now expect to be using it full time instead of word for writing my research papers.
But Numbers.... ! now this is spreadsheets done right! Probably hardcore excel-users will miss a ton of features but for an average user like me this just blows excel right out of the water! Their implementation of Multiple worksheets on a blanc canvas together with text images and shapes makes creating a spreadsheet ACTUAL FUN!!!
Yup, this one will cost microsoft a lot of office:Mac sales.......

[dutch pear]

Cool, Tracking changes in pages actually works back-and-forth with word on windows!!! This will really help writing papers with windows-using colleages

[DaveGee]

Gotta say, Numbers and its unique re-implementation of the boring spreadsheet we've all come to love.... errr... learn how to deal with is quite nice (from the tutorials anyway) but I can immediately find one thing that is quite lacking with the iWork suite and the one thing that has made Office such a invasive success in the business market.

VisualBasic for Applications and to a lesser degree MS Forms... are the two things that allow Microsoft's Office suite 'be all it can be' and basically customizable to any situation and need imaginable... Almost never utilized in the home-setting except perhaps in the more geeky homes... mostly due to its fairly complex implementation... VBA is however used extensively in the business market and its what makes MS Office *indispensable* as an office tool.

Most will (successfully) argue that iWork isn't going after that particular market and I'd agree... but all the same, it sure would be nice to have some form of VBA & Forms available just the same...

Dave

[meelash]

Originally Posted by plus

So now what I'd like to know is if Pages yet supports the other two:
- Being able to have multiple windows open into a single document
- Being able to insert "internal cross references" to numbered paragraphs and headings (i.e., a particular form of a within-document hyperlink).

Anyone know?

- Paul

Internal cross references can be done using bookmarks in the hyperlink tab of the Inspector even in '06. It was always a little bit of a pain in some instances because you have to manually create the bookmark and then manually create the hyperlink to it. '06 didn't have a lot of the custom table of contents features of Word.

Originally Posted by heesey1010

With Keynote:
1) Any better export options? That's all the qualms I really have.

Have you seen '06? It can export to Powerpoint, QuickTime (self-playing or presentation, which means you can show your Keynote on a Windows computer w/out converting to PP and losing all the good looks) Flash, PDF, HTML. What else is there to export to?

Originally Posted by SkimKlaw

There is a word count tool under Edit->Writing tools->Show Statistics.

Never tried to use word count on 06, just did testing of about 30 words, selecting variable numbers and it was correct, but it did count series of numbers (without spaces) as one word. Sorry I didn't want to actually count out a whole page to check accuracy. It was updating in real time as I highlighted different numbers of words.

Wait, is this in '08? 'Cause I don't see it in '06.


All in all, seems like an awesome upgrade. And only $79!! We're definitely getting something back for the premium prices we have to spend on hardware....

[meelash]

Originally Posted by DaveGee

Gotta say, Numbers and its unique re-implementation of the boring spreadsheet we've all come to love.... errr... learn how to deal with is quite nice (from the tutorials anyway) but I can immediately find one thing that is quite lacking with the iWork suite and the one thing that has made Office such a invasive success in the business market.

VisualBasic for Applications and to a lesser degree MS Forms... are the two things that allow Microsoft's Office suite 'be all it can be' and basically customizable to any situation and need imaginable... Almost never utilized in the home-setting except perhaps in the more geeky homes... mostly due to its fairly complex implementation... VBA is however used extensively in the business market and its what makes MS Office *indispensable* as an office tool.

Most will (successfully) argue that iWork isn't going after that particular market and I'd agree... but all the same, it sure would be nice to have some form of VBA & Forms available just the same...

Dave

I doubt if Apple would be quick to jump on using VBA, though. Maybe some other scripting languages. Has anyone tried using AppleScripts in the new Numbers?

[Mr. Me]

Originally Posted by DaveGee

...

VisualBasic for Applications and to a lesser degree MS Forms... are the two things that allow Microsoft's Office suite 'be all it can be' and basically customizable to any situation and need imaginable... VBA is however used extensively in the business market and its what makes MS Office *indispensable* as an office tool.

...

VBA is slated to be removed from the next version of Office:win.

[BenRoethig]

They have my $80. I am as impressed with '08 as I was disappointed in the previous versions.

[DaveGee]

Originally Posted by Mr. Me

VBA is slated to be removed from the next version of Office:win.

Yes yes yes...

Firstly I wasn't expecting Apple to actually USE VBA since as we all know MS will be depreciating it and I doubt it will be outright replaced since knowing MS those old VBA apps will continue to be supported in some way shape or form for a long time to come... Something MS is known for and is what I will assume adds quite a bit of their Application bloatyness.

Simply coming right out and saying MS will remove the VBA feature is not being totally honest since the CONCEPT of it will continue on with whatever MS is calling it these days...

Back to Apple's suite... I wouldn't expect them to support VBA as I said above but was mainly talking about the CONCEPT of it.. Apple would undoubtedly use AppleScript or some derivation of it.

Dave

[johnmcboston]

Originally Posted by heesey1010

I'm dying to know two major irritants that I've had with Pages:

My pet peeve has always been 'flowing too much'. Try to do any editing and the whole world keep shifting and re-aligning around you. I essentially have to do everything in a text box to prevent (say) page 4 of a document r-arranging itself because I moved something on page 1 a few pixels over... Some of my formatting problems even stumped the experts in the Mac store.

But I have to say the videos of the new iwork features does show some cook stuff. Not to install and find time to play with the blasted stuff

[aegisdesign]

Numbers is more than a little slow on big tables. Like the rest of iWork and many other Apple apps, it tries to render the entire view during scrolling in real time with font smoothing and spell checking. Dragging the scroll bar on a table with a few thousand rows x 60 columns is very jerky for me on an iMac G5. Why applications have to scroll in realtime instead of just jumping to the final view is beyond me. Apps would be so much snappier if they didn't.

Unfortunately that makes it pretty useless for one of the main reasons I have to use a spreadsheet application - editing csv dumps from a MySQL database. For that Tables or Excel still rule, which is a pity as I was hoping I could ditch Excel.

Whilst I'm at it, the csv export doesn't let me specify which character to use to delimit fields or rows. That's annoying.

Still, for normal spreadsheet work it looks great and the Pages update is great too so Apple will be getting my 55 quid. I don't really care about Keynote - I've never had a need to use it and I've never used Powerpoint either.

If anyone has a better tool for editing MySQL CSV dumps then please let me know so I can gladly drop Excel. Otherwise I'll have to buy an 8 core MacPro to edit dumps.

[meelash]

I don't see this download advertised anywhere on the Apple website, but here's a link to it. It's on the Apple servers, so presumably it's legit.

30 Day Trial Version

[mstone]

Originally Posted by aegisdesign

If anyone has a better tool for editing MySQL CSV dumps then please let me know so I can gladly drop Excel. Otherwise I'll have to buy an 8 core MacPro to edit dumps.

Not to be nosey or anything, but why are you editing CSV dumps in the first place? That sounds like a nightmare no matter what application you are using. Could you not build a database back end to update your records? Maybe phpMyAdmin on the server would do the trick for you.

m

[meelash]

Originally Posted by aegisdesign

Numbers is more than a little slow on big tables. Like the rest of iWork and many other Apple apps, it tries to render the entire view during scrolling in real time with font smoothing and spell checking. Dragging the scroll bar on a table with a few thousand rows x 60 columns is very jerky for me on an iMac G5. Why applications have to scroll in realtime instead of just jumping to the final view is beyond me. Apps would be so much snappier if they didn't.

Unfortunately that makes it pretty useless for one of the main reasons I have to use a spreadsheet application - editing csv dumps from a MySQL database. For that Tables or Excel still rule, which is a pity as I was hoping I could ditch Excel.

Whilst I'm at it, the csv export doesn't let me specify which character to use to delimit fields or rows. That's annoying.

I noticed something funny- on very large tables using the scroll ball is still very smooth, it's only the bar that seems to be very jumpy.

Oh, and csv means comma separated values. So it makes sense that you can't specify another character. Although an export to delimited values file might also be a useful addition...

[kcmac]

Anyone else with a 12" PB tried Numbers?

When I open a new document, the window is set up in widescreen and too wide for my PB. No set up that I can seem to find to make them open in a window that will fit my screen.

[meelash]

Originally Posted by kcmac

Anyone else with a 12" PB tried Numbers?

When I open a new document, the window is set up in widescreen and too wide for my PB. No set up that I can seem to find to make them open in a window that will fit my screen.

Yup, same here. Bit of a bug. Looks like they designed for 13" and up.

Anyway, there's a Provide Numbers Feedback menu item under the Numbers menu. This seems like a good time to use it....

[meelash]

I don't get the justification for two separate modes that are seemingly not changeable once a document has been created.

It seems like the Word Processing Mode corresponds closest to what existed in '06. This is confirmed by the fact that opening documents created in '06 opens them in Word Processing.

Now what exactly is the point of the new Page Layout mode? It's possible to create linked text boxes and move around graphics nicely in Word Processing view. So is the only difference that Page Layout doesn't have the in page text basis? It seems rather dumb to separate everything like this, I rather liked the original merging of the two concepts.

[kcmac]

Originally Posted by meelash

Yup, same here. Bit of a bug. Looks like they designed for 13" and up.

Anyway, there's a Provide Numbers Feedback menu item under the Numbers menu. This seems like a good time to use it....

Thanks. Interestingly enough, the feedback link is not working.

This is disappointing. The format bar is not usuable on the 12". Guess if we see a small laptop, it will be widescreen!

[meelash]

Originally Posted by kcmac

Thanks. Interestingly enough, the feedback link is not working.

This is disappointing. The format bar is not usuable on the 12". Guess if we see a small laptop, it will be widescreen!

A bug in the bug reporting. Sweeeet. The feedback for Keynote and Pages works but not Numbers. I also noticed that the user manual link in the help menu is a dead link, as well. (of course, the user manuals are included in a folder in the download.)

You can, of course, just hit the zoom button (green button with plus sign) in the upper left of the window, and it resizes to the right size. But it's annoying to have to do that every time...

[s.metcalf]

You can hear a sample of the new Leopard voice synthesiser "Alex" at

http://www.apple.com/au/macosx/leopa...ssibility.html

The guy that voiced these videos is real, he just sounds like a robot!

Originally Posted by neondiet

Has anyone else been onto Apple's web site, viewed the Video Demos of the iWork08 and iLife08 apps and noticed the voice?

It's not human. It's dam close, and I didn't realise it wasn't a real person at first. At least I don't think it is. It's hard to tell, but every now and then there's a small change in a word that gives it away, if you listen carefully.

Could this be the new voice from Leopard? If so, it's stunning! My girlfriend was watching the demos and didn't notice at all until I pointed it out.

[Bergermeister]

Originally Posted by meelash

I don't get the justification for two separate modes that are seemingly not changeable once a document has been created.

It seems like the Word Processing Mode corresponds closest to what existed in '06. This is confirmed by the fact that opening documents created in '06 opens them in Word Processing.

Now what exactly is the point of the new Page Layout mode? It's possible to create linked text boxes and move around graphics nicely in Word Processing view. So is the only difference that Page Layout doesn't have the in page text basis? It seems rather dumb to separate everything like this, I rather liked the original merging of the two concepts.

I disagree. With the page text basis, it is easy to have problems with layers: you can send something to the back and then have a real heck of a time selecting it again if you don't realize what has happened (it is behind a big, empty text box that is invisible).

The new Pages is sort of like a drawing pad in Appleworks in layout function, and like the WP function in the other. I haven't gotten mine yet, but I this is how I understand it, and I am very happy that they have done this. There are times when one function fits a need better than the other, so they have made Pages a more complete package.

[meelash]

Originally Posted by Bergermeister

I disagree. With the page text basis, it is easy to have problems with layers: you can send something to the back and then have a real heck of a time selecting it again if you don't realize what has happened (it is behind a big, empty text box that is invisible).

Okay, but is this the single, only reason for differentiation. Because, like I said, I can't see any other advantage to page layout and if so, they've added a remarkable level of complexity for a single problem? One that is not even a problem if you look it up in the user manual and see that you just have to drag the mouse from the edge of the page to select things below the text.

[aegisdesign]

Originally Posted by mstone

Not to be nosey or anything, but why are you editing CSV dumps in the first place? That sounds like a nightmare no matter what application you are using. Could you not build a database back end to update your records? Maybe phpMyAdmin on the server would do the trick for you.

It's just quicker sometimes to edit CSV files than use phpMyAdmin or a web form based backend especially for bulk search and replace.

Apart from that, you don't really want to give users access to phpMyAdmin to edit data whereas letting them edit in a spreadsheet program they understand and providing an easy import facility is often good for them. Most e-commerce sites have import/export via CSV.

Originally Posted by meelash

I noticed something funny- on very large tables using the scroll ball is still very smooth, it's only the bar that seems to be very jumpy.

Only a little better for me.

Originally Posted by meelash

Oh, and csv means comma separated values. So it makes sense that you can't specify another character. Although an export to delimited values file might also be a useful addition...

I wish. Unfortunately IME the meaning of 'CSV' seems to alter between applications. Some use a comma, some a semi-colon, some a tab. Some terminate with a line feed, some a DOS CRLF and even some still use the old Mac pre-OSX CR. Some allow multiple lines inside a cell if enclosed in quotes, some don't. Some escape quotes, some enclose them. If you're working across platforms and applications then you need quite fine control or you end up having to write more complex software to parse the files.

[Bergermeister]

Originally Posted by meelash

Okay, but is this the single, only reason for differentiation. Because, like I said, I can't see any other advantage to page layout and if so, they've added a remarkable level of complexity for a single problem? One that is not even a problem if you look it up in the user manual and see that you just have to drag the mouse from the edge of the page to select things below the text.

My apps shipped yesterday, so I will be getting them soon (tomorrow, I hope) and will be able to play around with this; I really don't know how they have implemented it, but believe that, for the average user, it will be a big improvement. Sure, more advanced users read the manual, but not everyone remembers all the time or can easily conceptualize that there is a big empty box on the page (I am speaking from experience having watched people learn to use Pages).

Wish I had chosen over-night delivery...