The trick to iWork is to include all the piddling little features that no one actually cares about (for the 1/1000th of 1/1000th of a percent that uses them) while retaining the simplicity of the UI and operation for everyone else.
That's hard (and pretty pointless), so Apple has been putting it off.
While you have a valid point about the piddling features that many out in left field want, there are many many short comings with the iWork suites. Number one is the asinine creation of iOS iWork specific files which blows the whole point of iCloud out of the water. This to me is a major defect in the software.
Other things include modern scripting support within the apps. I'm talking both iOS and Mac OS with a special focus on Numbers. I might choke a bit on it but even a JavaScript based solution within Numbers would go a long ways to making it a Pro app. Import and export still sucks in Numbers and frankly this is an embarrassment as open source spread sheets do a better job. It isn't like an Excel file is a total mystery these days.
I'm moaning about Numbers here because it is the one App out of the iWork suite that I use the most and thus is the app I see the most short comings in. Most of the other apps get used for viewers and modest uses as creation tools. I'm certain if I was a more demanding user I'd see serious shortcomings in the rest of the suite.
So I don't buy your point of view, in fact I think it is garbage, there are enough short comings in iWork that even casual users can run into problems. They may not be a problem for you but some such as the incompatibility if files between iOS and Mac OS are very much show stoppers for some and a huge frustration for others.
Documents could have actual password protection. On iOS devices especially.
Yes, it's always nice when you open the password-protected document created on your Mac on an iOS device and it closes and saves it to iCloud and strips out the password-protection.
Why even do anything else to iWork? It's already 100% perfect. Right tallest? /s
To some degree this is true. Numbers could use some work for sure. And it would be nice to see them change up the pop up inspector etc with the sliding panel like iPhoto has.
But aside from stability tweaks there's little else they can really do with the other programs.
The trick to iWork is to include all the piddling little features that no one actually cares about (for the 1/1000th of 1/1000th of a percent that uses them) while retaining the simplicity of the UI and operation for everyone else.
That's hard (and pretty pointless), so Apple has been putting it off.
Well there is a middle ground. One that has been supported in other programs and could work quite well with both versions of the iWork apps. Plug in support. They figured out a way to do it with GarageBand for iOS and Audiobus so I suspect they could sort it out for the iWork apps and even iPhoto and iMovie (both versions).
Then like with the Pro apps they can focus on the consumer/prosumer level but the more advanced folks can add it what they feel is needed
The trick to iWork is to include all the piddling little features that no one actually cares about (for the 1/1000th of 1/1000th of a percent that uses them) while retaining the simplicity of the UI and operation for everyone else.
That's hard (and pretty pointless), so Apple has been putting it off.
But there are some basic items they can update.
Fill box retaining the last fill color so you can select a cell and fill without finding the color again
When a cell text color is changed and you select the text color option, the color should be indicated (like it is with the fill) so you know what color you used.
How can I get the RGB of the text color or fill
Copy / Past formula only?
Just some annoying everyday issues. I don't use Keynote at all and seldom Pages. I would put up with all of this if Mail (not part of iWork) would have the task/flag for followup functions like Outlook.
There is no way to add global cross references. This would be similar to what can be accomplished in FrameMaker and Word for years now. There is also no way to continue hierarchical headings - they always start over each time.
So I will repeat it yet again! Feature parity should include file parity too.
File parity is the biggie - much more important than full feature parity. Even if some features would overcomplicate the iOS version, that would not necessarily preclude sharing a common file format. Sync via iCloud would be improved immensely from the mess it is today.
Wake me up when Apple opens up a 3rd party API to leverage R, Matlab, Octave, Maxima, Maple to name 5 major Numercial Analysis and much more quality products within Numbers.
Do the same with creating an API to leverage the power of TeXLive in container object which offloads all the content in this object to run a subprocess with TeXLive for Pages.app and then extend the power of Keynote to create live/dynamic and active presentations before declaring iWorks is really a player.
Comments
Other things include modern scripting support within the apps. I'm talking both iOS and Mac OS with a special focus on Numbers. I might choke a bit on it but even a JavaScript based solution within Numbers would go a long ways to making it a Pro app. Import and export still sucks in Numbers and frankly this is an embarrassment as open source spread sheets do a better job. It isn't like an Excel file is a total mystery these days.
I'm moaning about Numbers here because it is the one App out of the iWork suite that I use the most and thus is the app I see the most short comings in. Most of the other apps get used for viewers and modest uses as creation tools. I'm certain if I was a more demanding user I'd see serious shortcomings in the rest of the suite.
So I don't buy your point of view, in fact I think it is garbage, there are enough short comings in iWork that even casual users can run into problems. They may not be a problem for you but some such as the incompatibility if files between iOS and Mac OS are very much show stoppers for some and a huge frustration for others.
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
Add to that, feature parity between iOS and OSX versions.
That bears repeating.
[/Quote]
So I will repeat it yet again! Feature parity should include file parity too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChristophB
That bears repeating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dysamoria
Documents could have actual password protection. On iOS devices especially.
Yes, it's always nice when you open the password-protected document created on your Mac on an iOS device and it closes and saves it to iCloud and strips out the password-protection.
I'd like to see that addressed.
Or maybe you had your sarcasm button on, my radar never works for that.
Oh, there's the /s....nevamind
To some degree this is true. Numbers could use some work for sure. And it would be nice to see them change up the pop up inspector etc with the sliding panel like iPhoto has.
But aside from stability tweaks there's little else they can really do with the other programs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Durandal1707
Actually, it means that the next update will happen in the 24th century.
This makes me wish someone in authority had the guts to stencil NCC-1701 on the roof of the new headquarters.
Well there is a middle ground. One that has been supported in other programs and could work quite well with both versions of the iWork apps. Plug in support. They figured out a way to do it with GarageBand for iOS and Audiobus so I suspect they could sort it out for the iWork apps and even iPhoto and iMovie (both versions).
Then like with the Pro apps they can focus on the consumer/prosumer level but the more advanced folks can add it what they feel is needed
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
The trick to iWork is to include all the piddling little features that no one actually cares about (for the 1/1000th of 1/1000th of a percent that uses them) while retaining the simplicity of the UI and operation for everyone else.
That's hard (and pretty pointless), so Apple has been putting it off.
But there are some basic items they can update.
Fill box retaining the last fill color so you can select a cell and fill without finding the color again
When a cell text color is changed and you select the text color option, the color should be indicated (like it is with the fill) so you know what color you used.
How can I get the RGB of the text color or fill
Copy / Past formula only?
Just some annoying everyday issues. I don't use Keynote at all and seldom Pages. I would put up with all of this if Mail (not part of iWork) would have the task/flag for followup functions like Outlook.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kkerst
Seriously? iWork is majorly lacking features and is far from perfect. For starters, there is no way to do add references.
Or maybe you had your sarcasm button on, my radar never works for that.
Oh, there's the /s....nevamind
What are your thoughts for adding features?
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
So I will repeat it yet again! Feature parity should include file parity too.
File parity is the biggie - much more important than full feature parity. Even if some features would overcomplicate the iOS version, that would not necessarily preclude sharing a common file format. Sync via iCloud would be improved immensely from the mess it is today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevt
File parity is the biggie - much more important than full feature parity.
I'd settle for font parity.
Exactly!
Hence, all the Duplicate posts.
Not enough piddling.
Mellel, however, is a Word Processor purist's Word Processor. Nothing comes close. Pages is a different animal and is meant to be what it is.
Still, it would be nice to see a few of Mellel's tricks show up in Pages.
Wake me up when Apple opens up a 3rd party API to leverage R, Matlab, Octave, Maxima, Maple to name 5 major Numercial Analysis and much more quality products within Numbers.
Do the same with creating an API to leverage the power of TeXLive in container object which offloads all the content in this object to run a subprocess with TeXLive for Pages.app and then extend the power of Keynote to create live/dynamic and active presentations before declaring iWorks is really a player.