We got the MacBookPro at the office a while back, but it was just this week that I really dove into playing with iWork (which I had preinstalled when I got it.) I’d used Pages a few times for some simple word processing and hadn’t really looked at Keynote much at all.
We were going to be putting together a new Youth Newsletter. Most of the ones I’d seen done or even done myself were with the trusty ole Microsoft Publisher. Man, how amazing was it when I first cranked out a newsletter with it in 1997? Sad thing is, most of the stuff I’ve seen done with MS Pub 2003 looks like the first version I ever had.
But Pages has blown me away. It’s got so much drag and drop functionality. Once you learn the way something is setup or tweaked, it’s like a simple one-two-three process. Our newsletter is going to look almost professional (based on my limited skills for sure.) Apple’s Pages is sort of a cross between what you know to be MS Word and MS Publisher…but better. And you must know that I’m using iWork 06. Apple just released a newer version that now has a spreadsheet program with it (Numbers) and Pages & Keynote have updated features.
Also, we’re going to be using Keynote a lot too since we just got ProPresenter (buh-bye, MediaShout.) I’ve noticed Granger Community Church using it some and want to use some of their ideas with the announcement slides. Keynote is a program that belly laughs at Powerpoint.
So, my feet are barely wet with iWork right now. But I’m liking how the water feels. And when I end up getting a Mac of my own soon (-er than later I hope), I think I’ll have this installed on it as well.
When the newsletter is complete I’ll post a pdf of it.
