Despite the many improvements in software over the years, one feature has grown consistently worse: documentation. When you purchase most software programs these days, you don’t get a single page of printed instructions. To learn about the hundreds of features in a program, you’re expected to use online help, or download a manual from the company’s website. (Apple offers PDF guides to all of the iWork programs; you can find them at http://support.apple.com/manuals/#iwork.)
But even if you’re comfortable reading a help screen in one window as you try to work in another, something is still missing. At times, the terse electronic help screens assume you already understand the discussion at hand, and hurriedly skip over important topics that require an in-depth presentation. In addition, you don’t always get an objective evaluation of the program’s features. (Engineers often add technically sophisticated features to a program because they can, not because you need them.) You shouldn’t have to waste time learning features that don’t help you get your work done.
The purpose of this book, then, is to serve as the manual that should have been in the box. In this book’s pages, you’ll find step-by-step instructions for using every feature in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Because many features appear in all three programs, some features get in-depth treatment for one program but not another; when that’s the case, the book always points you to the page where you’ll find the full scoop. In addition, you’ll always find clear evaluations of each feature to help you determine which ones are useful to you, as well as how and when to use them. Shortcuts and workarounds save you time and headaches, and you’ll even unearth features that the online help doesn’t mention.
Beyond just the mechanical aspects of using iWork, however, this book also gives you practical aesthetic advice about document design and presentation. Pages, Keynote, and Numbers give you amazing technical tools to create luxurious layouts—or shoot yourself in the foot. This book helps keep the lead out of your sneakers with simple, good-natured tips for planning and preparing your document layout, based on tried-and-true principles of graphic design. Similarly, the Keynote section offers tips for building a presentation that won’t turn into a snoozefest, helping you use Keynote to add spark to your talk without turning your slideshow into a crutch.
Throughout this book, you’ll find carefully constructed sample documents showing how to put iWork’s tools to best effect and, hopefully, provide a hint of inspiration for your own work. Most of these documents follow the adventures of a company called Up & Away, Megaville’s leading superhero outfitter, where no task is impossible and every cape fits perfectly. You, of course, are the hero of this particular story, and well before the end of this book you will have discovered your superpower: an unwavering ability to create spectacular documents.
iWork ’09: The Missing Manual is designed to accommodate readers of every technical level. The primary discussions are written for advanced-beginner or intermediate computer users. But if you’re a first-timer, special sidebar articles called “Up to Speed” provide the introductory information you need to understand the topic at hand. If you’re an advanced user, on the other hand, keep your eye out for similar shaded boxes called Power Users’ Clinics. They offer more technical tips, tricks, and shortcuts for the experienced computer fan.
In this book, and throughout the Missing Manual series, you’ll find sentences like this one: “Open the System Folder → Libraries → Fonts folder.” That’s shorthand for a much longer set of instructions that direct you to open three nested folders in sequence, like this: “On your hard drive, you’ll find a folder called System. Open that. Inside the System folder window is a folder called Libraries. Open that. Inside that folder is yet another one called Fonts. Double-click to open it, too.”
Similarly, this kind of arrow shorthand helps to simplify the business of choosing commands in menus. The instruction, “Choose Insert → Text Box” means, “Open the Insert Menu and then choose the Text Box command.”
At www.missingmanuals.com, you’ll find articles, tips, and updates to iWork ’09: The Missing Manual. In fact, we invite and encourage you to submit such corrections and updates yourself. In an effort to keep this book as up to date and accurate as possible, each time we print more copies, we’ll make any confirmed corrections you’ve suggested. We’ll also note such changes on the website, so that you can mark important corrections into your own copy of the book, if you like. (Go to http://missingmanuals.com/feedback, choose the book’s name from the pop-up menu, and then click Go to see the changes.)
Also on our Feedback page, you can get expert answers to questions that come to you while reading this book, write a book review, and find groups for folks who share your interest in iWork.
While you’re there, sign up for our free email newsletter (click the “Sign Up for Our Newsletter” link in the left-hand column). You’ll find out what’s happening in Missing Manual land, meet the authors and editors, see bonus video and book excerpts, and so on.
We’d love to hear your suggestions for new books in the Missing Manual line. There’s a place for that on missingmanuals.com, too. And while you’re online, you can also register this book at www.oreilly.com (you can jump directly to the registration page by going here: http://tinyurl.com/yo82k3). Registering means we can send you updates about this book, and you’ll be eligible for special offers like discounts on future editions of iWork ’09: The Missing Manual.
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