An Introduction to iWork 09 for Desktop Publishing

As more and more people are migrating from Windows to Apple an increasing number of desktop publishers find themselves with a choice. They could buy Office for Mac, or they can get the native suite iWork. At nearly half the price, iWork is tempting. The only question is, can you use it for effective desktop publishing. The answer is yes, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Let’s look at how a desktop publishers life can be made easier with iWork. Here are instructions for some of the common desktop publishing tasks in iWork 09.

To open a pre-formatted template you should follow these steps.

1. Open Pages.

2. Click on "File"

3. Click on "New from Template Chooser"

4. Choose the type of template that you want to look at.

5. Pick a template. Click on this template to select it. You will see a yellow box around it.

6. Click on "Choose"

Making changes to your text is very simple. Just follow these steps.

1. Type the text that you want to alter. Then highlight it.

2. Click on "Format"

3. Click on "Font"

4. In the Sub Menu click on "Show Fonts".

5. A new box will appear. In this box you can choose font, text size and other stylistic issues related to the text. It is important to know that this will only impact highlighted text.

6. You will notice that there is no "Save" or "OK" button. Do not worry. Simply close the box and your changes will be saved.

1. Click on "Insert"

2. Click on "Choose", this will be the bottom option.

3. Navigate to the item that you want to insert.

4. Click on "Insert".

5. Your image will appear in the document. You can resize by dragging on the corners and move by dragging the whole of the image.

There you have it. Three of the most integral tasks for any desktop publisher. While this tutorial could not cover everything you need to know it is worth mentioning that Pages has an extensive help section. If you are new to iWork you will be happy to find out that the help menu not only gives you written instructions, but opens the needed menu for you, and points you in the right direction with arrows. All in all, the transitions to iWork 09 will be much smoother if you use the help feature as needed.