Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 12:14
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
Improvements to Numbers simplify formula entry, provide a list of all the formulas in a spreadsheet, and allow table categories to be collapsed into summary rows.
There is now a wider range of options for 2D charts, including mixed charts, tend lines and error bars. And when a Numbers chart is pasted into a Pages or Keynote document, it remains live and can be updated to reflect any subsequent changes made to the spreadsheet even if the visual appearance of the chart is altered in Pages or Keynote.
Numbers '09 also provides a dozen more templates and the improved template chooser, as well as the Send via Mail feature as found in Pages (but this time with the choice of Pages, Excel and PDF formats).
Keynote now makes it easy to create animated transitions involving one or more objects. Basically, you set the start and end position, scale, opacity and rotation for each object, and Keynote does the rest.
And there are also new text and object-based transitions, some of which have previously appeared in presentations given by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. That will come as no surprise to serious Keynote watchers (such as
Les Posen), who are used to studying Jobs' presentations for hints of what may be coming in the product.
Keynote Remote, an optional extra, is a piece of software for the iPhone or iPod touch that allows the use of the handheld device as a Wi-Fi remote control for Keynote that can display either the current and next slides, or the current slide and the speaker's notes. A swipe of the finger or thumb advances the presentation.
Throw in additional themes and an improved theme chooser, 3D textures and animations for charts, and Send via Mail (Keynote, PowerPoint or PDF) round out the new features.
Actually, there's one more thing - so please
read on.
