Chapter 4. Moving Beyond Text: Laying Out Pages

The preceding chapters treated Pages like it was just a hot new word processing program, which, of course, it is. But now it's time for Pages to step into the spotlight and reveal its other , flashier persona. Its page-layout abilities set Pages apart from other word processors; what's causing the program's well-deserved buzz is the incredible ease with which you can produce professional-looking layouts.

Apple's software designers realized that the plain text document age is waning. Photographs, artwork, movies, and music are just a click away on your computer. Nearly everyone has a color printer. Digital media convergence is a reality and the kinds of documents people want to create now are stylishly laid out, colorful , and filled with photos (Figure 4-1).

Pages can access the pictures, songs, and movies that you already have on your computerprobably in iPhoto, iTunes, and iMovieand give you the freedom to include these elements within a Pages document. As for the "stylishly laid out" part, Pages provides a graphic arts department in the form of its collection of templates tastefully designed starting points for your next brochure, newsletter, or 'zine.