Global Moxie

iWork ’09: The Missing Manual by Josh Clark. Published by Pogue Press and O'Reilly Media.

Last week, I polished off the edits for my forthcoming book iWork ’09: The Missing Manual. This weekend, I start reviewing the galleys. From there, the book zooms through the final production process on track for publication on or about April 30.

I know, I know, the anticipation is killing you! Me too. Take action to calm those frayed nerves: Preorder the book from Amazon, or start reading right away by purchasing the "rough cut" version. (The rough cut is like the beta version of a book, giving you online access to the book as it goes through the edit process; for a few bucks more, you get a discounted price off the final printed book, too.)

What’s Cool About iWork ’09

iWork ’09 is Apple's remarkable collection of "productivity software," a bland phrase for a normally bland category of software. An inspiring spreadsheet program? A rousing word processor? The concepts seem improbable—but as usual, Apple beats the odds. When the company unveiled its iWork collection of programs, Apple proved that doing serious work doesn’t have to feel serious. The package includes Pages, Keynote and Numbers: iWork’s word processor, presentation software and spreadsheet program. While familiar, all three are remarkably different from what came before. For the needs of most individuals, small businesses, educators, and families, the whole experience is a big step up from the dreary orthodoxy of Microsoft Office.

All iWork programs put an unprecedented emphasis on the design and polish of your final document, making it almost effortless to create results that look not only professional, but actually stunning. Pages turns the mild-mannered word processor into a graphic design program; Keynote’s visual gymnastics make your Mac look like a Hollywood special effects studio (Al Gore even won an Oscar for his Keynote slideshow); and Numbers spreadsheets morph your gray columns and rows into dazzling multimedia reports.

When even your spreadsheets sparkle, it’s hard not to feel energized about your work.

This isn't about glitz, it's about the quality of your working life: When even your spreadsheets sparkle, it’s hard not to feel energized about your work. This, of course, is Apple’s strong suit. All of the company’s software is tuned for helping regular folks painlessly turn out sophisticated creations to rival the pros—from making music to editing movies to creating photography books. Apple has a certain magic for making powerful software approachable and with iWork the results are at once so productive and satisfying that it becomes—and please, don’t tell the boss—almost fun to get work done.

What’s Cool About This Book

This should go without saying, but iWork ’09: The Missing Manual is comprehensive: In around 900 pages, the book details every nitty-gritty feature of Pages, Keynote and Numbers. You’ll 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 Apple's own instructions don’t even mention.

But the book is also more than a run-of-the-mill manual. Like the whole Missing Manual series, this guide is a breed apart. Most software manuals aren't especially fun. Or friendly. Or inspiring. I set out to make this one all three.

Beyond just the mechanical aspects of using iWork, the book gives you practical aesthetic advice about document design and presentation—techniques that the pros use for weaving elegant layouts. 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. Throughout, 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.

If you're not yet sold, I'll let you in on one other little secret: No other software manual has ever featured quite so many superheroes. Most of the book's sample documents follow the further 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. How can you resist? Order yours now.

Tags: apple, books, iwork, productivity, software