Hello Koji, I haven't tried Pages on the iPhone, and I think the experience of using word processors on iOS devices may still lag behind the desktop experience. However, I'll point out one thing that may be of interest to iOS device users about Pages on the Mac, and also Scrivener. Both these apps allow you to export documents into ePub format, which you could then transfer to iBooks and read on your iOS devices. As far as I know, there are no comparable Windows applications (designed for regular users rather than publishers) that have this capability. This is not a feature of the iOS version of Pages -- only in the Mac OS X version.
While it is possible to use Stanza desktop (in either the Mac or Windows versions) to convert between different document and eBook formats and generate ePub files, this process is probably less robust than directly producing ePub files from text in Pages or Scrivener. I should also probably have added that Office for the Mac is not accessible at all. Some people can use the Windows version of Office if they put Bootcamp on the Mac and run Windows with an associated screen reader, or if they run a Windows virtual machine through VMWare fusion. But Office for the Mac was not written to comply with Apple's accessibility APIs, so it will not work with VoiceOver. HTH. Cheers, Esther On Nov 11, 2011, at 03:04, Koji Matsuda (Verizon) wrote: > Wow, Ester, > that was a very informative email. Thank you. I fell in love with iPhone > about a year ago, and now I am thinking about getting a laptop of some kind > made by Apple. I was curious about Pages and it was great to know that there > are users out there to share. I was wondering whether to buy Pages for my > iPhone, and your info wasn'tnecessarily for the iOS, but again it was very > informative and I appreciate people like you who are willing to spend time > explaining things in detail. > > Koji > > -------------------------------------------------- > From: "Esther" <mori...@mac.com> > Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 3:14 PM > To: "Mac OSX & iOS Accessibility" <mac-access@mac-access.net> > Subject: Re: Text editor > >> Hi Catherine, >> >> TextEdit does let you print results, and you can open Word documents that >> are sent to you in this program. However, while it is easy to use, and >> actually more powerful than you might initially think, it has some >> shortcomings if you are looking for a word processing program to write >> research papers with footnotes, for example. James Austin has done periodic >> reviews of what's available in this regard. There are other good accessible >> word processors -- a free program called Bean is one of them -- which also >> fall short in this regard, although they have several nice features. >> >> If you're talking about the most full-featured word-processors you probably >> want to consider either Pages, which is Apple's iWork counterpart to >> Microsoft Word, or Nisus Writer Pro, which is a third party program that was >> recently revamped to version 2, and now is in a 2.1 release. Both these >> programs can be separately purchased from the Mac App Store (Pages for >> $19.99 and Nisus Writer Pro for $79.99). >> >> There are several people on list who can give you a more detailed evaluation >> of these products, and Nisus Writer Pro, in particular, has many >> enthusiastic users in its new incarnation. I'll point you to an post I >> wrote back in June in reply to Lynne's query about whether the new version >> was worth getting: >> • Re: Nisus Writer Pro; Query >> http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/2011-June/013619.html >> >> That post summarizes an extensive review of the product in TidBITS, and >> excerpts key bits. The bottom line was that the writer considered it to be >> an overall superior experience to using either Microsoft Word or Pages for >> word processing, but he also made some very detailed comments about topics >> like degree of compatibility with Word documents handed back and forth >> between the two programs (mixed experience: both pluses and minuses.) >> >> Anne is probably the most expert user of Pages on this list. The current >> version is Pages '09, and is overdue for an upgrade. My guess is that this >> has been running late because it is being written to take advantage of the >> changes that have been made in both Mac OS X and iOS on devices like the >> iPad. This is true for the entire iWork suite (with counterparts to Excel, >> Word, and Powerpoint in Numbers, Pages, and Keynote). But this is certainly >> another viable alternative. >> >> One of the shortcomings of the Mac App store is that it does not support >> trial downloads -- developers can offer free lite versions of applications, >> but they cannot offer a free application that later requires you to pay an >> extra amount to keep it functional. So if you want to use a trial download, >> you have to visit the developer's web site directly. >> >> You can download a 15-day free trial version of Nisus Writer Pro from: >> http://www.nisus.com/pro/ >> >> Apple used to have a trial download page for the iWork suite at: >> http://www.apple.com/iwork/download-trial/ >> >> I don't know whether that still works. Now all the apps are separately >> purchasable at the Mac App Store. >> >> There was also a discussion about Nisus Writer Pro vs. Pages on this list in >> July. You can read through the thread at the secondary Mail Archive pages >> for this list: >> • Nisus Writer Pro 2.0 Versus Pages; [Revisited] >> http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/msg00117.html >> >> To read down the thread, use the access key shortcut Control+n to navigate >> to the next post in the thread and Control+p to go to the previous post in >> the thread. These access key shortcuts work for all browsers on different >> platforms if you substitute the appropriate access key (e.g., for Internet >> Explorer use Alt+n and Alt+p; for Firefox I think it is Alt+Shift+n and >> Alt+Shift+p). Since we have a new Mac VoiceOver user who is sighted, I >> should mention that if you started Safari without VoiceOver running, then >> the access key combination is Control+Option+n for next and Control+Option+p >> for previous. But if you started Safari with VoiceOver running it is just >> Control+n and Control+p. >> >> There is one other interesting new app for writing called Scrivener. Rather >> than being focused on the generation of output, it's set up for the use of >> people who write a lot, and want to easily access intermediate tools like >> outlines and lists of ideas. Scrivener is also available from the Mac App >> Store ($44.99) and is accessible with VoiceOver. They also have a 30-free >> trial download of their product, but they are also running a NaNoWriMo trial >> special. This abbreviation stands for "National Novel Writing Month", which >> runs for the month of November. So they started a special trial download >> that would run through till December 7, regardless of when it was >> downloaded, and announced this at the end of October. At this point, you >> would be better off getting the regular trial download of Scrivener for the >> 30-day expiration, but there's another offer that is described on the web >> page of the Scrivener NaNoWriMo trial page at: >> http://www.literatureandlatte.com/nanowrimo.php >> >> If you purchase Scrivener directly from the developer's web page, you can >> enter a coupon code of "NANOWRIMO" (without the quotation marks) to receive >> a 20% discount on the $44.99 price. Also, if you actually become a winner >> in the National Novel Writing Month competition, you are eligible for a 50% >> discount on Scrivener. >> >> You can also read a review of Scrivener by a VoiceOver user at Austin >> Seraphin's blog: >> http://behindthecurtain.us/2011/09/07/scrivener/ >> >> As a final comment, for people who write technical papers with math and >> equations, there is a word processing solution with LaTeX that is completely >> accessible through an application called TeXShop, which is freeware. It's >> very powerful, and has excellent multilingual support, but a steep learning >> curve, so it won't be a solution for most people unless they use it a lot. >> (When I tell you that TeX was originally designed to get around the high >> price of mathematics books due to the costs associated with typesetting >> equations you may understand -- TeX can be used to produce publication >> quality books, and is used by some publishers, as well as being a standard >> for advanced papers in some scientific and technical fields.) While some >> people, like James Austin, find it worthwhile to learn for writing large >> numbers of (non-mathematical) papers at university, that's not the norm. >> >> HTH. Catherine, apologies for the late reply, but I lost the email that you >> sent me directly yesterday when I was trying to respond, so thanks for >> writing back on list. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Esther >> >> >> On Nov 9, 2011, at 06:08, Catherine Golding wrote: >> >>> Is Text Editor a complete word processing program from which I can print? >>> Do I need to buy IWorks or another document program? >>> >>> >>> >>> Catherine Golding >>> >>> Olympia, Washington >>> <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to mac-access@mac-access.net You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at either the list's own dedicated web archive: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> or at the public Mail Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-access@mac-access.net/>. 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