Michal Ždanský At WWDC 2013, Apple presented a large number of novelties, among them the brand new web service iWork for iCloud. The web version of the office suite was the missing piece of the whole productivity puzzle. Until now, the company only offered the version of all three applications for iOS and OS X, with the fact that it was possible to download stored documents from anywhere in iCloud.
Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft managed to build excellent cloud-based office suite solutions and split the existing market with Office Web Apps/Office 365 and Google Docs. Will Apple stand up with its new iWork in iCloud. Although the service is in beta, developers can test it now, even those with a free developer account. Everyone can thus register as a developer and try out what the ambitious cloud project from Cupertino currently looks like.
First run
After logging in to beta.icloud.com three new icons will appear in the menu, each representing one of the applications – Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Opening one of them will take you to a selection of documents stored in the cloud. From here you can upload any document from your computer using the drag & drop method. iWork can handle both its own proprietary formats and Office documents in the old format as well as in OXML. Documents can also be duplicated, downloaded or shared as a link from the menu.
Right from the start, iWork in the cloud feels like a native application, until you forget that you are only in a web browser. I didn't try the service in Safari, but in Chrome, and here everything ran quickly and smoothly. Until now, I was only used to working with Google Docs. It's obvious with them that it's a web application and they don't even try to hide it in any way. And although everything here also works without problems, the difference between Google Docs and iWork is vast in terms of user experience.
iWork for iCloud reminds me most of the iOS version embedded in an Internet browser. On the other hand, I've never used iWork for Mac (I grew up on Office), so I don't have a direct comparison with the desktop version.
Editing documents
As with the desktop or mobile versions, iWork will offer a variety of templates from which to create a new document, so you can start with a blank slate. The document always opens in a new window. The user interface is quite interestingly designed. While other web-based office suites have controls in the top bar, iWork has a formatting panel located to the right of the document. It can be hidden if necessary.
The other elements are located in the top bar, namely the undo/redo buttons, a trio of buttons for inserting objects, a button for sharing, tools and sending feedback. Most of the time, however, you will mainly use the right panel.
Pages
The document editor offers fairly basic functionality that you would expect from a more advanced text editor. It is still a beta, so it is difficult to judge whether some functions will be missing in the final version. Here you will find common tools for editing texts, the list of fonts includes just under fifty items. You can set spaces between paragraphs and lines, tabs or text wrapping. There are also options for bulleted lists, but the styles are very limited.
Pages has no problem opening documents in its format, and can handle DOC and DOCX as well. I didn't notice any problem when opening such a document, everything looked the same as in Word. Unfortunately, the application was unable to match the headings, treating them as just normal text with a different font size and styling.
The lack of proofreading of Czech spelling was noticeably absent, fortunately you can at least turn off the check and thus avoid non-English words underlined in red. There are more shortcomings and web pages are not very suitable for more advanced texts, a large number of functions are missing, for example superscript and subscript, copy and delete formatting and others. You can find these functions, for example, in Google Docs. The possibilities of Pages are very limited and are used more for undemanding writing of texts, Apple will have a lot to catch up against the competition.
Numbers
The spreadsheet is functionally a bit better. True, I am not a very demanding user when it comes to spreadsheets, but I found most of the basic functions in the application. There is no lack of basic cell formatting, manipulation of cells is also easy, you can use the context menu to insert rows and columns, connect cells, sort alphabetically, etc. As for functions, there are several hundred of them in Numbers, and I did not come across any important ones that I would miss here.
Unfortunately, the graph editor is missing from the current beta version, but Apple itself says in the help here that it is on the way. Numbers will at least display pre-existing charts and if you change the source data, the chart will be reflected as well. Unfortunately, you won't find more advanced functions such as conditional formatting or filtering here. Microsoft rules the roost in this field. And while you probably won't be doing accounting in Numbers on the web, it's perfect for simpler spreadsheets.
The support for keyboard shortcuts, which you can find across the entire office suite, is also nice. What I really missed is the ability to create rows by dragging the corner of a cell. Numbers can only copy content and formatting this way.
Keynote
Probably the weakest application of the whole package is Keynote, at least in terms of functions. Although it opens PPT or PPTX formats without any problem, it does not, for example, support animations on individual slides, not even with the KEYNOTE format. You can insert classical text fields, images or shapes into the sheets and style them in different ways, however, each sheet is completely static and the only available animations are transitions between slides (18 types in total).
On the other hand, the playback of the presentation is handled very nicely, the animated transitions are smooth, and when playing in full-screen mode, you completely forget that it is only a web application. Again, this is a beta version and it is possible that new features, including animations of individual elements, will appear before the official launch.
Verdict
Apple has not been very strong in cloud applications in recent years. In this context, iWork for iCloud feels like a revelation, in a positive way. Apple has taken web apps up a notch to the point where it's hard to tell whether it's just a website or a native app. iWork is fast, clear and intuitive, just like the office suite for iOS that it closely resembles.
[do action=”quote”]Apple has done a great job building a decent and fast web office suite from the ground up that works amazingly even in beta.[/do]
What I missed the most was the ability to collaborate on documents with multiple people in real time, which is one of Google's domains, which you quickly get used to and it's hard to say goodbye to. The same functionality is partially abounded in Office Web Apps, and it is, after all, the best reason to use the office suite in the cloud. During the presentation at WWDC 2013, this function was not even mentioned. And maybe that will be the reason why many people prefer to stay with Google Docs.
So far, it seems that iWork will find favor especially with supporters of this package, who use it on OS X and on iOS. The iCloud version here works excellently as an intermediary with content synchronization and allows further editing of documents in progress from any computer, regardless of the operating system. However, for everyone else, Google Docs is still a better choice, despite the obvious technological advancement of iWork.
I do not mean to condemn iWork for iCloud in any way. Apple has done a great job here, building a decent and fast web office suite from the ground up that works wonderfully even in beta. Still, it still lags behind Google and Microsoft in terms of features, and Apple will still have to work hard to offer something more in its cloud office than simple and intuitive editors in a nice, fast user interface.
what about Excel Web App?!
I didn't finish reading the whole article, but as I read the part with Pages, I have to point out something. Don't forget the fact that the documents are not primarily created here, the point here is that I create a file on a Mac, for example, completely full-fledged, and now when I need to quickly fine-tune something somewhere and I don't have a Mac there, I open it via the net, fine-tune the details , maybe a typo, a column and so on, and you're good to go :)
"does not support animations on individual slides"
What a horror, a presentation without animations! Or not? ;)
By animation, I meant that, for example, individual bullet points or images do not run sequentially, but everything appears at once.
but the animation supports it. there is a selection of about 15. the fact that all the text appears immediately is true, but it needs to be fixed. it's beta
I've been using Google Docs since the very beginning, but now I'm going to have a dilemma. iWork in iCloud looks and works great. I'm also interested in how it behaves on Win (I can't test), because I prefer a cross-platform approach. That's why I use Google apps so much, even though I'm a die-hard Apple user :-)
In win, it works without any problems (I don't know if it's the beta or my super fast internet), every document that we want to open takes almost 3 minutes to load
And are you registered as a developer?
Ah, I misunderstood. being registered in the "member center" is not enough. :) thanks for the reply.
Unfortunately, I set my account to develop at work on a win computer and now even when I log in from a Macbook with os x 10.8.4 it won't let me into the icloud beta... can anyone help?
The fault lies elsewhere. I login with my dev. on different computers (OS-X and W8) both at home and at work.
I see the opening of the native iWork format to the world of windows and linux as essential for this version. Until now, you couldn't open a .numbers document on anything other than a Mac.
Otherwise, the application is developing and functions are gradually being added.
Speed and responsiveness is very good in all browsers. That is, the supported ones