1/16/2018 0 Comments An Apple a Week: Pages
Near the end of the commercial (before she asks her neighbor the silly question “what’s a computer?”) the girl is sitting in a tree putting together a journal/report titled Bugs in the City. When I saw her screen my techy teacher brain kicked on and thought “Pages for the iPad would be PERFECT for a project like that!” Pages for the iPad or Mac can be used as more than just a word processor. The features in pages allow the software to become a digital scrapbooking tool that allows you to create beautiful products by easily moving and manipulating features on the page. Here are a few of my favorite features in Pages: Formatting made simpleOn both the iPad and Mac version of Pages, the formatting tools can be found by clicking the paintbrush in the top right hand corner of the screen. All of your tools being housed in one place makes it easy to edit the style, text, and arrangement of your features. Text Wrapping tipsSometimes, while arranging object on the page, the objects do not "play nice". They do not allow you to move them next to/over/under each other easily. To fix this all you need to do is change your text wrapping features. Changing your text wrap option for the object or text box to none will allow you to move objects freely near/over/behind other objects. If you would like your text to wrap neatly around your pictures select the around option. enhancing the look of your picturesPhoto editing tools such as background removal, shadows, and reflection can be very challenging and time consuming in other editing programs, but Pages makes them happen in a snap! Instant alphaOne of the best features Apple has created for Pages (and Keynote) is Instant Alpha. This tool can be used to get rid of distracting backgrounds in photos (think of the white backgrounds around many clipart pictures). Once you have chosen the picture you would like to use and placed it in your document select the image, tap the format button, then tap image. Tap Instant Alpha, then tap anywhere on the background color and drag your finger to remove the background. Tap done to complete the instant alpha effect. maskThe mask tools allows you to move a picture into any shape and "take over" the background (Mac). It also allows you to crop the original picture within the space you have made for it (Mac or iPad).
Adding BookmarksAdding bookmarks within your text helps your readers navigate your documents, especially when they are multiple pages. You can use this feature for a table of contents or to help find pieces of a tutorial. One thing to note is that bookmarks have to be created from the text written on the page NOT a text box. To create a bookmark on Pages for iPad: select the text you would like to add a bookmark to then click Bookmark from the option bar. To link your bookmark: select the object you would like to link, highlight the text, select link in the option bar, click Link to, click bookmark, then select the bookmark you would like to link to. Now your link will take you straight to the bookmarked text. Don't be afraid to dive right in and get started with Pages! You can use the pre-made templates or start your own document with a variety of shapes, charts, graphs, text and images to create products such as:
Happy learning! Megan To learn more about Pages visit these resources: Pages for iPad Starter Guide iOS 11 Pages for Mac Starter Guide MacOS Sierra 9 Tips for Pages Software for the Classroom Follow the winter blog series An Apple a Week:
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