This opinion was written using Pages, though I take notes using Microsoft Word. With each student having their own laptop to use, it’s safe to say the majority of Westside students have their own habits for using Pages and Word, just like I do.

That got me thinking about which one is really better. So, I’ll take you through a few advantages and a few disadvantages to each, and then crown a winner.

Speed:

Technology helps us perform tasks faster, which makes the speed of each product a significant factor in deciding which one to use. And Pages takes the cake for this category.

Opening a document, or the program as a whole, is faster, documents save faster and I have never experienced lag time between the moment when I tell the program to do something and when it actually happens. With Word, I often feel like I wait an eternity (approximately five to 10 seconds) before the program responds.

Pages 1, Word 0

Ease of use:

If I had never used either program and were forced to learn how to use one proficiently, I would choose Pages. The simplicity of Pages is a huge draw. Everything is organized neatly and logically, and the options are much less cumbersome than those of Word. These things combined with the simple layout (including pictures) of the Inspector makes Pages the easier of the two to use.

Pages 2, Word 0

Note-taking:

Word gets its first win in the note-taking category, which is one of the most important features for a program used for school. With Pages, the note layout is just a blank document with an outline format (although there are a number of outline formats to choose from). Word one-ups Pages with its Notebook Layout View, which makes note-taking on a computer feel like note-taking on paper (lined paper, easy formatting, as hitting the tab key gives you bullet points, which change based off of how many tabs you add).

As I said before, I use Word for notes, and I certainly won’t stop.

Pages 2, Word 1

Design:

Apple is known for their forward-thinking design. While Pages isn’t mind blowing, it crushes Word. The design of Pages is simple. It place a few main options on each document along with the Inspector, has the word count and page count easily located at the bottom and looks the way a document should: clean and focused on the actual print. Word is a mess. There are too many options located everywhere and it does not give any importance to the text.

Pages with another big win.

Pages 3, Word 1

Spell checker:

Word wins major points here. Simple example that sums up the difference between the Pages and Word spell-checkers: type in “dont” on both programs (at the start of a new sentence). Word: immediately adds an apostrophe between the n and the t, and capitalizes the d, giving you a properly formatted “Don’t.” While Pages catches the mistake and underlines it in red, it forces you to return (ugh) to click and get the Pages suggestion.

Pages 3, Word 2

While neither program is flawless, and both have advantages over the other, Pages is truly the better program. It succeeds in the most important areas — speed and ease of use — and does so with a good design.