I admit it, as a confirmed Quark and Mellel user, and a frequent if reluctant MS Word victim, the last thing I needed on my powerbook was yet another word processor, but after only a few hours use, I was hooked. Pages has a few faults (slow opens and saves, and continued use of that silly fonts box) but many, many virtues. I'm finding myself no longer using Mellel, using Quark half as often, and using Word not at all!

My work goes back and forth between academic writing (for which Pages seems ideal) and a sideline in graphics layout and design. For the larger scale layout projects I still use Quark, but for in-house projects, I'm finding myself more and more relying on Pages. It's by no means a Quark killer, but for anything being produced without sophisticated color management it often suffices.

My five part wish list (in priority order):

Dump the font box and fully integrate all font functions into the Inspector.

Implement (as did Mellel) a character styles function. Integrate this into the styles drawer.

Improve opening and saving speeds.

And finally- for the sake of us who live and die with our powerbooks, let us adjust the size of the inspector boxes.

Thanks Apple, for a great product.