CCC-Review: Greeting Card Software, Birthday Card Software, Invitation Software
What makes good greeting card software good greeting card software? This question was the starting point of my review. A tailor made program should at least have the ability to create store-quality cards for any occasion (greetings, birthdays, holidays and invitations), without any hang-ups.  With this “definition” in mind I set out my criteria to review six of the leading special software programs in the market. TOOLS SET:  QUALITY OUTPUT: HELP/SUPPORT: OVERALL SCORE: Ease of Use   They turned out to be priced from as low as $8.95 for the National Geographic program to as high as $49.99 for the Art Explosion program. Question off course is whether this big difference in price is justified. Or, in other words, can you really make better cards with these high priced programs? In this review I used a 10 to 1 scale. Where 10 stands for excellent/the best and 1 for the worst. note: when I speak of greeting card software I also mean birthday card software and invitation software. There’s no real difference between them because they all should do the same: making great cards for all occasions. EASE OF USE:    Tools Set With Tools Set I looked at the quality and variety in design templates, clip art, pictures and wording examples. I also looked at photo editing tools like image cropping, rotating, colour adjustment etc.. On this criterion Hallmark Card Studio De Luxe beats the others with ease. It offers a big variety in templates and wording examples of very good quality. The only difference with the plain Hallmark version lays in the more photo editing tools of the first. Though it’s a matter of taste, with the other programs the quality of the templates and wordings is moderate to poor. Except for the National Geographic program. It offers not much variety but you can use over 600 great colour nature and animal photos which again makes this program special. Quality Output What's the use of al the criteria above when then actual custom card rolling out of your printer lacks the quality you hoped for. I know I'm on thin ice here because there is a subjective part in this Quality Output criterion. But as a professional photographer and designer I know the quality standards that are set in the greeting card and postcard business. If you want professional looking quality "canned" cards both the Hallmark versions are a very good choice. Not only do they offer a great set of quality templates, they also provide you with plenty text examples for most occasions. Also the National Geographic software delivers store-quality cards because of their superb set of photos. Because of their outdated templates and poor wording examples the Belltech software performs worst at this criterion.  Help/Support For Help/Support I looked at the following aspects: phone support, email support, help file, index search tool, tutorial, FAQ and user forum. Not only did both Hallmark versions perform well on all aspects above, they also come with excellent on-screen instructions. There's no email support for the Greeting Card factory and the phone support seems to be poor, as mentioned on user forums. Overall Score: Conclusion If money is no issue and just based on the overall performance the Hallmark De Luxe is the best greeting card software, period. It's remarkable to find out that expensive programs like the Greeting Card Factory (hardly 7 points) and the Belltech program (6.5 points) end up last. When speaking in terms of value for money the basic Hallmark version could be your best catch. It offers almost as much as it's big brother for $20.- less. The only difference between these two lays in the better photo editing tools of the De Luxe. With free photo editing software like Picasa you can easily set this difference straight without any extra costs. If you don't want to spent more then ten bucks on your greeting card software both the Printmaster and National Geographic programs offer great value for money. If you like National Geographic's famous photography this program is worth every cent. If you prefer a program which is useful in more occasions, specially invitations, this might be the winner for you! Did you appreciate this greeting card review on Cool-Custom-Cards.com? Find more practical info about creating your own custom cards here. Found the right greeting card software ( birthday card software, invitation software )? Here you can find practical advice on getting the best pinting result. Click here to create your own Cool Custom Cards online. Write your text in the sky and we’ll print and sent the card for you to any place in the world. The links above can also be found at the navigation buttons on the left, just like many other issues. Disclaimer: although Cool-Custom-Cards.com has tried to gather information as accurate as possible, use of information on this site is for your own responsibility.( greeting card software, birthday card software, invitation software, greeting card software review ) |