Cheap Hallmark Card Studio 2004 (Software) (Windows 2000, Windows XP) Price

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Customer Reviews of Hallmark Card Studio 2004

I always email greeting cards to friends and family. The latest version of American Greetings (Gold 8) made it impossible for family and friends to open or view the e-cards I sent. The e-cards I send with Hallmark Card Studio are easy to open and view.

Making cards or your own projects is also so much easier with Hallmark Card Studio than with American Greetings.

Limits Creativity
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I make ALL my cards on the computer and have done so for the past four years. I was looking for some new graphics and thought I'd try this program.

This program is great for someone who just wants to print out predifined cards and then hand write messages in them. Otherwise, the user is very limited. If you are accustomed to "Microsoft Greetings 2000, Hallmark Connections" then you will be frustrated with "Hallmark Card Studio 2004" limitations.

Creativity Issues: 1) When creating your own card, if you insert a picture or photo, you can't edit it (you can resize it though). You can't make it a black and white photo or emboss it or soften the edges, etc. 2) When using the predefined cards, the ONLY thing you can edit is the CONTENT of PRE-EXISTING text. You can't change the font or size or color of the text. So if you want to write more and it doesn't fit on the page, you run out of room. Or if you are sending the card to someone who may not be able to see clearly and you want to pick a clearer font, you can't. If the card you choose is blank, there is no text inside to edit therefore, you can't type anything in the card. Thus you have to print it and then hand write it. If you must have printed text (I like using a fun color and fun font that is spell checked!) you could create an additional card with a blank cover and text in it and send the original printed card through the printer again. If the program would let you chose to print only one side, you wouldn't have to create a card with a blank front (and back) - see printing issues below. 3) Other effects for making cards (like borders, etc.) are very limited.

Printing issues: 1) You can't print one side of the card - its all or nothing - which sometimes is needed if you want to check your print settings or quality (or just want to print additional text - see creativity issues). 2) It has its own print screen which seems inefficient. If you want to change the printer settings (paper stock or size), then you have to click a separate button to bring up the printer settings dialogue. 3) Setting up the printer requires two pieces of paper. There is a "printer set-up" button on the print screen which if you accidentally push, erases the printer settings and you have to set up the printer again (wasting two more pieces of paper and time). 4) Printing takes FOREVER - the computer seems to hang-up.

Easier to use than Greetings 2000
In response to Christine Iacomini, the one great thing that this version has over Greetings 2000 is exactly what she didn't like about it: it's very simple.

We have the original version of Card Studio (version 1.0a, which we got almost 8 years ago) and the one thing my wife (not very computer saavy) loved about the program is that it was really easy to use. In fact, when she tried to use Greetings 2000, she insisted I install the older version (which is still installed and works great).

Anyway, Card Studio 2004 does have enhancements over previous versions, but it also brings back a much simpler interface compared to 2000. This may irk some people that want a lot of fine-tuned control over their creations, but it makes it easier for those people that want a program that you don't need to hunt through the controls to use!