Description:
The ability to create a large variety of print projects from home is definitely a handy thing. Being able to do it with ease is even better. American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 allows for both, despite some minor flaws. The software is on two CD-ROMs and if you have the hard disk space, do a full install of the software and content. Otherwise, you'll have to have the program CD-ROM in your CD drive during use so you can access certain projects and images. But even with a full installation, you still won't have the whole package. Platinum 7 requires you to have Internet access to get everything advertised. More than 8,000 of the images and 3,500 of the projects need to be individually downloaded from their Web site when you want to use them. If you've got dial-up service, this could become annoying really fast. Launching CreataCard brings up a garish home screen mimicking a card store complete with revolving spinner racks. While everything you need to start any of the 30 plus project types is in front of you, there is no organization. However, once you find the project you want, working with the design tools is straightforward and simple. With Platinum 7 you can truly create something for every occasion. Even if there are no pre-constructed templates, you can design things from scratch without difficulty. The new photo editing tools allow you to clean and crop photos, as well as add special effects. Another fun new tool is the Party Set Creator, which walks you through the creation of a matching set of party items. A Finish Project Wizard was also added, letting you quickly end a project in one step. American Greetings CreataCard Platinum 7 is a solid choice for creating print projects on your PC. While it does have a couple of shortcomings, there are plenty of tools and features to more than make up for them. --Joshua Goldman
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