Smilebox

When a holiday or someone's birthday is coming up, we have to work hard on new greeting card ideas. If you wish to send something more than a simple "happy birthday" message by email, then you should definitely try Smilebox. You can use it to generate photo collages and slideshows, create cards or invitations and share them with your friends. The software gives you access to a huge amount of static and animated templates, which can be customized.

The software is available in a basic version, which is free, but it also comes in a premium edition, which offers more features. It works on all popular Windows versions and it can be installed in no time. Its hardware requirements are modest and there is no need to install any supplementary tools.

The user interface presents a rich templates catalog. You can browse through various categories, like birthdays, holidays, travel and many more and sort the available design by name, format, style, popularity and by other criteria. When you choose a template, the software will download it automatically, after which you can switch to different tabs, to customize the template, preview your project and share it.

Pictures can be imported at any time, on the left side of the interface and they can be inserted into a project by dragging and dropping them over a series of image boxes. Certain templates can be used for cards, while others for slideshow presentations. What's more, the software provides different customization options for each template. They are displayed on the right side of the window and they allow you to set different backgrounds or colors, change the transition speed for slideshows and more. You can also choose one or more default soundtracks, just by clicking their corresponding radio buttons, in the same area of the interface. Alternatively, you can load your own songs, from a local folder.

When your work is complete, you can preview your card or slideshow in full screen mode. The software places multiple exporting and sharing options at your disposal. You can decide to create a video DVD, print your cards, post them on blogs, Facebook or other websites or email them to one or more friends.