Using digital scrapbooking software for your scrapbook projects has many advantages over traditional paper scrapbooking. There's a huge cost savings since you've eliminated the need for all those expensive tools and supplies, and you no longer have to pay for costly papers and embellishments that you use only once. Plus, there's the potential to save time as well. It takes more than just a few minutes to set up and prepare your paper scrapbooking workspace. With a digital scrapbooking software program, you boot up your computer, and you're ready to go.
As you can imagine, not all digital scrapbooking software programs have the same features or even the same ease of use. While some scrapbook programs look OK in their marketing material (some even have fancy boxes!), when you get them home, they're not quite what you were hoping for. Even worse, some digital scrapbooking programs are extremely confusing. They have cluttered interfaces and more tools than you can imagine what to do with! Programs like that aren't you're best choice for scrapbooking. Oftentimes those products are just rebranded image editing applications, that have been re-marketed as scrapbook software...
On the flip side, be aware that you can buy digital scrapbooking software that isn't flexible enough for you to express your creativity. While "easy to use" is good, "simple" isn't exactly the same thing. You'll find a number of products that are limited to only a handful of templates, and worse still, you can't customize them to fit your vision. And finally, while many digital scrapbooking software programs are reasonable priced, there are some products that are really quite expensive. You don't need to use the same tools as a professional graphics designer in order to get excellent results for your scrapbooks!
So, the question becomes "How do you find digital scrapbooking software that's creative, affordable and most importantly, will give you excellent results?" Here's the checklist you've been waiting for! The top 5 things to look for as you evaluate your choices in digital scrapbooking software:
1. Free trial. Look for a program that comes with a free trial so that you can check out exactly what the program offers. The best programs will offer a full-featured trial so that you can try everything out and not have to guess at what you might be able to do should you purchase the software. A digital scrapbooking software program that does not offer any sort of free trial should be avoided.
2. Fully-Editable Pages. A good digital scrapbooking software program should offer full creative control over your pages, so you can make exactly the page you have in mind. If it comes with a set of pre-made templates, you should be able to edit absolutely everything on your page. There's nothing worse than being locked into a design someone else has imagined - that's not why you got into scrapbooking, is it?
3. Professional Digital Scrapbooking Kits. Some products come with a lot of "clipart". Some even have tens of thousands of pieces of it! However, clipart isn't a great selling feature in digital scrapbooking software. Instead, you want to find a product that has real scrapbooking content, made by top digital scrapbooking artists and designers. The product you choose should come with top quality scrapbooking content, like digital papers, embellishments, backgrounds, and template pages made specifically for scrapbooking. In this case, quantity isn't nearly as important as quality. You should also be able to see *everything* that comes with the software on their website.
4. Online Discussion Forums. The program you choose should offers free access to their online community discussion forum. This is where you can ask questions 24 hours a day about the software, and get answers back from both the staff and other users of the software. Even more importantly, you can read the honest opinions of others about the software program and its capabilities. Be cautious about any digital scrapbooking software program that doesn't have an open discussion forum! The size of he forum, will also tell you something about the software. Some products have tens of thousands of users, showing you how popular it is!
5. Tutorials and User Documentation. A top-quality program will offer free digital scrapbooking tutorials on their website that provide visual demonstrations for using the software. A great program will also include a comprehensive User's Guide and Help File so that you can always easily access answers to any questions that may come up as you scrapbook.
There are a number of products to choose from, so do your research before you put down your money! Again, make sure the products you are looking at have a free trial download, have fully-editable pages, include high quality scrapbooking elements, and feature a huge online community and tons of tutorials to get you started.
As you can imagine, not all digital scrapbooking software programs have the same features or even the same ease of use. While some scrapbook programs look OK in their marketing material (some even have fancy boxes!), when you get them home, they're not quite what you were hoping for. Even worse, some digital scrapbooking programs are extremely confusing. They have cluttered interfaces and more tools than you can imagine what to do with! Programs like that aren't you're best choice for scrapbooking. Oftentimes those products are just rebranded image editing applications, that have been re-marketed as scrapbook software...
On the flip side, be aware that you can buy digital scrapbooking software that isn't flexible enough for you to express your creativity. While "easy to use" is good, "simple" isn't exactly the same thing. You'll find a number of products that are limited to only a handful of templates, and worse still, you can't customize them to fit your vision. And finally, while many digital scrapbooking software programs are reasonable priced, there are some products that are really quite expensive. You don't need to use the same tools as a professional graphics designer in order to get excellent results for your scrapbooks!
So, the question becomes "How do you find digital scrapbooking software that's creative, affordable and most importantly, will give you excellent results?" Here's the checklist you've been waiting for! The top 5 things to look for as you evaluate your choices in digital scrapbooking software:
1. Free trial. Look for a program that comes with a free trial so that you can check out exactly what the program offers. The best programs will offer a full-featured trial so that you can try everything out and not have to guess at what you might be able to do should you purchase the software. A digital scrapbooking software program that does not offer any sort of free trial should be avoided.
2. Fully-Editable Pages. A good digital scrapbooking software program should offer full creative control over your pages, so you can make exactly the page you have in mind. If it comes with a set of pre-made templates, you should be able to edit absolutely everything on your page. There's nothing worse than being locked into a design someone else has imagined - that's not why you got into scrapbooking, is it?
3. Professional Digital Scrapbooking Kits. Some products come with a lot of "clipart". Some even have tens of thousands of pieces of it! However, clipart isn't a great selling feature in digital scrapbooking software. Instead, you want to find a product that has real scrapbooking content, made by top digital scrapbooking artists and designers. The product you choose should come with top quality scrapbooking content, like digital papers, embellishments, backgrounds, and template pages made specifically for scrapbooking. In this case, quantity isn't nearly as important as quality. You should also be able to see *everything* that comes with the software on their website.
4. Online Discussion Forums. The program you choose should offers free access to their online community discussion forum. This is where you can ask questions 24 hours a day about the software, and get answers back from both the staff and other users of the software. Even more importantly, you can read the honest opinions of others about the software program and its capabilities. Be cautious about any digital scrapbooking software program that doesn't have an open discussion forum! The size of he forum, will also tell you something about the software. Some products have tens of thousands of users, showing you how popular it is!
5. Tutorials and User Documentation. A top-quality program will offer free digital scrapbooking tutorials on their website that provide visual demonstrations for using the software. A great program will also include a comprehensive User's Guide and Help File so that you can always easily access answers to any questions that may come up as you scrapbook.
There are a number of products to choose from, so do your research before you put down your money! Again, make sure the products you are looking at have a free trial download, have fully-editable pages, include high quality scrapbooking elements, and feature a huge online community and tons of tutorials to get you started.
About the Author:
Read more about digital scrapbooking software. Stop by Gracie Madsen's site where you can find out all about digital scrapbooking and what it can do for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment