14 DAY TRIAL // Generally, the computer is a tool, and people regard it as such. Because of this, most programs out there perform certain functions and are designed to help get certain jobs done easier. However, there are some programs that are intended to be fun, and have no real practical purpose, and no, I am not referring to games. I'm talking about applications such as Comic Life which are fun to use both in scope and in execution. More precisely, I am talking about PostCard, a little program that you can use to create your own postcards for e-mailing to other people.
What it does PostCard lets you create great looking postcards for sending out to people over e-mail, or even printing out or web publishing. It lets you take your digital photos, or other images, and compose them easily into a great looking postcard, which you can then copy, and paste anywhere you want it.
Making postcards When you open up the application, you are greeted with a standard template which is barren except for a few short instructions. The postcard itself is composed of three elements, the image, the text and the stamp, all of which can be edited and changed as you like.
To add an image you simply drag and drop it from anywhere else into the big gray area that prompts you to drag an image in it. Although the program does not mention it, you should take care of any tweaks you want done before hand, as it cannot handle things like rotating or cropping the image, so these are best done in another application.
Once you have an image in there, you can drag it around and scale it using the slider that appears in the drawer beneath the window. If your image has transparency, or for some reason does not fit well into the available space, and there is still white background showing, you might want to adjust the background color. This is done by clicking the color well next to the resize slide and using the standard OS X color picker to choose a new color.
While it is not immediately apparent, you can actually resize the image area by dragging the divider between it and the text area. Also, you can add some text over the image at the bottom of it, where the word 'title' automatically appears. Just double click that text and you are ready to type.
The text area is always to the right of the image area, and this cannot be changed, which is an unfortunate limitation. Here you can type out the short message that is usually found on postcards. The text is fully editable using the standard, built in, text formatting palettes. One thing you need to keep an eye out is the gutter on the left of the text, which cannot be adjusted, and which is not present in the right hand of the text, meaning you have to approximate it by hand to avoid giving the postcard a uneven, sloppy look.
Last but not least, above the text area, you have the stamp area. While stamps are something that people who use e-mail have almost entirely forgotten about, PostCard lets you add stamps which look so good, you will want one. You can choose from the existing ones, but you are also free to make your own. The stamp area can also be resized, but the stamp itself cannot, meaning that if the area is not big enough to accommodate the stamp, the stamp will be removed.
Flexibility Although the program does not let you change quite a number of things, such as the location of the text and stamp areas, pretty much everything else can be altered.
It is not immediately obvious, but the window, and in effect the size of the postcard can be changed to anything you want. You can make landscape or vertical landscape postcards or square ones, and they can have just about any size, provided they fit on screen.
Being able to also customize the stamp by using any image you want also serves to give the postcards a much more personal feeling and adds to the fun.
The Good Easy enough to use for everyone, and flexible enough to give great results. Makes great looking virtual postcards with minimal effort.
The Bad The biggest sin of this program is how the stamp is not on an overhead layer with transparency so that it may be placed anywhere, even on top of the image.
The Truth Not exactly the most useful program out there, but definitely one of the fun ones. Whether you are traveling, or simply keep correspondence with someone on the other side of the planet, this is the perfect way to send a self-made postcard that looks great and is easy to make.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
