Rating: Summary: Way Too Cartoonish Review: I wanted to boost the creativity and "wow" factor of my scrapbooks, so I decided to try Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 2.0. What a bitter disappointment! I kept thinking, "Boy, this is hard to get started with!" but as it turns out, I wasn't stuck in "beginner mode" - there was just nothing more available! I suppose this is a positive - it's certainly easy to learn. The graphics are all cartoonish. If you want to create an elegant scrapbook page, forget it. A rustic, outdoorsy page? Forget it. Effects like torn edges or crinkled paper or anything subtle at all? Forget it. This was not the software for me - just not my style. However, if you are the type who, for example, decorates your Christmas tree solely with licensed cartoon character ornaments and neon colors, you will probably adore Scrapbook Factory Deluxe 2.0. Since I can't return opened software, I plan to give it to my children and nephews - I'm certain they'll love creating silly door signs and coloring pages.
Rating: Summary: Don't waste your money Review: I was over excited to get this product after reading the description, especially about the 500+ fonts it has, as I am a bit of a font freak... Well, after installing the program, I come to realize that there is no way to automatically install the entire program, including the fonts and graphics, without going in to each individual one and doing it manually. Not only is this time consuming, but really a pain in the butt. And, of these 500+ fonts, most of them are just variations of a traditional one, that you would be able to get yourself by simply using the bold or italic options. There were NO original or unique fonts, only a handful of script ones, and NONE that I would want to use on my style of scrapbook pages. I am EXTREMELY disappointed with this product and only wish that I was able to read this kind of review before wasting my money on a product I will probably never use.
Rating: Summary: software user Review: I've been using print shop for years, it has many bugs (still) so I was pretty excited to try this program. Unfortunatly I was really dissappointed. The graphics were OK but there is no way to search through them, you have to open a file and just scroll through all the graphics until you find one you might like, this becomes extemly time consuming. It did come with 2 extra disks of graphics but I don't have the patience to look through all the folders then open a CD and look through more. There is also no way to keep 2 pages open at the same time, so you can't jump back and see what you used on a previous page. Some of the starter pages are pretty cute but I really don't see myself using this program much anymore, I'll go back to Print Shop even with all it's glitches.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Program Review: I've used many graphics, CAD drafting and photo editing programs. So I was a little apprehensive that this scrapbook, which I bought to make a presentation of wedding pictures for faraway relatives, wouldn't be up to expectations. I was especially doubtful on account of the comment an Amazon review that the clip art is "cartoonish." Actually, I'm delighted. Some of the art is cartoonish, but by no means all of it is, and all of it can be exported and modified. I finished the wedding scrapbook and went on to an illustrated journal. The program is so flexible and will do so many fun things--I think it's great. A few caveats: the photo editor doesn't really replace a good photo editing program.(You'd hardly expect it to, for the price.) The text editing is a bit rudimentary too--I can't see any way to paste text from external documents into it. The icons are puzzlingly nonuniform with those of other programs, and some of the maneuvers are far from obvious. But if you have any interest in working with a text/illustration program, you could well be just as delighted with this offering as I was. Last caveat: It's kind of addictive!
Rating: Summary: Not what I expected Review: It's okay and the interface is nice, but with the images on the box one would think they were getting elegant images for scrapbook pages, NOT, I hate cutsey and most of it is just that! Not what I want and since there is a 90 day money back guarantee, guess what? It's going back and the company better give me my $40.00 back! not an exchange either.
Rating: Summary: Best Software I've Acquired in Years Review: My husband is our household's primary computer user. He's always controlled computer time in our home the way most men control the remote. But now he has a fight on his hands. He bought me Scrapbook Factory Deluxe on Amazon.com a few weeks ago. Big mistake for him because I can't put it down. I'm finally doing something with the gobs of pictures we have of the kids - both old pictures and new digital pictures - and I'm producing really terrific albums and scrapbooks. The software has pretty much everything needed to make scrapbooks every bit as nice as the handmade kind I've made in the past, and there are tons of templates for everything from vacations to weddings to christenings to camping trips. It's really very well done. I highly recommend Scrapbook Factory if you want to do more with your pictures than just keep them in boxes in the basement or on your hard disk. It's definitely a good investment.
Rating: Summary: Very Helpful Review: Nova Development Tech Support was there when I needed them. I didn't go through 10 different automated phone selections and then have to wait hours for a response. TS was there and available immediately. Tech Support was knowledgeable, patient, and indispensable in finding and curing problems. There are other products which compete with Nova Development software, but I don't know of any company that does a better job of technical support. And, as it is in many fairly complex installations, technical support during the installation can save the day, as it did in this case. When you buy from Nova Development, you are not just buying software. You are buying the superb technical support that can be critical to the successful installation of the software.
Rating: Summary: Good at its main task, but a little frustrating sometimes. Review: Of the scrapbook applications I've played with, this one is a favorite. It has straight-forward features and it produces handsome scrapbook pages and other simple projects with a generous variety of clipart, borders, and fonts. Frustrations include 1) the inability to crop the clip-art (only photographs can be cropped) and 2) the inability to do anything interesting with color-changing and clipart. i.e. If you change the color of a piece of clipart, it doesn't "colorize" (turn into shades of the color you picked). Instead, it does an opaque fill of the clipart, leaving just a blank silhouette. At this point, the 'Undo' features are very handy! In any event, provided you have another application to do anything subtle with your clip-art or your photographs, this application is fantastic for fun, simple pasteboard projects where you create layouts and print or save. Even the HTML export seems reliable. I wouldn't call this application excellent, but it's quite good!
Rating: Summary: Love this Software!!! Review: Oh my gosh, this software is so awesome. It is better than Microsoft Word! I can do anything with this software. I just got it and I have already created a ton of adorable scrapbook pages. It is so user friendly and really lets you do anything you want. My only irk about it was that you can't use .gif images, but hey, I can handle that when I look at all the other great things it does. I have not had one problem with it! You can even save every scrapbook page you design as a jpeg. Really cool!
Rating: Summary: Useful Tool for Creating Scrapbook Pages Review: Pros Makes laying out a scrapbook page easy, with many options available. Cons Templates are limited and rather "cutesy". The Bottom Line This program is easy to use, and helped me create a custom scrapbook page with little effort. One caveat: Once you select a size template, be certain to check the result with "print preview" before you expend any effort. I had trouble getting the first page I created to print in 12 x 12 size on a 12 x 12 sheet of paper. However, I called tech support. The first rep didn't help much, but then I got a follow-up call from Derek, who had gone to the trouble of downloading my Canon S9000 printer's driver! Together, we got the print function going and produced a perfect page. It's really refreshing to find a software outfit that really cares about the results its customers are getting! It is too bad that the templates supplied with this program are so cutesy and schmaltzy, and that more background "paper" isn't supplied. But if you start with a blank template, hey, it's a clean slate and you can let your imagination run wild. It'll let you drop in your pictures and graphics wherever, and help with the lettering for titles and journaling. Recommended Yes ... Operating System: Windows
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