Am I just the only freakazoid on the planet who actually does sometimes enjoy spending time looking for greetings cards in proper shops, or is my kind doomed to extinction?? Bluemountain is a website that they set it up especially for ME (but I’ll let you use it cos I prefer the shops ;) so that I could save the strength in my legs for other things like running away from monsters. Well thanks EXCITE (cos they run it) but the walk does me good (and I haven’t seen too many monsters lately)!!
However, there are quite a few things that would convince me that a site like this (aimed specifically at eCards) would be a good idea, and would make me use it more:
~~ If the greenhouse effect had really hit my area, and a tropical storm was totally going off outside, I’d save my energy just in case some monsters popped up, and stay inside huddled up next to the computer where I could send a card from home.
~~ If I’d totally forgotten about someones birthday and I’d left it to late to post anything. Obviously an eCard could reach them literally in seconds, saving possibly days waiting for the postman to walk that far. But then again, if they haven’t got a computer, I’m just in deep doo doo really!!
~~ As these cards are free, I’d surely save myself some money, time and energy (my no.1 concern), by just going to the site and making full use of their free, speedy service.
~~ Maybe my wallet got eaten by monsters on my way back from college, and I had no money for cards. Would I let someone go cardless??.....obviously not!! So would I pop along to bluemountain.com???....Oh yes!!
~~ Maybe the monsters have eaten the postman (ALL OF THEM)?? What will I do now?? No one to deliver my splendidlyumptious Birthday card to Bongo, so I’ll just send it to him postman-free-style and he’ll still get it (despite the mass postman cull). Bluemountain saves the day!!
~~ With the huge range of eCards to chose from at Bluemountain, maybe I just happen to find one whilst browsing, that I think a friend will find funny. No probs, that’s the idea of sites like these. They’re not really serious places where you’ll be sending all your greetings from. The card (actually made of card cards) still rein supreme in my book. What fun would Christmas be with no post, and despite the fact that they may all have died at the hands of monsters, what would happen to good old postie???
_______________________________________________
Enough of this lunacy I say!! What do they actually offer you??
Well, to be quite honest, I think they probably give you the biggest range of these eCards that I’ve ever seen in my life. Maybe I’m lying.......well I am, I have seen bigger, but I’ve not seen anything that is actually as good as this and is 100% useable for the UK users.
The cards are all split in to categories. There are so many that I can’t list them all, but they have things such as:
STAY IN TOUCH: Some very good ideas in this one, with things like invites, Say Hi, Miss You, Between Friends, eNotes and loads loads more. I like these because they’re not really so Birthday or Christmassy. They’re more useable just for everyday use. I can see the invitations being a particularly good idea.
JUST FOR FUN: This is where the site reaches out in to being slightly more than just for cards I suppose. You can check things like games, screensavers, Chinese horoscopes, desktop wallpaper, and you can even send video cards from here.
LOVE: Send hugs and kisses to your loved ones (or strangers if you want I spose). The list of luvvyduvvy cards is pretty long. You can imagine what they contain, now excuse me while I be sick!!!
BIRTHDAY: These are the ones I’ll probably be using most often after my postman gets chomped. Never be late again. The selection of cards in this field is the biggest on the site. Its always difficult picking the right one so they provide millions and squillions of em’ to keep you all happy.
NATIONS, ETHNIC AND REGIONAL: No problems for those of you outside the UK because they also have a section for those events that we just don’t celebrate in the UK. Whether you’re from India, The States, Japan, Canada or just about anywhere else (as long as it’s on Earth), they still have stuff for you.
OTHER LANGUAGES: I’d say that you’re doing pretty well to have got this far if you don’t read English (or my variation of it). But just in case you don’t, there’s a section on Bluemountain dedicated just to you. Maybe you just have friends who speak other languages, so they might find some of these amusing.
Along side these so called sections, there is a list of dates which spraeds over the next month or so. On each day there is a ’happening’ for that day. This makes it easier to remember certain dates and also provides easy links to cards which are associated with those dates.
_______________________________________________
Ok, so that’s some of what they’ve got, so how about the quality?? They’re actually extremely good. With so many available to you, you obviously get a couple of duff ones.
Behind the relatively simple look of dome of them are some excellent little extras.
Before sending your cards (which is extra simple due to no registration beforehand, you just type in To and From names, along with any message you have) you get the chance to add some things like:
A gift: They allow you to attach gift certificates to the card which are redeemable at some online stores. Its UK appearance at the start actually gets knocked down a few pegs here though because all prices are in $$$ and the stores they suggest, I’m pretty sure, are nearly useless for those of us in the UK (or anywhere else).
Add a voice message: Record your voice and send it along with the card. I haven’t done it but it involves recording it via the phone. U.S. toll free number, but only free for residents of the U.S. or Canada. So I’m not too sure about using it from the UK (where I am)(or India).
Add a photo: You upload a photo and just attach it to the card. It comes up as a thumb-nail, and then the person just clicks to enlarge.
Add a video attachment: It is what it is, you just upload your own or hey do have a few of their own that you can chose from.
If any of that sound complicated, they do provide you with clear instructions.
Quite a lot of the cards have sound already attached to them. I noticed on the birthday cards in particular that they really like their cheesy cheap computer game music. Not a problem though as long as you pick your friends on the basis of whether they have a sound card or not. If they do, then they won’t be your friend for long. If they don’t, then they’ll really appreciate the lovely card you sent them.
They really do have some good designs. When you click on any of the parts from any of the sections, the cards all come up in 2 columns. I suppose they do take a bit of a while to load, but once there, they make it very clear so you can easily pick the ones you want to send. To have a look at any before sending , you just have to click the smaller pictures, then they’ll open them up for you so that you can do your inspection. A lot of them are interactive so you can play around with them a bit. Often, it ends up that you’re sending more like 3 cards in one, with different images popping up when you do different things.
The video cards are quite good, but their range is VERY limited at the moment. Limited to only 5 actually, each covering different topic. Mostly for Birthdays and Congratulations, I haven’t sent any, but its easy enough to look at them, and the do look good.
Oh yeah, they send them out quickly too (as you’d expect).
So that’s about it for now............and they all lived happily ever after.