Why Digital Scrapbooking Software?

To some traditional scrapbooking is an art form, but like most art the slightest mistake can turn your masterpiece into a mess. With digital scrapbooking software, you can go beyond the limitations of paper and cloth and take your scrapbooking in new directions. With digital scrapbooking software, you’ll have everything you need to make attractive, inspiring scrapbook pages. Digital scrapbooking software also saves resources by allowing you to experiment with design and color freely—giving you flexibility to change your mind on the fly, without wasting costly scrapbook supplies.

Most digital scrapbooking software suites offer hundreds of prefabricated themes and templates. Generally, the templates can be modified or altered to suit the styling of the author. With photo editing software included in many digital scrapbooking software suites, cleaning flaws from old photos, removing red eye and adding image effects is a quick and painless process.

With expanded importing options providing new directions and making new demands on digital scrapbooking software, many cutting-edge products are beginning to include direct digital camera and scanner import capabilities, cutting the time it takes to upload and reformat.

Once your scrapbook pages are completed, digital scrapbooking software opens up a new world of output possibilities that is closed to traditional paper and cloth scrapbooking. Most digital scrapbooking software suites include web albums and email sharing, but new products like the Polaroid My Memories Suite have expanded those options to include online user communities for scrapbook sharing, DVD, video CD and iPod, while offering new features like voice narration, audio and video.

Within this site, you’ll find a convenient side-by-side comparison of the best scrapbooking software, digital scrapbooking tips and comprehensive reviews to help you make an informed decision on which scrapbooking software package is right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS, we do the research so you don’t have to.™

What to Look for in Digital Scrapbooking Software

Life happens fast—digital scrapbooking software can help you capture telling moments before they slip away. You’ll want digital scrapbooking software that will help you create exceptional scrapbook pages quickly and easily. At TopTenREVIEWS, this is what we look for when evaluating digital scrapbooking software:

• Ease of Use – Digital scrapbooking software features and tools should be easy to find and operate, and digital scrapbooking software should be simple for both scrapbook novices and computer novices to use and understand.
• Variety of Scrapbooking Images – Top digital scrapbooking software packages offer a wide variety of pre–made scrapbook page templates and a huge selection of fonts, frames and clip art to embellish any scrapbook project. Digital scrapbooking software should also offer additional clip-art, themes and templates. The digital scrapbooking software should also include enough variety for you to create your own scrapbook page layouts easily.
• Import Scrapbooking Graphics – Digital scrapbooking software should allow you to import digital photos, images from a scanner and other media such as digital video, music and sound, and others. Importing tools in scrapbooking software must be intuitive or your scrapbooking experience will be far less enjoyable.
• Edit Scrapbooking Photos – Quality scrapbooking packages come equipped with photo editing tools to remove red eye, crop images, and make contrast adjustments. Top digital scrapbooking software programs offer tools to repair flaws, such as repairing scratches and marks or even softening facial shine. Further, some digital scrapbooking software programs offer photo-effects tools so you can take a photo further by twisting, tweaking or stamping.
• Share Scrapbooking Projects – Digital scrapbooking software should allow you to share scrapbook files through any medium, including online, printed copies, email, slideshows, DVDs and video discs, and even iPod movies. Digital scrapbooking software suites should also feature proper formatting tools for home-printing.

  In short, you’ll have far more freedom to share scrapbook projects made with digital scrapbooking software than with traditional cut–and–glue scrapbook pages.

• Organize Scrapbooking Resources – Scrapbooking is a detailed task—you need to find a variety of items quickly. Digital scrapbooking software should let you view thumbnails of digital photo files and should let you search for clip art images with keywords. Image archiving tools, such as CD burning assistance, will keep your completed scrapbook projects organized as well.

So whether you see scrapbooking as a relaxing pastime or a way of life, digital scrapbooking software can improve your efficiency, save you money and help you transform your priceless pictures into precious memories.