10.2 iCards

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In addition to your .Mac email account and HomePage, Apple gives you yet another way to keep in contact with your friends : iCards. iCards are electronic postcards you can send out for any occasion. To access the main iCards page, go to http://www.mac.com/icards (or http://www.apple.com/icards), as shown in Figure 10-10.

Figure 10-10. iCards let you send electronic postcards.
figs/idm_1010.gif

As you can see from looking at Figure 10-10, the main iCards page has an iCards Categories sidebar to the right, to help you quickly find the iCard you want. You'll also find quick links for special Holiday iCards and the Top Cards Sent. The iCards have been categorized for every occasion, including:

  • Browse All

  • Create Your Own

  • Apple

  • Holidays

  • Celebrations

  • Thinking of You

  • Something Special

  • Art & Photography

You'll also find subcategories listed beneath these categories to make it even easier for you to find the right iCard. For example, if you're on the road and want to send a quick iCard to your lovely wife, you can click on Missing You, found within the Love and Friendship category. Additionally, the subcategories in the Holidays section will rotate around so you'll have access iCards for Valentines Day in February, and Halloween in October.

To create an iCard, follow these steps:

  1. Click on one of the categories, and you'll be taken to another page from which you can select an image to use with your iCard, as shown in Figure 10-11.

    Figure 10-11. Select the image to use with your iCard.
    figs/idm_1011.gif

  2. When you select an image to use with your iCard, you will be taken to the page shown in Figure 10-12. This page provides a space for you to type in your message as well as select the font style.

    Figure 10-12. Type in your message and select the type style to use.
    figs/idm_1012.gif

  3. After you've typed in your message and selected the type style to use, click on the Continue button (either at the top or bottom right of the page). You'll then be taken to the page shown in Figure 10-13, which you use to enter the email address (or addresses, if you're sending the iCard to more than one person) for the person to whom you're sending the iCard.

    Figure 10-13. Enter the email address for the iCard's recipient(s).
    figs/idm_1013.gif

    Adding a person's email address couldn't be any easier. From this page, you have three different options to choose from; you can:

    1. Select the name of someone in the Quick Address pop-up menu (see Chapter 4 for more information on how to add someone to the Quick Address menu).

    2. Type the email address in the "Enter emails" field.

      If you are sending an iCard to more than one person, you can separate the email addresses with a comma. For example:


       chuckdude@mac.com, insidedotmac@mac.com, chuckthewriter@mac.com 

    3. Click on the Address Book button and you'll be taken to a page that lets you select the people in your online Address Book by placing a checkmark next to each name. Once you've selected the person (or persons) in your Address Book, click on the Choose button and their email address appears in the "Enter emails" text field.

    If you have more than one recipient on the email message and you don't want everyone to see who else received the iCard, click on the checkbox next to "Hide distribution list".

  4. When you've finished adding the recipients to the iCard, click on the Send Card button (either at the top or bottom right of the page). After your iCard has been sent, you will see the message shown in Figure 10-14.

Figure 10-14. When you see this message, your iCard has been sent.
figs/idm_1014.gif

If you want to sent the same iCard to someone else, click on the Send Same iCard button. To send a different iCard, you can return to the main iCards page or click on the Return to Category button.

10.2.1 Personalize iCards with Your Photos

In addition to the hundreds of stock iCards provided by Apple, you can also use your own photos to create an iCard with a personal touch. To use your personal images, simply save them in the Pictures folder on your iDisk. The only real stipulation is that the images need to be saved as either JPEG or GIF; you cannot use TIFF or PNG images for your iCards.

If you've created a Public Slide Show or a Photo Album page for your .Mac HomePage, the images used for these are saved in your iDisk's Pictures folder, making them readily available for use as iCards.


Although it isn't necessary, your images will look best if they are sized 416 312 pixels for landscape (horizontal) images, or 312 416 for portrait (vertical) images. If your images are of another size , they will be stretched or squished to fit. As mentioned earlier, you can use either GraphicConverter or iPhoto to resize and export images files.

You must be a .Mac member to create custom iCards, and you must use a supported web browser. These browsers include (at a minimum) Safari 1.0 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, or Netscape 4.7. Versions of Netscape higher than 4.7. x will not work with this feature.


To use one of your own images for an iCard, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the iCard site (http://www.mac.com/icards) and click on the Create Your Own icon.

  2. The page that appears shows you the contents of your iDisk's Pictures folder, as shown in Figure 10-15.

    Figure 10-15. Create your own iCard from the images in your iDisk's Pictures folder.
    figs/idm_1015.gif

  3. To use one of your pictures, select the image file in the listing to the left, and the image will instantly appear in the preview box to the right, as shown in Figure 10-16.

    Figure 10-16. Preview your image before creating the iCard.
    figs/idm_1016.gif

    If the image you want to use is in a folder within the iDisk's Pictures folder (for example, the Public Slide Shows folder), double-click on the folder's name in the left column, and its contents will show up in this box. To go back to the root level of the Pictures folder, simply click on the folder pop-up menu above the box and select Pictures from the list.

  4. If you're happy with the image you've selected, click on the Select This Image button beneath the preview box.

Once you've selected the image to use, enter the message, choose the type style, and then add the email addresses of the recipients for the iCard and send it on its way.

Using your own images can add a personalized touch to the iCards you send, particularly if you're handy with any of the illustration programs, such as Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand, or with image editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop. If you think that some of your images are worthy of use by other .Mac members , you can save them to your iDisk's Public folder. That way, if people have access to your iDisk's Public folder (say, through your .Mac HomePage), they could download and use the images for their own iCards.

10.2.2 Creating a Members' Portfolio

If you think your images are good enough and you'd like to share them with other .Mac members, you could always consider creating a Members' Portfolio. If you click on the Member's Portfolio link in the iCards Categories list (shown in Figure 10-10), you will be taken to a page that instructs you how to submit your images for consideration.

The requirements are that the images must be sized correctly (416 312 pixels for horizontal images, or 312 416 for vertical images), and you must be the person who created the images. To submit your images to Apple for consideration, first place the images in the Pictures folder on your iDisk, and then go to the Members' Portfolio page and click on the Submit Image icon in the upper-right corner, as shown in Figure 10-17.

Figure 10-17. Click on the Submit Image icon to submit your images for possible inclusion in the Members' Portfolio section.
figs/idm_1017.gif

If Apple likes the image you submitted, they will contact you and ask you to sign an agreement to include it on the Members' Portfolio page.

10.2.3 Becoming a Featured Artist

Think you're a pro? Why not submit some of your images to Apple for inclusion in the Featured Artist section (access from the iCards page at http://www.mac.com/icards). Click on the Featured Artist link in the iCards Categories list (see Figure 10-10). When you get to the Featured Artist page, click on the Artist's Site icon in the upper-right corner of the page. This takes you to another page that runs through the submission requirements.

You can submit from 8 to 12 images for consideration through the iCards web page.If Apple likes the images you've submitted, you will be contacted and asked to sign an agreement that grants Apple rights to include your images for use as iCards.

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Inside .Mac
Inside .Mac
ISBN: 0596005016
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 132
Authors: Chuck Toporek

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