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The basics of using Business Cards Software to make your own business cards.

Your basic decision regarding which software to use is determined by the computer platform you are using. Microsoft® has the main market, but Apple Macintosh® started life as the ideal graphics computer. Now we are starting to see inroads being made by the Linux platform in its many versions or Distributions (Distro's), of which Ubuntu is setting the lead.

Available for each platform is a range of software products that require a certain level of computer performance. The commercial programs are generally more demanding of computer power and technical ability in order to utilise all their 'bells and whistles'.

If you don't want to spend heaps of money you can choose from free programs, shareware programs where you make a small donation, or low end (but not necessarily inadequate) commercial software.

After deciding on your software package, you can start to work on your business card design. That finished, your next task is to transfer the computer design to paper via a printer of some sort.

One of your considerations is to be able to handle the printing of small documents such as business cards. Plain light card can be cut if you have a small guillotine, or you can use sheets of Avery® preformed and scored business cards.

Computer printers come in varied types and capabilities, and I'm not going to delve into that subject here. However, if your printer is not able to produce the result you want, then you have the option of giving, sending or emailing your (suitable) file to a print shop, and they will print off your design for you.

So let's find some of the business cards software.

If you haven't checked yet, there are a number of websites where you can download software of the three types mentioned above. Some commercial software can also be downloaded as a time-limited or function restricted trial version.

Some of the business cards software programs and other graphics programs are cross-platform. So check out the software usability to see if it runs on the different platforms, especially if you use more than one platform as I do. I prefer to use the same software on my different computers when possible.

We'll start with FREE and Linux

My preferred Linux distro is PCLinuxOS and this comes with 178 graphics programs made up of the major Linux free programs and add on packages. The best known program here is Gimp, which is cross-platform anyway.

There is usually everything you would need in the distro package, so it's not usual to have to get other programs unless you want something special.

Just as a matter of interest, I have access at present to 11722 programs in PCLinuxOS, of which I am using 1585. Not bad for no cost, is it?

Next we can take a look at Apple Mac®

The Mac operating system comes installed when you buy a Mac, and included is some graphics software, ready to run.

Besides the loaded programs, I also use Gimp for involved design work. There are other programs available from various download sites, some of which are listed here.

And now a look at where to get software for Microsoft®

There are many more download sites, but these few are some of the most popular. You will probably find one that suits you and stick to it, because much of the available software can be found on all of these sites.

That about sums up the situation. To go further, you can search for information on specific programs, including "How To" from developers' sites and various computer forums. If you haven't had much to do with graphics software and producing business cards, then there is nothing like plenty of practice.

I'll sign off, wishing you happy designing, and may you end up with the best business cards on the planet!

Please bookmark this page for future reference, and then enjoy the rest of this site.

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