Greeting Card Software for Linux

While Linux has equivalent software for many programs, there aren't many programs dedicated to creating greeting cards. One of the more popular programs, KreetingKard, has not been updated since 2005; it's far out of date with current Linux systems. However, there's plenty of options for your greeting cards. You can use templates in the word processing software for OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice, depending on which is included with your distribution. You can also use GIMP or Scribus for more advanced design.

1. Greeting Card Basics

   • When creating a greeting card you have two basic options: to create a greeting card that you simply fold in half, or to create a four-pane greeting card that you have to fold twice. This results in a smaller but generally hardier card. Using card stock in place of regular printer paper creates a thicker card but is harder to fold. Your greeting card is a free-form art; don't be afraid to use colors, images and fonts expressively.

   GIMP

   • GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program, is a free image-editing program available for Linux that offers a lot of the same features as fully featured image editing programs. While creating a greeting card in GIMP takes a bit of effort, it does give you a lot more options for design than other solutions. GIMP can open PSD files, so you can use any greeting card templates designed in the Photoshop format. You can add an image as a layer by going to "Open as Layer" in the File menu. The Toolbox offers all of your options: the text tool, the brush tool, the eraser tool and many more.

   OpenOffice.org

   • OpenOffice.org offers customizable templates for greeting cards, both for half-fold style cards and quarter-fold style cards; if your distribution came with LibreOffice, you can still open and use these templates. After you've loaded a template you can add an image by opening the Insert menu and selecting "Picture" and "From File." Images can be cropped and resized to fit the frame of your template. To add text, just double-click the existing text frame in the template and modify the content. This includes changing the font size, face and color.

   Scribus

   • Scribus is a multi-platform page-layout program designed for professional page design. While it's not specifically built for greeting cards, there's no reason that you can't use it to create a greeting card for any occasion. When you start a new document in Scribus, the dialog window will give you several different page options. In the "Page Size" choose the size of your paper from the drop-down menu. If you're using standard letter-size paper, select "Letter." If you're unsure, check the package of your paper. It will show the page size in the form of "A4" or "PA6." After you have the page, add any images from your computer by going to Insert menu and selecting "Image Frame." Use the mouse to size your image right, right-click it and select "Get Image." To add text, choose "Text Frame" instead and right-click to get "Edit Text."