So, what did you think of LetterPop? Is this something you would use in your library or personally? If so, how? How does your library currently communicate with your patrons/customers?
http://marylandlearning.pbwiki.com/Letter-Pop
Also please read the “Before You Start” page on the Wiki. This will help you get ready to go forth and learn 2.1!
Tags: Learning 2.1, LetterPop, marylandlibraries
Maryland Libraries Learning 2.1 .......and more 
September 16, 2008 at 12:14 am |
Letterpop is so easy to use. I think that beginners could easily start creating their own newsletters and such and then share them with co-workers, friends, and family. There are a variety of attractive templates to choose from for different seasons, occasions, and events. To create a newsletter all you need to do is pick a template, drag and drop it, and then enter your content. You can easily trash one they’ve you’ve started and it’s very simple to add images. Letterpop doesn’t have nearly the number of templates that are offered in MS Publisher, but I can see this site being very useful for those who want to create a quick, polished newsletter in a small amount of time.
In my position I create a monthly newsletter with MS Publisher and am thinking about using Letterpop next month to see how it compares. I can also see branch managers, childrens’ librarians, and other staff using this to easily create announcements and newsletters for their branches and programming.
September 16, 2008 at 6:46 pm |
I really enjoyed Letterpop. I find that Publisher has TOO many choices and you get bogged down picking one. I created a page of my daughter’s first day in school. When I printed it out, it didn’t fill the whole page….only about half. I was a little disappointed, I thought it should be bigger. I also e-mailed the newsletter and published it to get a URL to send people. Overall, I think it’s a very useful resource. I see using it more for personal things as opposed to work.
September 16, 2008 at 9:53 pm |
It took me a while to figure out that I had not activated my LetterPop account, but once I puzzled through that pretty obvious piece, I found LetterPop to be fun and very useful. I can see that the free service is limited, but for my purposes, it would be just fine. I’ve kept my newsletter private because it is really clear that this edition is just a test, but here is the link, if you can access it:
http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=97106-26ad34
I’m sure that I can use this on the job and off. Nice find!
September 16, 2008 at 10:54 pm |
I liked LetterPop. It was fairly easy to use. It did not have some of the options that I like, so I was a little disappointed in that. However, the simplicity of LetterPop is one of its’ advantages and makes up for any deficits in options. I would use LetterPop to produce invitations to the Winter Reading Reception and a newsletter follow-up for the Winter Reading participants. On a personal level, I write a Christmas letter every year to relatives and friends and I think letterPop would produce a more graphic letter that would be more visually appealing.
September 16, 2008 at 11:27 pm |
I thought using letterpop was easy, however I had problems posting a photograph. As you can see I was unable to put a picture on my newsletter. I think anyone should be able to do a newsletter using this format. The picture is something else. I will keep working on it.
September 17, 2008 at 1:05 am |
I found LetterPop quite fun to use. I liked the ability to select/browse photos from my own PC, and the added ability to move to add free Flickr photos. I can see this being used quite effectively to send information to a library TAB group (teen advisory board)-could be much more cool than a regular email! The librarian in charge could let the teens know about uncoming events, and send along book ideas (with jacket photos.) A fun way to do book talks.
September 17, 2008 at 11:58 pm |
I like creating and using my pictures in newsletters so it was fun to try out letter pop. The free version had a lot of templates, but I would have liked to be able to manipulate the templates more. I think it is fine for most, but I always want to change everything and you really cannot change the templates. I did not like how they printed either since each would need to be cropped to remover the numbers and web address. For a quick newsletter or sign this would be fine and can be done anywhere from any computer. I did a Christmas newsletter and it was fun. You may be able to view it from the link below. Have fun!!
http://letterpop.com/builder.php?newsletter_id=97210
September 18, 2008 at 12:48 am |
I did not care too much for letterpop. It was fun to play with but overall, not very friendly. Text did not show up in the final view the same way as it did in the preview. I also found with some layouts that pictures would not re-size automatically. This may work okay for beginners or simple projects, but not for the type of thing I would use it for.
September 18, 2008 at 2:58 am |
I liked this site for creating newsletters for personal use and also for use in our Library. I am going to introduce this site to my coworkers as an alternitive to Publisher. I also had problems posting a photo , but that could have been due to my lack of time and patience because I did it at the end of my work day !! I see it as a site I will be using in the future when time allows.
September 18, 2008 at 8:38 pm |
Wow, I finally did it!! I was finally able to download a picture on my newsletter. It was easier today.
September 18, 2008 at 8:43 pm |
Although I enjoyed playing around with Letterpop, I was also very frustrated by it. It did not have all the features I would require & I prefer Publisher. I think this is OK for anyone doing something basic who is not familiar with Publisher. I found importing photos easy & liked the look of the templates in general. What I did not like was that despite the on screen layout, when I printed the page, some of the text had moved and totally messed up the layout. Although I tried printing a couple of times it still always came out the same way. Not sure what that problem was, but I could not use the printed page. So in that sense this did not work for me.
http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=97288-28144a
September 18, 2008 at 8:57 pm |
Letterpop was an interesting excercise.Setting the text was easy,selecting a template was fun,but inserting a photo was difficult and I couldn’t get my jpg pic to upload and set.
Thanks!
Carl
September 20, 2008 at 12:37 am |
Letterpop was extremely easy to use! With our Anime Club’s pre-existing flickr account, I was able to whip up this flyer in less then ten minutes.
http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=97426-3b0f5d
I could definitely see myself recommending this site to new users and teens/kids. It has a lot to offer for a free website! I really liked the easy publish and share options.
However that being said, I wouldn’t use it myself. I personally hate templates. I’m just one of those people who have to customize everything! I would rather make something from scratch.
September 20, 2008 at 1:43 am |
Letterpop is a great idea for creating simple posters or fliers for upcoming library programs. Simply drag and drop the template and pictures and compose the text. Unlike Word or Publisher, you won’t have nearly the control over your newsletter or poster’s design, layout, line spacing, and font scaling. Being able to scale your text in half-point sizes comes in handy when you’re working within a limited space.
Letterpop’s best features were the “Drag and Drop” templates and images and “Click to edit” text boxes. Very user-friendly. As a newsletter editor and writer and and a frequent contributor to the local newspaper, the ability to write and insert captions for photos was much appreciated.
I encountered some glitches while using Letterpop. After I saved my newsletter and wanted to make some changes/additions by clicking “Edit”, the text-edit boxes for title and body of text on the bottom half of the first page disappeared. I had difficulty uploading more .jpg images after successfully loading the first image. When you print out your document, the name of your Letterpop document, page number, URL and today’s date appear at the top and bottom of your page. Typical problem when printing out web pages.
You cannot save, print or e-mail Letterpop documents until you create an account using your e-mail address and a password.
September 20, 2008 at 9:47 pm |
I liked using LetterPop. It was an easy and fun exercise. Whatever is supposed to work, worked — I was able to pick a tempate, insert pictures from Flickr and from my computer, and add text. There is a lot of templates to choose from (although they do look a little too generic). There is a better choice of fonts than pbwiki, and lots of font colors. The site is very easy to use and the limitations others mentioned above probably come with the territory. There were things that I was not able to do — resize the pictures, format the text to my satisfaction, center it on the page during printing. However, as a free alternative to MS Publisher for people who don’t need to get fancy, it is a great site to know about. I will be recommending it to patrons.
One of my “creations” –
http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=97480-e29b16
September 21, 2008 at 12:02 am |
For a quick and easy publication, Letter Pop gets it done nicely. But I don’t think I will use these templates for in house publications. The layouts won’t print out full page.
However, I can see using this for email notices. I just created a layout today that announces my next teen volunteer meeting. After publishing the newsletter on Letter Pop it was easy to grab a URL and email it to my volunteers. Now they can click and view the newsletter then save or print as they choose.
I like it.
September 22, 2008 at 5:05 pm |
I found LetterPop to be awkward to use and it was very unclear that you had to create a specific account before anything worked.The templates are very limiting (as templates frequently are) and I could not add an extra picture or resize, much less rearrange. The fonts were limited and all pretty basic. Obviously the sight is pushing its fee-for-service use, but I did not note anything that unique that would make me want to spend the extra money. I prefer having more fancy fonts, ability to rearrange and resize my pix as I want. Possilby useful for someone who does not wish to personalize their newsletter or likes the ease of preset graphics/ images.
September 22, 2008 at 7:21 pm |
It’s good to know that Letterpop exists. I might use it for a Christmas letter or an internal newsletter. I did have some trouble using it. I had created an account, but when I tried to save a newsletter only the heading was saved, not the text. I did find it easy to create the newsletter in the first place, so in future I would plan on typing and printing in the same session.
September 22, 2008 at 9:43 pm |
So letterpop…okay. I’m having a hard time getting over the extremely limited editing options. When I uploaded my picture, the size was too big and most of it was cut off. Also, I can only upload JPG format, so I had to convert before upload. Text edit doesn’t get any better. For the email, I really wish the newsletter would be imbedded in the body, not just a link.
They do have a wonderful assortment of templates and you get a lot for free. I like the blog feel of it all: being able to leave comments. I like that you can use links in the newsletter, too. This formating is not really suitable for printing library event flyers, but for informal staff newsletters, it would be well suited. Also good for committee use, TAG, clubs (ANIME), etc.
September 22, 2008 at 11:41 pm |
It’s good to know that Letterpop exists. I had a little difficulty using it. It is something a little different from Publisher.
September 23, 2008 at 1:44 am |
I enjoyed exploring Letterpop, however, I would need to get more comfortable with it before using it instead of Publisher. I might give it a try the next time I create a flyer or poster to advertise a program in my branch. I will also keep it in mind as something I can share with our patrons. It could be helpful to someone who doesn’t have Publisher at home.
I’m going to bookmark it and play around with it some more…
September 23, 2008 at 2:11 am |
Letterpop is an interesting tool, but I am not sure if I will be using it. Personally, I like using Publisher. But, the Letterpop templates looked nice and professional. Plus, with Publisher if people don’t have that program they can’t open the documents. Letterpop would solve that problem. I always want to create a newsletter for teens at the library I work at, and this site is a good option for that.
I did not try to upload pictures, but it did not seem like a lot of other people were successful with it.
September 23, 2008 at 2:12 am |
Letterpop was very basic. Not the sort of thing I would use on a regular basis. It was very limited in what it could do. Drag and drop was very easy. I can see where it would appeal to a novice.
September 23, 2008 at 2:17 am |
Oh, I didn’t have any trouble uploading photos and then dragging and dropping but the quality was compromised and you couldn’t really manipulate it much. I couldn’t get the image centered just right. Frustrating.
September 23, 2008 at 2:59 am |
Letterpop doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of MS Publisher, but for creating a simple brochure or poster, I think it will work just fine. The drag and drop features are easy-to-use. I think it would be a good tool for creating simple library promotional materials or the annual Christmas letter. I would recommend it to patrons for its easy-to-use features.
Here’s a link to “My Stupendously Creative Newsletter.”
http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=97643-fd5171
September 23, 2008 at 4:02 am |
I enjoyed playing with the templates offered by Letter Pop but didn’t like so much the editing capability. Within somewhat limited confines, it does provide a quick and attractive means of communicating — without the need for much personal editing. My Publisher “newsletter-type” documents can look pretty staid; with Letter Pop, they might lean toward more exciting. I can visualize it more for personal use, including, like someone suggested above, as a tool for a holiday letters.
September 23, 2008 at 8:06 pm |
Link to my blog post (I decided to resurrect my 23 Things blog):
http://postingsfromlibraryland.blogspot.com/2008/09/letterpop-tart.html
Long story short – I’m OK with LetterPop, but find it a little clunky, the layouts end up a little too cluttered for my taste, and I think it could be a bit too casual… and I feel too limited by it.
But I’m going to share it with the staff, because some of them will love it for precisely the same reasons that I don’t like it!
September 23, 2008 at 8:37 pm |
I am maybe in the minority, but I didn’t find Letterpop to be that easy to use, or that useful. I think the lack of instructions may be partly the reason – I agree with Jo in that it was “clunky”. I also kept getting error messages, and in the end, was unable to sign out. All I wanted to do was finding public images to put in my newsletter – there probably is a way, but I couldn’t find it without a great deal of effort.
September 23, 2008 at 9:57 pm |
This was a lot of fun. I trashed a lot because I couldn’t make up my mind which template use. This is a great way for me to do my “Excerpts from Diary”.It’s very easy to use.
September 23, 2008 at 11:27 pm |
I enjoyed Letter Pop. I use a printing program all of the time to create documents, newsletters, poster, etc. and found Letter Pop to be easier than my printing program. It may be limited for free use, but you can get alot accomplished with that free version. It was self explanatory and would be quite easy for a beginner to use.
September 24, 2008 at 2:09 am |
LetterPop was very user-friendly. Much easier to use than MS Publisher. I made up a flyer about a Constition Day Parade at a branch and gave it to the sub and told her she was in charge of it! We had a lot of fun with it. Although it was really easy to use and the end product looked professional, I would have liked a little more creative freedom. Maybe not quite so “canned.” I would definitely use LetterPop personally for family events and newsletters. We currently don’t have a newletter at our library, but I think this would be an excellent way to provide one. We could also use it to advertise programs and events. We currently communicate in person or over the phone with our customers. We need to reach out more to the community and our customers. This could be one way to do that.
September 24, 2008 at 2:14 am |
PS – I left my comment at 5:09 pm NOT 2:09 am!!!!!! And I really can spell Constitution!
September 25, 2008 at 12:03 am |
Well, I’ve went through “Letterpop” and I’m torn. I’m glad I don’t have to work with it all the time. Although I would probably learn it alot better if I did use it. I’m sure that it would help alot of people who are stuck in the old way of publisher and want to learn a new format. I guess in my line of work I don’t have to worry about using this program to much. However, I’m glad to know it’s out in the world and to be able to use it on a personal level.
September 25, 2008 at 8:19 am |
I really enjoyed playing with “Letterpop”. Since I have photo’s saved on my laptop, I could easily access them and create a cute little summer newsletter with photos and comments. I don’t know if this would be easier for our system to use, but it’s a fun way to share with friends and family. I would have liked to have seen some kind of “back” button so you could resize instead of needing to trash pages and start over if you change your mind.
September 25, 2008 at 10:24 pm |
I think Letterpop is a great alternative for Publisher, especially those who are not comfortable or familiar with Publisher. Letterpop lets you create professional looking newsletters, etc. with little effort. I loved being able to upload my own image (it took me a few minutes to see that this option was available to me). As several others have pointed out, the text I typed in did not appear on the final product the way I typed it, so it was hard to get the effect I wanted – I kind of compromised on that. But other than that, I would definitely use this and recommend it to others who need to create newsletters or posters, etc. I have already created a poster/announcement for one of our book groups.
September 25, 2008 at 10:32 pm |
Having not used Publisher much at all I don’t feel I have much information to compare “Letterpop”. In using “Letterpop”, however, I can see it being a useful newsletter tool. It does seem to take practice to understand some of its quirks. It would be more useful if the templates could show more than four at a time or if there could be categories of templates. I think the lack of wrapping text could cause an issue. Despite some trials and errors in getting it to work, I would recommend to school students who may need a newsletter of sorts to support a project.
http://letterpop.com/builder.php?newsletter_id=97985
September 26, 2008 at 12:35 am |
LetterPop is a wonderful new tool for libraries to use. I have been using different types of software to produce marketing materials for years. Oh those days of PrintShop and now PhotoSmart and Publisher. This is a nice alternative for producing quick fliers and newsletters.
It does look like it would be an effective tool in facilitating those quick needs for a last minute project. It’s easy and fast. I would recommend it to those who need to produce something that’s sort of a “fill in the blanks” type medium.
September 26, 2008 at 2:08 am |
I enjoyed playing around with LetterPop, but felt that the templates offered were a bit limiting. While the quality of each template was quite nice and the graphics looked good, I found that I often wanted to combine elements or remove elements, which was not an option. I’d prefer using Publisher for the greater freedom it offers.
September 26, 2008 at 9:30 pm |
Just wanted to thank those who shared their examples, very cool!
September 26, 2008 at 10:56 pm |
I just played with it again, and I apparently what I had to say was to much. Once you fill up the text box I couldn’t see how to expand it and some of my typing did not show up.
September 27, 2008 at 8:13 pm |
Letterpop is a really nice website that has a variety of templates to use for all kinds of holidays and times of the year. It was fairly easy to use and to change the kind of font or colors that you would want to use for your newsletter. It would be really nice to use for sending out creative newsletters quickly and would also be good for creating nice looking signs for the library. For instance, we could use a Halloween template for a thriller/horror section since Halloween is coming up. There are a TON of templates and really something for every occassion!!!
September 29, 2008 at 1:08 am |
I’ve run into several sites that allows an individual to create Newsletters but Letterpop has a lot more options that other offers.
September 29, 2008 at 9:06 pm |
I did not particularly care for LetterPop. I tried unsuccessfully to upload two different images and never got an indication whether the problem was from my side or theirs. The text box kept scrolling down as if it was going to show all that I typed, but only the first few lines appeared and there doesn’t seem to be any way to resize the text box. Generally, I don’t like to work with templates like this as they are pretty inflexible.
September 29, 2008 at 9:13 pm |
The Allegany County Library System currently communicates with patrons with a scrolling events box on the home page (www.alleganycountylibrary.info); with a bi-monthly newsletter which can be picked up from a branch or found on the website (http://home.alleganycountylibrary.info/calendarpdfs/Alle%20Update%20Sep%20Oct%202008%20Internet.pdf); announcements in the newspaper, on the radio and in the weekly Arts Council newsflash (an email events list)
September 30, 2008 at 8:25 pm |
Actually I’m having trouble uploading images to my account too. 😦
I tried several different file sizes and dimensions. I filled out their online help form, so hopefully I will hear something back. If I do, I will post it here.
October 1, 2008 at 5:54 am |
Ok, LetterPop sent me this message:
“I’m sorry about the uploading problems. We have had some technical difficulties the last couple of days but they have been resolved. Please let us know if you have any additional problems. Thank you.” I tried again and I was able to upload photos – hooray!
Here is an example I made:
http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=89826-f8beb8
October 1, 2008 at 11:39 pm |
O.k., I’ve finally found two minutes to get started on 2.1.
My impressions of Letter Pop:
I’ve never been a fan of MS Publisher. I don’t navigate it well and whatever I created looked amateurish. Print Shop was a better program in my opinion, but that got the ax here. Either way, not having much talent in art/graphics, it will be limited in helping me become a Madison Avenue advertiser. What I like about Letter Pop are the vast number of templates available, not to mention the fonts (some of which I’ve never seen before). The interface is friendly and Letter Pop seems more forgiving than MS Publisher. If I don’t use it at work, I may use it at home for invitations, holidays, etc. It’s creative and I hope it catches on.
October 4, 2008 at 4:46 am |
Letter Pop was very frustrating to me at times. I too, experienced the gap between how much text appeared to be allowable and how much would actually show up on the preview.
I also experienced the printing issues. It printed my first page fine, but jumbled the second page into one incomprehensible little insane looking paragraph.
The photo upload and drag and drop thing was irritating, but I understand it was a temporary glitch, so eventually I was able to find success with it.
I tested mine by going to it as if I was a stranger reading it, and I do not like that when you get to the bottom of page 1 and press “second page”, it takes you to the BOTTOM of the second page, and not the top.
I found the phrase “the world’s best way to create and send newsletters online” to be a bit of an exaggeration, although …. the finished product seemed to do just fine as an email, just not very efficient as a printable product.
I would use it for a once in a while project, but not as a standard form of communication on a regular basis.
My First Letter Pop Newsletter
October 6, 2008 at 4:30 am |
I found LetterPop to be very simplistic, maybe too much so…at least the free version! For most publications that I create for the library, I would prefer to use Publisher because I can actually create something from scratch without the use of a template. Templates are fine if you want something quick; but you are limited with what you can do. I also found it difficult to edit. For someone who just wants something quick and easy but doesn’t want to be “bothered” with personal creativity, LetterPop may be the way to go. I personally would only use it for a quick flyer or announcement.
October 7, 2008 at 2:15 am |
LetterPop was really easy to use and seems like a good option for quick projects. I really liked the drag and drop format, and editing the text was simple and understandable.
For libraries, I’m thinking that this would be a nice tool to use for printing off a quick list of new titles added to a branch, a branch-level staff newsletter to share happenings, or an attractive way to share snippets of information with our patrons.
October 7, 2008 at 10:48 pm |
Although LetterPop was an easy tool to use, for the most part. I can’t say that I was all that impressed with it, as far as it designing a newsletter that I would want to use professionally. Not that I am in the way of making one at the moment, but I got so used to using Publisher for newsletters at my previous job, that maybe I just can’t go back to something so easy! I guess the most frustrating thing for me was just how unflexable the templates could be. I like in Publisher how I can switch things up and make things look exactly how I want them, and not rely on a basic model. Also the gaps. I hated that I couldn’t fix that.
That said, LetterPop would be an easy tool for a quick internal newsletter, or even for a library flyer. Especially since they are so colourful.
October 8, 2008 at 6:27 am |
Pretty neat way to create new letters and posters. You can never under estimate the power of the wow factor and these newsletters give us the edge in the wow department for this week! Ha
October 9, 2008 at 11:50 pm |
I like the wide range of colors available for fonts and backgrounds. I accidently “lost” my first attempt at a newsletter when I searched for a photo.
I didn’t like the edit information popping up. I found it distracting.
October 10, 2008 at 2:56 am |
I agree with what some others have posted about LetterPop: it is good as a basic tool, but maybe not that flexible or interesting to be something I would gravitate toward myself. Nonetheless, I can see its potential use in a library setting, particularly as something that kids may want to participate in using as part of a program, etc. I like the fact that it is not dependent on software that may be loaded on some computers but not on others, and that it can easily be accessed from any computer online.
October 10, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
For a fast and colorful brochure, Letterpop is a good program. Really liked the variety of templates and ease of use. However, tried to do a flyer of pictures with captions and found there was only one template available! Was not able to change any colors or page format for the second page. For variety, I do prefer Publisher.
As others have said, this can be used for internal newsletters and flyers. Learning the basics of this could make for an interesting library program. Would need to ask participants to bring digital photos or do it after a session on Flickr so that pictures could be uploaded into the brochure.
October 14, 2008 at 4:01 am |
Pretty easy to use. I had fun messing around. Here is a flyer I created just for the fun of it. http://letterpop.com/newsletters/?id=99832-a3d114 Not loving the templates offered but I could see using it for something quick and easy. Unlike most people – I loathe publisher. We do not currently publish a newsletter – upcoming events or new resources and services are posted on flyers in-house and announced on our web page. We submit what we want people to know about to local magazine published monthly and in cooperation with other local agencies in a quarterly publication mailed to every home in the county. On to thing 2!
October 15, 2008 at 6:47 am |
Letter Pop! Just pop in what you need and you are finished—or almost! Once I figured out just what to do and thought of something to “publish” I found this very easy to use—although I would love to see what the beefed up pay-for version is like as this one seems rather limited. Definately easier to use than Publisher unless you use Publisher a lot and are comfortable with it.
I suspect that I would use Letter Pop for quickies that I need to post at work or for a fun thing to send to my family for invitations and newsletters. Thanks for having this be part of the “Learning” as I never would have found it without being pointed to it.
October 17, 2008 at 8:55 pm |
I thought it was pretty cool and very easy to use. I’d like to see a little more user tweakability with the layouts, though. I make newsletters on a semi-regular basis, and as a Publisher hater/forced user, this might be another option for me since they don’t need to be particularly fancy.
October 22, 2008 at 11:41 pm |
I just joined in the fun today with 2.1. Letterpop is very easy to use, I believe. I would probably not use it much professionally, unless it was to make a scrapbook page for a program or something like that that would stay in house–we would have to create our own branded template I would imagine if it were to go anywhere else…. I think I will use it personally. Very fun!
October 23, 2008 at 12:23 am |
Letter pop was a cool website. The only trouble I had was figuring out that my picture needed to be re sized before inserting. A brilliant co-worker helped me out though. I made a cute newsletter and it was fun. I loved the pre-made templates.
October 27, 2008 at 12:14 am |
I am not familiar with Publisher, so I can’t compare it to Letter Pop, but I liked Letter Pop’s possibilities on a personal level. I can see using this for invitations and for holiday newsletters. However, I never did figure out how to download pictures which would be important if I actually wanted to use it at home. I can see that this would offer inexpensive and good looking possibilities for very small libraries that don’t have marketing departments.
October 28, 2008 at 11:53 pm |
I thought letterpop was fun and easy to use. I started to create a newsletter when I realized that I still needed to create an account. It’s nice that the site allows you to play around with it before signing up but some people might do a lot of work before realizing they have to create an account. I can see this being useful for my TAG group. I could email out photos of past programs and descriptions of upcoming programs. Ultimately I think of letterpop as a site more for personal than professional use. I plan to use this to send out Holiday greetings. It’s green, free and we can still share photos.
October 31, 2008 at 7:14 pm |
I think letterpop is fun. I like the simplicity of it. I get bogged down with Publisher sometimes because there are so many choices that I end spending HOURS fiddling with the format and thus, not completing the project in a timely manner! I could use this to create quick handouts to parents who’ve attended my storytimes–and also handouts for teachers when I go to schools to book talk. There would be a way to snazz up the books I’ve talked about–download the book covers, pictures of the authors– and also plug the library a bit more…
November 1, 2008 at 12:58 am |
I haven’t used Publisher yet either. As did others I found this a little clunky and limited. My first thought is that I might find more use for it for personal stuff. It was easy enough to upload a photo. Also, I loved Jeri’s sample newsletter – very inviting. Now that I have registered, I will probably play around with it some more sometime…..
November 3, 2008 at 2:26 am |
I am such a late starter!! I was playing with LetterPop today while at another (secret) location : ) and did not have access to my real photos on my home PC or laptop or my flash drives with the photos I wanted to load into my “newletter”…I do have several photos on Picasa and boy it sure would have been nice to be able to connect there…it would be too cumbersome to download to this PC (Not mine!) and then back up into LetterPop…so I will try some more “fun” later.
November 11, 2008 at 5:31 am |
I am just getting started, and had fun with LetterPop, making a sign for the book sale we are going to have here at our library. I liked the idea, but thought that the size and structure of the templates was limited, and I couldn’t add a photo, so…
November 14, 2008 at 1:29 am |
It’s very easy to use – I love the drag and drop feature. I would like more options, though. Bigger font sizes, more templates to choose from, more pictures – or the option to add. But given that it’s free, it’s really a nice program. Too bad this is no good on dial-up! (Yes, some of us still rely on that old dinosaur).
November 14, 2008 at 11:33 pm |
I found letterpop very easy to use. I liked the templates; although I have seen better. They could use more templates. Maybe if you join and pay, you would get more templates and other choices. The drag and drop feature takes it over the top. I used the whitehouse template to record the events and happenings of a family reunion trip to D.C. I put Obama picture on the whitehouse lawn since he will be living there when we go.
November 22, 2008 at 10:11 pm |
I forgot to post my letter pop experience! I had a great time with letter pop and gave my co-worker a nice publication for her to enjoy.
November 25, 2008 at 10:54 pm |
I tried a few different templates. I only printed the one which came out basically as it appeared on the screen. I did not like the way the newsletter name and “Page 1 of 2” appears at the top of the printed page and the website name and date appear at the bottom of the printed page. I might possibly use this for some personal uses. I do not think this is a necessary utility when Microsoft Publisher is available. I do not have many pictures on Flickr, so I tried uploading a few from our branches shared folder to include on my trial template. Loading each photo onto the clipboard of LetterPop was somewhat time-consuming. Overall, I give LetterPop a thumbs down.
January 3, 2009 at 7:16 am |
I found LetterPop a lot of fun to use. I made several posters about upcoming events at our library. However, I did have trouble uploading my pictures. This site would be very useful for family newsletters and invitations.