This was the last year before we began our web based cards. Color printers were still fairly new and not very good. We had just gotten a photo printer (first HP photo printer, $1200) and printed small pictures to tape inside the home made cards.
Our first web based Christmas card. It was mailed on a floppy disk. The thumbnail pages were generated as a last minute idea using a program called ThumbNailer. Most photos shot with a Kodak DC-50, produced huge images 756x504 pixels, at least huge compared to the camera it replaced.
Again, created on a floppy. We got a lot of positive response on the first one, but people wanted larger photos. So the thumbnails were out and larger pictures were in.
Technology advances and this year we did a CD-Rom version. We crammed way more into this CD than we needed to. It included audio, and video presentations. With 292 megs, this one was much more difficult to produce.
A simpler card this year. A new digital camera (Kodak DCS-315), trips to Williamsburg, Maine, a new water pump, spring and driveway paving. Lots of flowers and a trip to Colorado. Maine in the fall and a few camping trips.
It snuck up on us this year.
This year we began using 3 inch CDs which had just begun to show up in the stores. Less junk on the CD but now it fit in the envelope with the Christmas card. In addition Frank had begun using Cascading Style Sheets this year for more control on formatting.
A few interesting vacations this year.
Some people said they liked the photos from last year but complained about too much to read, so this year we did a simpler card with less text. The background was a bit too strong last year so this year with the help of graphics software it was lightened up.
Computer screens continue to grow so this year we increased the size of the images.
Smaller production but higher quality images from better cameras.
Lots of rodeos this year. A new trailer, which didn't get used much. Most of our trips were by flying. We hope this coming year is full of trailer travel.
We went to 7 rodeos this year and began traveling again in our trailer. Frank also had a heart attack in October.