More often than not, the most valuable things in life get the least amount of recognition. A mother is one of those people taken for granted by all. “Whatever sacrifice she makes is something that needn’t be fretted upon, as it is, but, her job description… It is by default!”- That’s the shameful thought of a good lot of children around the world. Maybe, it’s time to change… One greeting card at a time this Mother’s Day!

Click to submit your story

We, here, at 123Greetings have a burning desire to celebrate events and festive occasions of all kinds, with the aim of nurturing relationships that deserve more respect than what they have now. One of the ways of understanding what your mother means to you is by talking about her, introspecting and understanding her contribution to you, your family and sometimes, the world. A little gesture by her could have changed your life… After all, she gave you life.

Think long and hard about those moments that you never made an effort to recall until today. There should be those countless special moments. The problem is not about the lack of moments when she stood for you and gave you solace and inspiration, but the tough part is to put a finger on that specific moment that stands unique for you as her child.

Once you’ve been able to get your thoughts together and are able to pinpoint that one special memory that lingers, share it with us along with your mom’s name on our Facebook event page. Names of moms from the 1,000 most liked stories get featured on an ecard we’re designing especially for them, and 100 most liked stories get published in an ebook we’ll be releasing on Mother’s Day, May 12, 2013.

Of course, the love that she’s showered on you and all that she’s done for you can never be repaid. But a small gesture from your end to show how much she is loved and how grateful you are to her would mean the world to her!

Share your story here https://www.facebook.com/events/361906770585827/, don’t wait till the last minute, and be the son or daughter your mother would be proud of!

Happy Mother’s Day!

A step forward to keep you connected in the age of social networking! As the boom in social networking keeps bringing the world closer to you, 123greetings introduces ‘Send to facebook Friends’ option, to allow you to stay connected with your facebook friends and send e-cards. User experience is expected to get much more pleasant with this new add-on feature.

Now connect to your facebook friends from 123greetings at the click of a button. Jus’ select a card and send to as many friends you wish to.

Step 1:
Select the Ecard: First click on a card of your choice.
Move your eyes to the bottom left of the card and click on the ‘Send to facebook friends’ button.

Step 2:
Select your facebook friends: Click on the button to login and select your friends.

Step 3 :
Add friends: Type first letter to find, select and add friends. Note you can select multiple friends from your friend list.

Step 4:
Send: Click the button to send your ecard.

It’s as simple as that! Try out own your own.

For any artist out there, who has inbuilt talent and wants a channel or avenue to showcase his or her skills, there are always two questions:

Is there any platform to upload the artwork? And even if it is there, where would you like to promote it?

A platform that is online, has millions of people visiting it, encourages and credits the artist, and that gives you a base to launch your passion at the same time.

Are you wondering where that is or what that is?

Here’s your answer: 123Greetings Studio.

What is 123Greetings Studio?

123Greetings Studio lets users to upload ecards and display them to over 91 million users worldwide.

With a base of more than 5,000 developers worldwide uploading their creative, it is backed up by 123greetings.com, the world’s leading ecards portal in the world.

What do you gain out of 123Greetings Studio?

Ecard offering : Artists like you has the ability to upload creative and share it with millions of users worldwide. Users comment, rate, tag your ecards. They come to know about you and your creatives and send them to their near and dear ones.

Profile Page: The platform enables artist to get his/her own page, which acts as a powerful tool to market yourself and your creative to the users worldwide and attract potential customers. The profile links can be shared in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc). As 123Greetings.com is one of the high ranked website this will help you to get good ranks in Search Engine rankings also.

Visibility: 123Greetings is one of the most visited ecard website having 91 Million+ user base worldwide. Your card will also get listed in our ecard database which can be accessed by millions of users. Marketing is taken care of. You don’t need to raise a finger. Imagine a corporation with millions of users working for you!

Leader board: 123Greeetings studio facilitates achievers by sponsoring their name in the leader board. The leaders are showcased in sections like Most Popular Artist, Rising Star, Most Popular Last Week etc. It makes studio user to gain special attraction from 123Greetings visitors.

Fan following: Visitors coming to 123greetings.com can follow you. Whenever you upload a new card, your followers will be notified so that they can send your ecard.

So, what you are waiting for? Come & show the word what you got!

Remember this: 123Greetings Studio will be the best platform for your artwork.

Happy Uploading!

Spring has sprung! And we are delighted to tell you that we have launched some exciting features that we hope you will love and enjoy!!!

Searching for Most Popular Cards and Categories Was Never So Easy!

Many of you have been sending us requests to make it easier to list the most popular and happening cards at the click of a button. We at 123Greetings did take a note of it and we now have launched 4 new pages that will make searching easier. The newly launched pages are:

In all these pages you will find the list of 15 cards which are either the most popular or the most viewed or the highest rated or added recently to the website. To browse the pages you need to go to the home page and click on the header of the respective blocks. To browse the pages at the click of a button, you need to click on the tabs at the top or bottom of the newly launched pages.

Also apart from these 4 pages we have also launched 2 new pages that display the most popular categories at 123Greetings.com:

In the Popular Now page you will get a list of 14 events and general sections which are currently the most popular amongst the users at 123Greetings. While you can see the entire list in the home page itself, inside the Popular Now page you can actually see the list in a detailed manner including popular ecards of that section. The same goes for the Always There page with the exception that it displays only the general categories.

We at 123Greetings always love your feedback and are committed to enhance the website to provide you with more exciting features thereby enhancing your card sending experience. Watch out this blog for more updates!

Till then, see ya!

When you receive an ecard you always want to say “Thank You” to appreciate the sender’s gesture. Earlier after receiving an ecard one had to go to the Thank You categories, choose a card and then send it to the sender. The usual process we have followed until now once we received an ecard was to go hunting for a Thank You card to send to the sender.

Now, we have made the process real simple. You will find a Thank You card awaiting to be sent to the receiver once you are through appreciating the card from the receiver. And know what, it is a one-click-and-send process!

How about that?!

We are providing you list of 15 most popular cards of the respective Thank You section at the bottom of the card received by you. You need to write a message (optional) and send it to the ecard sender.

Just give it a try and we can bet, the process won’t take more than a few seconds! And if you are already using this feature, we would appreciate your feedback!

While you might remember that Christmas is celebrated on 25th December every year, do you know when “Friendship Day,” or “Mother’s Day” will be celebrated next year? The dates of many such events change every year and it is difficult to keep track of them. You might also miss out on the opportunity to wish your friends and family members on such important events. With the Event Reminder service from 123Greetings Connect, you can easily set alerts for events. After you get the notification in your inbox, you can easily send an ecard to your dear ones.

Within Connect, you can also see a complete list of all the upcoming events. Getting Event Reminder is a simple 3 step process:

1. Sign up on 123Greetings Connect:

If you haven’t signed up, go to 123Greetings Connect to sign up. It takes only a moment.

2. Select Event Categories:

After you have signed up, login and go to the My Events page. 123Greetings has more than 200 events grouped in 14 Event Categories. Selecting an Event Category will list all the related events. For instance, if you choose “Family Events” as the Event Category, then you will see Events such as Mother’s Day, Grandparents Day, Brothers and Sisters Day, etc. You have the option to choose more than one Event Category at a time too.

3. Select Events and save:

Once your favorite events are selected, you simply have to click “Save the selected Events to My Events” tab.

This will list all your selected events in “My Events” box to your right. You will be notified for the events in your “My Events”box.

With the Event Reminder service you can not only keep track of important occasions, but also wish your friends on some of the wackiest events such as “Ask a Stupid Question Day”, “Humor Month”, “Temporary Insanity Day”, etc. Coupled with Birthday Reminder service, Connect is a perfect place to get all your reminders and to wish others easily.

Get started on 123Greetings Connect, and never miss out on your favorite events.

Father’s Day for 2010 is on Sunday, June 20 and you might be already planning what to do this Father’s Day to make it special. Fathers guide you at every step and are a moral support. Well, here are a few things you can do this Father’s Day at 123Greetings:

1. Go paperless, save trees, send an ecard:

123Greetings has a collection of 380 Father’s Day ecards to choose from! All these cards are listed under 13 categories such as Happy Father’s Day, From Daddy’s Girl , etc. You can simply choose an ecard from our collection and send it.

2. Invite your father to join you on Connect:

We recently launched a new feature called Connect that allows you to get birthday reminders for all your contacts, get connected with your friends and family. If you are not signed up on Connect, sign up now for free, and invite him so that he can get birthday reminders.

3. Embed the countdown widget in your site:

There are 208 events that we celebrate throughout the year at 123Greetings. If you own a website or a blog, go to the countdown widget section, and embed the same in your site. It’s fun to show the countdown to Father’s Day or the other upcoming events and holiday celebrations to your visitors.

Happy Father’s Day!

If you would like to get reminded of the birthdays of your contacts, 123Greetings Connect is the ideal place. We have already launched Address Book to store unlimited contacts after getting feedback from our loyal users. We are now leveraging the Address Book so that you can receive birthday alerts via email as well. Getting birthday reminders is a simple three step process:

1. Sign up on 123Greetings Connect:

If you haven’t signed up, go to 123Greetings Connect to sign up. It takes only a moment.

2. Add/ Import Contacts:

Once you have signed up, login first and then go to your Address Book. Set your contact’s Date of Birth by clicking on the Edit link right next to the contact.

If the desired contact is not in your Address Book, you can add a contact manually or by importing from various email service providers such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, etc.

3. Set your contact’s Date of Birth:

After you have logged in you can navigate to your Settings page and choose when you would like to be reminded of your contact’s birthday.

By default, you will be reminded 7 days in advance and also on the date of the birthday. After you receive the reminder, you can easily schedule the delivery of the ecard on a later date, which makes 123Greetings Connect unique!

You are all set to receive birthday reminders now.

Moreover, if you would like to see the list of upcoming birthdays of your contacts, simply go to the My Birthdays page. 123Greetings Connect allows to send an ecard from there directly.

With the introduction of Birthday Reminder, 123Greetings Connect becomes a portal where you can not only store contacts and their birthdays, but also wish them by getting reminders and sending ecards. Finally, the best part is that the entire 123Greetings Connect service is offered to you for free!

Try 123Greetings Connect now to get birthday reminders!

Many of our loyal users have expressed that they want to connect to more people through 123Greetings. The mantra to our success is to respond to our user voice quickly, and hence we have launched a new tool Connect. It has 5 key features:

Advanced Address Book:

Previously, contacts were stored temporarily in cookies and limited to only 30. The new Address Book eliminates these concerns. You now have the ability to import and store unlimited contacts from Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook Express etc. and access your Address Book securely from anywhere in the world. It’s simple, easy, and takes only a moment to import contacts. The sophisticated Address Book also allows users to search and manage their contacts easily.

Share activities:

Connect displays feeds when your friends send ecards or add friends. You can also discover and add old friends from your friend’s profile page.

Track/Edit/Delete your ecards:

Through Connect’s advanced tracking system you can see the exact status of the ecards that you have sent in the last 30 days. You also have the ability to edit or delete ecards that have not been viewed yet.

Birthday alerts (coming soon):

You can receive alerts before a birthday so that you never miss out on wishing your friends and family. Connect allows you to choose how many days in advance you would like to receive birthday alerts. It is very easy to set up. Once you receive the reminders, you can select from a wide range of ecards at 123Greetings.com to wish your dear ones.

Event alerts (coming soon):

Similar to Birthday alerts, you can receive reminders for events such as Friendship day, Father’s Day, Make Your Dreams Come True Day, etc. The dates of these events change every year and getting alerts will help you greet your friends and family on the day of the occasion.

In order to take advantage of these features for free, click here to Connect.

One of the advantages that ecards have over traditional vanilla paper greeting cards, is a true multimedia experience. The combination of design, message, music, animation and interactivity enables us to express ourselves in a more meaningful manner.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve been trying to delve deeper into the music components & the technologies that allow us to deliver music to the user’s browser in a seamless manner. Our users are based across the globe, and access the website with varying Internet speeds using a multitude of browsers, operating systems, plug-ins etc.

We came up with a set of conditions that we wanted to fulfill in any solution we finally arrived at. Some of the things we had in mind were:

• Music files are already large in size by themselves. We wanted a small player to deliver music fast.
• Users should not be asked for a compatible download/ installation of any software.
• Cross OS, Cross Browser, Cross plug-in Music Player.
• The player should play at least .mid, .wav & .mp3 file formats
• Preferably open source under any license.
• HTML/ JavaScript based (fully client side).

As we researched we found that most so-called cross browser players were flash based. The problem was two fold.

1. We did not want to load the swf as it added with its size a roundtrip to the server, which was expensive.
2. We did not assume that all our users would be using flash. We also offer Animated cards and Postcards, which are not dependent on Flash for such users.

Some like ‘JQuery Sound’ came close but needed a particular player for a particular type of content, which was not compatible with all the browsers/ OS combinations. They used the EMBED and/ or OBJECT tag to achieve the same. The major problem we noticed here while checking on different browsers/ OS combinations was that it did not always work. It was due to the fact that not all browsers had all plug-ins and hence it asked for the user to install plug-ins which were not present.

While pondering over all these we pinpointed that…

1. Our users ran different OS.
2. All these OS had different browsers with different versions on them.
3. All these in turn installed plug-ins to play a particular kind of media.

Therefore more than a OS/ Browser combination our focus shifted to a OS/ Browser/ Plug-in perspective.

Browser/ OS Detection
Browser detection gets a bit complicated with the fact that few browsers spoof it, most allow you to impersonate other browsers. Getting the right browser would mean using navigator.userAgent with browser specific tricks or the newer navigator.vendor. For this Quirksmode has a great browser detection script ready for download.

Plug-in Detection
All browsers have their various plug-in-detection capabilities. Netscape’s navigator.plug-ins array which is empty in Windows, Internet Explorer. IE on windows uses VBScript to detect plug-in but certain versions of IE on the Mac won’t agree. Until version 5, IE on the Mac also wasn’t able to detect plug-ins. As of version 5, navigator.plug-ins array was implemented.

With the myriad of players and plug-ins in the world we started to search what most of our users had. For sure we or no one else could have covered all of them. Finally we pinpointed on QuickTime, RealPlayer, Flash and Media Player. All of them had cross reach, were stable and widely used. There are a variety of plug-in detection scripts and they were all checked across more than 25 browsers on 4 operating systems containing different mix and match of the plug-ins to provide our users the best possible user experience. The most reliable of these was a plug-in detection script offered by apple.

We came up with our own version of the Music Player that checks the user’s browser and plays the required file using whichever plug-in is installed on the user’s device.

The pseudo code is as follows…

Separate extension from filename
Detect browser
For all players plug-in which can play extension
 If Browser (IE on windows)
  Detect using VBScript
 Else
  Detect using navigator.plug-ins
 End If
 If plug-in detected Play and exit loop
End for
If no plug-in found still leave a mime type specific tag so that the browser may attempt to play using some other player it might have.

This solution allowed us to deliver a seamless music experience addressing most of our concerns and helped us reduce our code size by more than 78% from our existing version.

We now use a flash based music player for all our flash cards, and our Javascript based music player for all our postcards & animated cards. You can check out live examples here & here.