Greeting cards of the paper kind are fast becoming outdated, unless of course one has the patience and the wherewithal to print fancy cards off the web. In which case, e-greetings may as well be an option. Moreover, most free e-card sites advertise their wares by emphasizing the words “free”, “hundreds to choose from”, and “no registration required.” This makes them all the more attractive to potential users.

E-greetings have become a popular way for people to connect with one another. Any mode of communication that is electronic, specifically with regard to the Internet, is a revolution of sorts. And e-cards are no less so. So many websites display a wide variety of cards with a multitude of options, categorized by occasion.

They also offer, among other things, a free “MyWebSearch” toolbar, plus a “search assistant”, which is supposed to make available pertinent search results in response to misspelled or erroneously formatted browser address requests. Most or many of these sites include free fun e-products such as ’smileys’ and screensavers. As a bonus, they make room for future sending of the chosen greetings, an invitation service, a printing service, email reminders and more.

There are different categories of cards in stock for all sorts of occasions, from Kwanzaa to Hanukkah, Chinese New year, carnivals, Cinco De Mayo and Christmas. There are cards for birthdays and events, milestones, anniversaries, love and romance, ‘thinking of you’, congratulations, get well soon, friendship and so on.

For fun and entertainment, they have a section for daily horoscopes, fortune cookies, compatibility readings, tournaments and celebrity birthdays. Additionally, there is an invitation service where the user can create and send party or other invitations and keep track of guest responses from any web browser, anytime.

These websites offer reminder services for avid e-greeting fans, so that a birthday or anniversary may never be forgotten. These reminders will come into email boxes or wireless devices.

One of the many perks of sending free e-cards is that the websites have game centers where one can test one’s skill, play games and later on send them as cards to friends and associates.

There are still other features that e-greeting sites have that are worth noting - they have subcategories under categories such as ‘birthday’, which offers subgroups like humor, getting old, classic, belated and more, or a ‘just because’ category with congratulations, friendship, hello and keep-in-touch as options under it. And then there is ‘collections’, with a miscellaneous assortment of types.