Cloudeight Internet Designs. Review on Thundercloud

I was first introduced to Cloudeight when I received an email from my sister with a scrolling background of the Emerald City and the sounds of ''Somewhere Over The Rainbow'' playing as I read. I had browsed the email ''stationery'' that came along with OutLook Express but there was nothing at all like this! She finally confessed that she had downloaded the stationery at Cloudeight . Over the last two years I've become addicted to this site. They are constantly adding new themes and new features as the seasons and times change. Cloudeight features scrolling stationery, wallpaper, screensavers and much more. Most of the features except the wallpaper and the ''acpressions'' greetings are only useable on Windows at this time. There are excellent ''help'' pages for all the areas. Here are the main features.

Scrolling stationery. There are over 50 stationery ''sets''. These each consist of about 10 different choices that can be downloaded as a set or individually. Themes range from holidays and seasons to nature based themes (dogs, wolves, seascapes, etc.) and collections that feature a particular artists. Most of these are scrolling (although a few have a background instead of movement) and have midi music to match. Each is preset with font and color to compliment the theme. (You can change these if you want). The only downside for the scrolling stationery is that they tend to be slow to both send and receive.

Quick Notes. For those who like the themes of the scrolling stationery but without the motion and music, there are Quick Notes. These collections feature the art work or seasonal theme only.

Wallpaper. There are currently 5 collections of about a dozen photos. These are mostly nature photography (very well done). Since this requires nothing more than right clicking on the picture and choosing ''set as wallpaper'' we change ours frequently.

WonderScreens. These are the most fascinating things. They are ''wallpaper'' with motion. The first I used was a winter cottage with ''snow'' falling softly. Currently we have a Halloween theme with falling skulls. Your cursor will match the theme. I really love these but have noticed I need to disable them sometimes when using particular games. (just uncheck view desktop as web page.)

Screensavers. There are more than 40 different choices so far. The screensavers come with their own program to edit features (speed of change of pictures etc.) Like the stationery, themes are varied from holidays to nature to featured artists.

Acpressions. These are useable by anyone because they are sent via web links. These are a collection of greetings consisting of a picture of photo-frequently with motion (eg. a painting of a waterfall with motion in the pool at the bottom) coupled with a poem or greeting and music. These are beautiful-mostly serious and/or sentimental although a few are just for laughs. You simply choose one and click on the ''click here to share with a friend''

If you visit and like Cloudeight -be sure to join their mailing list. They send emails whenever there is a new collection (about once a month) and always include a ''gift'' or two-a wonderscreen or quick notes etc. just for members. They also have a members page where you can obtain all the extras you might have missed.

Cloudeight is totally free-they do have a CD available for purchase that includes everything but the acpressions.

These designs can enhance your emails and beautify your desktop-check it out!