Patent ID: 8234181

Claim:
A method for an online stationery or card service to assist a user to personalize and send non-electronic stationery or cards, comprising: providing a Web-based graphical user interface (GUI), by a computer server, to allow a user to select or design a stationery or card; providing in the GUI an envelope design region including a graphical layout corresponding to a paper envelope to be used to mail a stationery or card selected or designed by the user; providing, in the envelope design region, a return address region comprising one or more text boxes; allowing the user to enter a return address in the return address region; providing, in the envelope design region, an address region comprising one or more text boxes for entering the address of a recipient, wherein the address region includes a first link to generate a list of contacts in the user's contacts database, wherein the address region includes a second link to generate one or more options for contacting the recipient when the user does not know the mailing address of the recipient, at least one of the options comprising contacting the recipient by email; when a selection of a entry from the list of contacts is received, automatically populating the address region with the address corresponding to the selected entry; when the second link is selected by the user, generating a data field for entering the recipient's email address; in response to the entering of the recipient's email address, sending a first electronic message by the computer server to the recipient to request the recipient's address; providing the user with a set of personalization options related to the selected stationery or card design; generating a personalized stationery or card with the user selected stationery or card design based on user selected personalization options; and delivering the personalized stationery or card to the recipient's address.