Thursday, March 29, 2012

Generating QR Codes

QR codes are those square pixelly things that are popping up everywhere.
They are usually black and white:
Here is an explanation that I lifted from the site I use to generate my codes:
"A QR Code (it stands for "Quick Response") is a mobile phone readable barcode that's been big in Japan forever, broke into Europe a while back, and is now getting traction in USA. In its simplest sense think "print based hypertext link" - simply encode a URL into the QR Code and then point a mobile phone (or other camera-enabled mobile) at it. If the device has had QR Code decoding software installed on it, it will fire up its browser and go straight to that URL."

If you go to the above site, you will find it super easy to generate your own code for any URL
Here is a screen shot of the home page:
I've chosen "Website URL" on the left*,  entered my URL, and my code appears in seconds
Hit download and your done!
*Look at all the choices you have on that list! Food for thought!
You can even get all fancy and mix a color to replace the black.
(I usually do this in photoshop instead).
It's a good idea to test your code for readability. Important tip - have good contrast between code and background.
Size matters for older phones - a 5/8 x 5/8" one was too small for my iPhone 3G, but a 3/4 x 3/4" was fine.
here's a patterned one that I put on the last page of my
"In Ten Minutes" sketchbook
Happy QR coding!

[4/28/21] Here's another site: www.websiteplanet