

QRCodesDoneRight.com - let's teach people how to use QR codes right - dusker
http://QRCodesDoneRight.com
After reading a number of QR-code-fail blogs we decided to put together a super simple and super condensed guide on how to use QR codes right.
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mooism2
_> Some places are better than others for placing QR codes. Bearing in mind it
takes a while to scan, rather than putting a code in that busy passage way why
not put in on the subway train where everybody is rather bored and is playing
with their phones anyways._

Because there is no reception underground. (Yes, this is changing, depending
on the city. e.g. in London there is now free wifi at some stations, but not
between stations.)

Also, some people, when a stranger takes a photo of the ad above their head,
will mistakenly believe the stranger is taking a photo of _them_ , and treat
it as threatening behaviour.

There is a typo in your <title>: "aobut" should be "about".

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dusker
Thanks for spotting the typo - fixed!

I still see a lot of scenarios/places where QR codes would work if used
correctly.

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n-gauge
Another one..

alrady (do you mean already?), also check out this artistic QR Code (view full
size):

<http://www.blogger.com/profile/14761943015995502265>

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dusker
Hey I like it! I thought a while ago about mashing up 8bit gfx and qr codes

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bpaluzzi
I prefer this as my QR code reference:
<http://picturesofpeoplescanningqrcodes.tumblr.com/>

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spacemanaki
And yet the QR code on the front page has an embedded logo, which isn't at all
part of the spec, I think. Kind of ironic. I know brands _love_ those designer
QR codes (or at least loathe them less) but they have a significant impact on
scan-ability, even if many decoders are good enough to scan them, they might
take longer, especially on non-top-of-the-line phones. The point of a QR code
is to make that information easier to get at, and the designer codes are at
odds with this. (disclaimer, I worked at a barcode startup for a bit, and I
left partly because I don't buy QR codes)

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dusker
Embedding logo is not a part of the spec, but demonstration that QR codes can
be customized. In my experience (and i also have been involved in QR code
related startup) these don't take longer to process as long as you don't go
over the certain point with customizing the code. It's all about finding the
right balance.

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atmz
Licencing - you've misspelled 'patented' Readability - "its", _not_ "it's"

There's a bunch of other grammar/style issues - get someone to proofread it.

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dusker
Fixed! Thanks!

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panacea
>Would you do it? Always try to stand in a shoes of a regular person and ask
yourself would I scan it? Does this convince me to take out my phone and spend
10 seconds of my time to scan that QR code? Is it attractive enough?

When the answer to this question is a 'No I would not', I fail to see the
utility of these things.

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ColinWright

      > I fail to see the utility of these things.
    

Then I suggest that you are lacking in imagination. I scan QR codes quite
often and find them quite useful. Not every day, and not outstandingly useful,
but useful enough that I know of no suitable alternative, and I would miss the
utility they provide.

I've commented on this at length elsewhere, and will not do so again here. I
doubt that you will change your mind, but I can provide references to my
comments for those who are interested.

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kolektiv
The question isn't "is there utility" but "is there sufficiently more utility
than alternatives to justify their use". I don't think I've come across a
situation where the answer to that is yes. The barriers are high.

Most people a) don't have a reader b) don't really know what they are. Compare
this to something like a URL/domain which people do recognise the format of,
or a discount code ("use SUBWAY10 for 10% off!") to achieve the same goals.

Seriously, I would love to hear of any use cases where a QR Code was the
absolute best approach.

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ColinWright
I've gone over all this several times before. It's great to have a facility to
visit a website (or other text) that doesn't involve having to type in either
a long piece of text, or a shortened piece of text that's some random mix of
unusual characters. It takes me less than 20 seconds, including time taken to
get the phone from my pocket, to scan a code. I've gone to stage shows,
theatre productions and visited companies for special offers, none of which I
would have done had they not had the QR code.

There is no other current alternative that I know. Please, name some
alternatives that I could use, straight away, without downloading anything
(and no, I didn't have to download my QR reader, it came with the phone),
without configuring anything, and that is as error resistant as QR codes.

Even if I _do_ have to download something, tell me what reasonable
alternatives exist when I'm standing on a train using one hand to hold on.

I'm not particularly a QR advocate, but for me, they are useful, and I'm
getting tired of people telling me they aren't, and that they should go away.
I'm especially tired of people removing from me things that work, and
replacing them either with things that don't, or with nothing.

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jonhohle
What would be wrong with OCR plus a marker or two to indicate a scannable area
(and maybe content type) - human readable, phone scannable.

My biggest issue with QR codes is there is no indication of what they are
before scanning. That, and I dislike most forms of advertising.

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ColinWright

      > What would be wrong with OCR plus a marker or two
      > to indicate a scannable area
    

Simple:

* There is no OCR that is currently sufficiently reliable

* It has no error correction ability, so is not robust against damage

* There are currently no apps I know that can perform this function

So go to it, create an app that works on all known phones and is robust
against up to 30% damage, and you may have something with which to penetrate
the market.

    
    
      > My biggest issue with QR codes is there is no indication
      > of what they are before scanning.
    

My phone tells me what it is and asks permission to open it, and the context
usually tells me what it should be. I don't bother with context-less QR codes.
Beside, this is not a problem with the code, it's a problem with the brain-
dead manner in which some people use them.

    
    
      > That, and I dislike most forms of advertising.
    

I scan codes for shows, films, and shops. I know what I'm getting, and it's
simple, clear, and my choice. I don't like advertising either, but sometimes I
see notices of things I want to use, see, or get involved with.

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jpadilla_
And I still see companies placing QR codes on billboards on the highway!

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dusker
Yeah me too! That's why we did QRCodesDoneRight.com and hope that at least ONE
person will learn from this :)

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ryanong
How many people that aren't in the tech scene actually know a simple way to
scan a QR code?

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dusker
There's a number of apps, for virtually any platform out there. I'm pretty
sure that apart from tech scene QR codes are fairly recognizable.

