
Show HN: QR codes - my mini project - heliodor
Hello HN! Check out and comment on one of my mini projects:<p>http://coderqr.com<p>It's a website for the QR-uninitiated crowd to quickly make QR bar codes and move on with their lives, with plenty of options to satisfy most everyone.<p>The site came about when I tried to make QR bar codes for the business cards at my job. There wasn't a single site out there that allows you to enter multiple phone numbers, emails, urls, etc. I did some research into the data format, found out it's a bunch of text markup code, and so I was able to get the right data into the bar codes. Then, I built coderqr.com to make everyone else's life easier. The user can also embed other types of data besides contact info. There's plain text (which, with the right markup, allows you to generate every other type of embedded data), urls, email addresses, email messages, sms messages, even map coordinates. For the unaware, when you scan a qr bar code, you can open the right app for the given data. For example, if there's an email message embedded in a bar code, when you scan it, you'll be able to launch the email app and the To, Subject, and Body fields will all be filled in with the data from the code. All you have to do is press send. I can envision Washington DC plastered with QR code ads where you just scan the code, press send on the email, and off it goes to your senators and other representatives.<p>There's nothing too fancy on the backend: it uses Google's Charts API to generate the image. Further down the line, I'll generate my own images. That way, I'll be able to add custom designs with curves and colors, so the codes won't looks so blocky and sterile.<p>I've used this project as a bit of a learning lesson in SEO and advertising revenue. Up next, I'll add affiliate links to put the codes on tshirts, mugs, and other objects.<p>Anyways, long story short, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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bdfh42
At the risk of being the rain cloud on your project - you could just download
the free and open source Zint bar code generator from SourceForge
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/zint/> this covers QR among many other
options.

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heliodor
Cool find, but it's for a different audience. I'm aiming for people who want a
quick data entry form to generate the barcode image. Your link is for a
software library. Apples and oranges...

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bdfh42
In fact it is an app - I have it installed on my dev machine and use it to
generate QR codes for use on web sites.

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bhousel
Not sure if this is an issue with your site or a limitation of MeCard, but
having a single name field (instead of first/last) doesn't seem to work right.

I just created a contact for myself, and tried scanning it into my Android
phone, and it just put my whole name into the "First Name" field.

But anyway it's a really cool idea - I like it..

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ChrisArchitect
when I started reading this, first reaction was, what do you mean there isn't
a site that lets you put all sorts of data in a QR Code - Google Charts API
what. Then I see that's what you figured out.

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ChrisArchitect
also, QR Codes with full vCard style contact infos have been in
use/easy/available in popular places like Japan, for years.

