Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

I found a great site for creating custom QR codes. 

I had a project a few years back where I had to generate QR codes, so I wrote my own engine.  Then I used the .net framework to impose images on top of QR codes using GDI+.  The qrhacker.com site does a great job of putting the elements I did a while back into an easy to use site.  

The issue I had with the program we wrote, is that depending on the QR code generation the logo or icon you placed over the image would cause the QR to not render.   What I like is how they let you know when you may have caused the QR quality to be out of range.    I have just a generic version that generates a QR code based on size quality at tilde32.com/qr.aspx.   

QR codes have come  along way in the past two years.   Part of the reason I created my own generator is that I could validate the quality and also have control when needing to batch the QR generation.  Here is the previous post on some discussions on QR codes  – http://jimiz.net/blog/2010/12/qr-code-generator-2d-barcode/

I’ve been doing some research on QR codes (the funny looking squares you see in magazines and Sunday advertisements). QR codes are “Quick Reference” barcodes that can contain a lot of information. They started to become popular in Japan and have recently been showing up more and more in media and at stores.

There are a few great QR code generators out there but I set out to make one for myself that I would be able to share. I used an opensource qrcode library from twit88.com.

Head over to www.tilde32.com/qr.aspx to use the generator. Create a QRcode for your site, or for a business card, even your wifi info. You can use the permalink to add the QR code to your site or just download and save the image. I have also been working on a GDI app that you can add your logo on top of the QR code (coming soon) Similar to what the BBC did with their logo. I am also adding a Microsoft TAG generator.

QR code for : jimiz.net

Why are QR codes so popular? There are over 50 Million smartphone users in the US. Any smartphone with a camera should have the ability to read a QR code. It is a simple way to transmit data to a end user. QR codes are easy and free to create and can store a lot of data. They are easy to embed into media and marketing materials.