New: Barcode Studio Creates Mobile Tagging QR-Codes with Shortened URLs

Data List with Shortened URLs

Version 12 of TEC-IT's barcode maker software will be released shortly. This post introduces the built-in URL shortener capabilities of the Barcode Studio update.

The new URL shortening feature provides 3 main benefits:

• Dramatically Reduced QR-Code Size
  URL shortening means squeezing a long URL into a shorter one. This is important when creating mobile tagging QR-Codes for vCards, meCards, SPARQcodes, etc. With URL shortening you reduce the amount of data to be encoded. Smaller, better readable, easier-to-share QR-Codes are the result.
• Free QR-Code Traceability
  URL shortening providers like Google (http://goo.gl) and Bitly (http://bit.ly) offer simple and free tracking features. More on this below.



Data Import Assistant

• Batch URL Shortening
  The data import assistant of Barcode Studio is able to shorten thousands of URLs with a single click.

Shortened URLs

You are not familiar with shortened URLs? Let me give you an example: A typical URL looks like this:

http://www.tec-it.com/software/barcode-software/barcode-creator/barcode-studio/Default.aspx

In total this example URL requires 91 characters. By shortening this URL you will get the following results:

• http://goo.gl/fnBby
  (when shortened with Google's URL shortener service http://goo.gl)
• http://bit.ly/c1ZTRO
  (when shortened with http://bit.ly)

The shortened URL requires only 19 (or 20) characters and still points to the same target URL. Just try it out by clicking on them!

QR-Code Tracking

A shortened URLs provide an easy way to analyze the usage of the codes. Whenever a shortened URL is used to visit a web-page the shortening provider tracks this event. It does not matter if the user scanned the code with a smart phone, simply clicked on it in a twitter status message or entered the shortened URL manually into the address bar of the browser. At the time being both providers offer publicly visible tracking statistics for free.

For Google's shortener service you get the tracking statistics by simply adding ".info" to the shortened URL: http://goo.gl/fnBby.info. When using Bitly just add the plus sign: http://bit.ly/c1ZTRO+

Privacy notice: Take care - the tracking statistics are usually publicly visible to everyone!

Free Release Candidate Downloads

A free pre-release is available for Barcode Studio on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Check it out!

Download Barcode Studio for Microsoft Windows

Download Barcode Studio for Mac OS X

About TEC-IT

Secret QR-Code

TEC-IT Datenverarbeitung GmbH provides high quality software in the areas of bar-coding, barcode extensions for ERP systems, label and form printing, reporting and automated data acquisition. TEC-IT products are available for all major platforms, thus customers benefit from complete and versatile software solutions for all possible requirements. The company is located in Austria / Europe and can be reached via www.tec-it.com.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Create vCard Business Cards with QR-Codes

How to Create vCard Business Cards with Barcode Studio

Some users of Barcode Studio are unsure regarding the correct data format for creating barcodes for so-called 2D code business cards.
Such an "electronic” business card encodes the contact data in a QR-Code or a Data Matrix symbol. These codes can be scanned with your smartphone. The business card data is recognized automatically, you will never need to key in contact data manually! Most camera-equipped mobile phones are able to decode QR-Codes on such business cards (Data Matrix is not in common use until now).

The example outlined in this post contains vCard sample data (.xls and .csv files) and a setting file for Barcode Studio. This settings file (*.BCS) can be used immediately to create premium quality QR-Codes with Barcode Studio.

Creating a vCard Data Format

A vCard barcode must follow certain rules, the different elements of a business cards (e.g. the phone number) are tagged with prefixes. Some sample prefixes:

• Begin of vCard data: begin: vcard
• Name on card: n:
• Telephone number: Tel:
• Email address: Email:
• End of vCard data: end: vcard

Please ensure the accurate order of the single data elements! Refer to Wikipedia to get a list of available property prefixes and more information about the vCard format.

Step by Step: Create your own QR-Code Business Cards

Follow the steps to create your QR-Codes. Use the included sample files to see how the data is encoded:

1. Download and unzip the example specified below.
2. Use Microsoft Excel to enter your vCard data in the sample Excel file. Separate the data elements with a new-line. Enter a new-line by pressing "Alt" + "Enter" simultaneously in a cell.
3. Export your data as CSV file.
4. Start Barcode Studio and open the settings file (*.BCS).
5. Importing your CSV file: Choose the "Datalist" tab and click the "Import" button. Ensure the correct import settings as shown in the screenshot. In most cases you should use the Field Separator comma (,) and the Text Qualifier ("). If this doesn't work, please check the generated CSV file.
6. Now export your QR-Codes.



Import Settings

Free Sample File Download
In order to use the sample files make sure you are using the current version of Barcode Studio.

• Download Sample and Setting Files
• Download Barcode Studio
  

If you have any questions just contact TEC-IT via email or give us a call (++43 (0)7252 72720).

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