How it works
Three steps, and four settings that change whether the finished code actually reads. Here is what each one is doing.
Choose a type
The type decides how the content is encoded, not just which box you type into. A phone number saved as a Call code opens the dialler; the same digits as Text just show up as digits. Wi-Fi, V-card and Event codes carry structured data a phone knows how to act on.
Enter your content
Links, email addresses and phone numbers are checked for format as you type. A missing https:// is filled in for you and reported; a missing domain is flagged as an error, because that is a code that will scan and then go nowhere.
Set the look
Frame, module shape, colours and error correction all change the file you download. Nothing here is cosmetic-only — pick a shape and the pattern is redrawn with it.
The settings that matter
- Error correction
- Redundancy built into the pattern. Low recovers from 7% damage, High from 30%. Higher levels make the pattern denser, so a long link at High needs to be printed larger to stay readable. Medium is a sensible default; go High for anything that will be handled, weathered, or stuck on a window.
- Colours
- Cameras need real separation between the code and its background. Dark on light is the safe direction — many scanners will not read an inverted code at all. The contrast is measured as you pick, and anything under 3:1 is flagged as unscannable before you download.
- Module shape
- Square, rounded, dot or classy. The three corner squares stay hard squares whatever you choose: those are the finder patterns a scanner locks onto first, and rounding them measurably hurts read rates for no visual gain.
- Frames
- Frames draw outside the quiet zone — the clear margin a scanner needs — so they never interfere with reading. The labelled ones are worth using in public: people scan a code far more readily when something tells them to.