Making a web address QR code in QR by Zaweba

Most QR codes in the world do one thing: open a web page. In QR by Zaweba that job belongs to the Web address kind of code. You choose it, type or paste a link into the box, and the code that appears in the preview will open that page on any phone that scans it.

It is the kind most people want first, and the one that ends up on posters, flyers, business cards, menus and shop windows.

What the code really holds

A web address code holds the link itself, as text. QR by Zaweba puts what you typed into the code exactly as typed, with nothing added and nothing redirected through anyone else's server. When a phone scans it, the phone reads the text, sees that it is a web address and offers to open it.

That has two consequences. First, the code works for as long as the page it points to exists; there is no service in the middle to expire. Second, the code can only be as good as the link you give it. A typing mistake in the address is a typing mistake in the code.

Entering the link well

The safest thing to enter is a full address starting with https://. Copy it from your browser's address bar rather than typing it, then paste it into the box. Phones are better at recognising a complete address as a link than a bare name such as example.com, which some scanners may treat as plain words.

Shorter is better. Every character goes into the code, and a long address with tracking parameters on the end makes a denser pattern of smaller squares, which is harder to scan from a distance or in poor light. If the page has a short, clean address, use that one.

Point the code at a page that will last. A code printed on a thousand leaflets can't be changed later, so link to a page you control and can keep, such as your home page or a menu page you update, rather than a one-off file that may be renamed.

Watching the preview

As you type, the live preview redraws the code and reads it back. When everything is in order it says Checked: it reads back exactly. If something would stop it scanning, such as colours that are too close or a margin that is too small, it tells you plainly what is wrong.

The check reads the app's own drawing, so it proves the code is sound. It can't prove the link is right. Scan the code with your own phone and make sure the right page opens before you print anything.

From link to finished code

Once the link is in, the rest of the app shapes the code for where it is going. Set the size in millimetres and the margin around it. Choose colours, or a transparent background for placing it on artwork, or add your logo in the middle, which raises error correction to High so the code still reads.

Then save it. PNG at 150 to 1200 dpi suits documents and home printing; SVG suits designers, signs and anything that needs to scale; PDF is a one-page vector file the exact size of the code, good for a printer. Copy picture puts it on the clipboard to paste straight into a letter or slide.

If you start QR by Zaweba with a web address after the program name, it goes into the code straight away, which is handy for a desktop shortcut or a script.

Where web address codes go wrong

The usual problems are simple ones. A link copied with a stray space or a missing character. A link to a page that needs a login, so strangers see a sign-in screen. A code printed so small that phones struggle with it. A long address that makes a dense code, printed on a busy background.

Keep the link short and public, let the preview confirm the code, test it with a phone, and the Web address kind does exactly what people expect when they point a camera at it.