QR codes
Subtitles for robots
2019-10-29 — 2025-04-16
Wherein QR codes are described, and Python libraries such as PyQRCode and qrcode are indicated for local generation, while URL shorteners like bit.ly are recommended for click-through tracking.
You can find Python libraries like PyQRCode and qrcode. Plenty of subscription services offer add-ons like tracking, but they’re surprisingly expensive and I don’t recommend them. If I want fancy tracking for click-throughs on QR-coded links, I just use bit.ly or another URL shortener/tracker.
Lots of software quietly supports QR codes; for example, the DTP package scribus includes QR codes as one of its supported barcode formats.
Here are some perfectly functional online QR code generators:
goqr.me (Does a good job, simple and straightforward)
qr-code-generator.com (bitly-backed, so serviceable but heavy on the upsell)
qrcode.js is a small library that encodes whatever text you want in a QR code and renders it in situ.
QRCode.js is a JavaScript library for making QRCode. QRCode.js supports Cross-browser with HTML5 Canvas and table tag in DOM. QRCode.js has no dependencies.
There were others but they kept on trying to upsell me to paid plans and ransom me my traffic (looking at you qrstuff.com, wix.com).