Make a QR code

A QR code is a short address

The code does not store the whole web page. It stores an address, a phone number, or a few lines of text. Whoever scans it is sent to whatever is written in the code at that moment. If you change the address later, a code you already printed still goes to the new address only if you kept the same URL.

Make one without installing anything

1. Prepare the target: a full web address that starts with https://, a number in international form such as tel:+972526200817, or a short text.
2. On an Android phone or an iPhone you can often make a code for a Wi-Fi network or a link from the share sheet. On a computer, a generator in the browser is enough: paste the address and download a PNG.
3. Before you print, scan the code on a different device, not on the same screen that made it. Check that the right page opens, not an ad in between.

A print that scans

• Leave a light margin around the code, about four modules wide.
• Print black on white. Color on color, or a gray code on a photo, fails when someone scans it.
• A reasonable minimum on a business card is about 2 by 2 cm. On a sign read from farther away, make it larger.
• Do not squeeze a very long address into a tiny code. More characters mean smaller modules, and those are harder to scan.

More guides

• A tip about the mobile phone
• Contact the lab