The Long and Short on Short
Go ahead, try it. That QR code is 100% functional. It is the result of a desire to have qr codes on my resume, but to have the intuitive and self-explained.
SocializedQR.com was born as a midnight project after a bit of research and some quick coding.
So how is it all possible? I was curious how people were able to add their own logos into qr codes, which I have seen done several times before. I originally assumed that you had to know how to properly encode your information into a qr code. Then I found this:
“Part of the robustness of QR codes in the physical environment is their ability to sustain “damage” and continue to function even when a part of the QR code image is obscured, defaced or removed.”
I had my way in. After that, it was a couple quick calculations and experimentation on how big of a logo I could use and what level of contrast with the colors was necessary. I wanted to brand each of the QR’s with the related social platforms color in order to increase intuitive understanding.
After that, the rest was simple. The QR code generation uses the open source library PHP QR Code. I handled the image processing with PHP’s built in graphics library GD. A note for those planning on attempting anything with a lot of alpha layer and transparency, use imagemagik. Getting the logo to properly merge with transparency intact was the longest part of this entire project. I considered switching to imagemagik out of frustration, but decided I was determined to finish what I started in GD already having the rest of the functions built in it.
The core was built to be flexible and easily updated with new social services. The site UI was left simple and minimal. No need for anything complicated. I left it up to the user for the exact url so they could utilize bit.ly or anything other service for usage statistics if they so desired.
All in all a quick, fun and useful little project.
