Field notes from the workshop
Guides
Short, honest write-ups of the problems our tools exist for. No padding, no “in today’s digital landscape” — the diagnosis, the fix, and the tool if you want it.
Guide No. 001Do QR codes expire?Only the dynamic kind. How to tell which one you have before it ends up on 500 printed menus.Read the guide →Guide No. 002How to make a QR code for a restaurant menuThe five-minute setup, the print sizes that actually scan, and how to avoid the code that dies mid-service.Read the guide →Guide No. 003How to make a WiFi QR code for guestsOne scan to join, no password recital. What the code contains, why it can't expire, and the print sizes that scan.Read the guide →Guide No. 004Why your QR code isn't scanningSix causes, one-minute diagnosis: size, contrast, quiet zone, styling, glare — or the redirect service behind it quietly died.Read the guide →Guide No. 005How to put a QR code on a business cardvCard beats a link: the details live in the pattern, so the card outlives your hosting. Sizes, what to cut, and the print-run mistake.Read the guide →Guide No. 006What size should a QR code be for print?Scanning distance sets the floor, data density raises it, and resolution decides whether the file survives the printer. All three, with numbers.Read the guide →Guide No. 007Static vs dynamic QR codes: which should you use?One stores your data in the pattern, the other stores a link to a service. That single difference decides cost, lifespan and what happens when you stop paying.Read the guide →Guide No. 008How to make a QR code for Google reviewsGet the review link (not the listing link), encode it as a static code that never expires, print it where customers pay, and stay inside Google's no-incentive rules.Read the guide →Guide No. 009How to make a QR code for a PDFA QR code can't hold a PDF, only a link to one. Where to host the file so the link is yours, and why the 'PDF QR code' upsell is a hostage situation.Read the guide →Guide No. 010How to generate QR codes in bulk from a spreadsheetTable numbers, asset tags, badges, 300 unique links: one CSV in, one ZIP or print sheet out. Which columns you need, why static codes are the only sane choice at volume, and the checks before you print.Read the guide →Guide No. 011How to make QR code asset tags for inventoryOne tag per item, one row per tag. What to encode (an ID you own, not a link you rent), how small the label can go, and why a dynamic tag on 500 machines is 500 hostages.Read the guide →Guide No. 012How to make QR code name badges for an eventOne row per attendee, one badge per row. Encode the registration ID and never the person, size the code for a busy check-in desk, and keep it static so a dead venue wifi can't stop the queue.Read the guide →Guide No. 013How to put a QR code on product packagingPrinted once, shipped for years: the code can never change, so the URL behind it has to be one you own. What to link to, why static wins, and how to get it past the press.Read the guide →Guide No. 014How to make QR codes for restaurant tablesOne code per table, not one for the room: the table number rides in the URL, so the batch is a spreadsheet job. Which URL to encode, why static, the sizes that scan from a chair, and the check before service.Read the guide →Guide No. 015How to make QR codes for coupons and vouchersThe voucher is meant to expire; the code is not. Encode an ID your till looks up, give single-use vouchers their own code from a spreadsheet, and keep the expiry in your system instead of a vendor's redirect.Read the guide →Guide No. 016How to make QR codes for real estate signsThe sign outlives the listing, which is why agents buy dynamic codes. Two codes with two lifespans instead: a per-listing rider from a spreadsheet, a permanent agent code on the panel, both static, both on a domain you own.Read the guide →Guide No. 017How to make QR codes for event ticketsA ticket is a bearer instrument: the code is the claim to a seat. One random ID per ticket from a spreadsheet, a door list that marks each one used, and first-scan-wins — which makes a screenshot worthless without locking anything.Read the guide →Guide No. 018How to print QR code labelsThe batch is correct; the print dialog ruins it. Keep the scale at 100%, proof one sheet against the stock before you print the pack, and know when a die-cut sheet is the wrong tool.Read the guide →Guide No. 019Can you scan a QR code from a screen?Yes — from every screen except the one holding it. A display deletes the two problems print fights, size and contrast, and adds three of its own: dark mode, blocked images, and a camera pointed the wrong way.Read the guide →Guide No. 020How to add a QR code to a design without breaking itThe generator made a correct code; the design tool then scales, crops, recolours, styles and compresses it. Place it as SVG, keep the quiet zone, stay above the contrast floor, and export at 100% K.Read the guide →Guide No. 021How to test a QR code before you print itScanning the preview tests the generator, which was never in doubt. Scan the exported file, then the proof, then follow the scan to the page, on two phones — and read the first failure as the diagnosis.Read the guide →Guide No. 022QR code quiet zone: what it is and how big it needs to beThe blank border is part of the code: it is how the phone finds the corner squares. Four modules on every side, scaled with the code, and the four layouts that crop it away.Read the guide →Guide No. 023QR code SVG vs PNG: which file format to use, and whenSVG for print and design tools, PNG for email and social, JPEG never. The pixel arithmetic when it has to be PNG, and the five ways a vector file goes wrong that nobody warns you about.Read the guide →Guide No. 024How much data can a QR code hold?The spec says 4,296 characters. Your print size says about sixty. What a version really is, and the character budget you actually get.Read the guide →Guide No. 025How many times can a QR code be scanned?A static code has no counter to run out. Scan caps come from the redirect service's billing meter — and they fire the moment a campaign starts working.Read the guide →Guide No. 026How to measure subtitle delay in VLCScrubbing to a sound is a guess. Nudge the delay until the line lands, read the number off the screen — then write it into the file, not the player.Read the guide →Guide No. 027Convert subtitle framerate: 23.976 to 25 fps and backA preset rescales the whole file in one click — but your SRT has no framerate written in it. How to find both rates, and read one off the drift.Read the guide →Guide No. 028Subtitles out of sync halfway through: fixing a cutIn sync for an hour, then suddenly seconds off and staying that way? That is a cut, not drift. Find the break, measure the jump, and fix each side of it on its own.Read the guide →Guide No. 029Subtitles out of sync: how to fix a constant delaySame gap from first line to last? One number fixes the whole file — but only if you shift the right way, and write it into the file rather than the player.Read the guide →Guide No. 030How to fix subtitles that gradually go out of syncWhen a constant shift fixes minute 5 and ruins minute 85, you have drift. Here is the two-anchor repair.Read the guide →Guide No. 031What to include on an invoiceThe eight things every invoice needs, the numbering scheme that scales, and the mistakes that delay payment.Read the guide →