These barcodes are designed to include helpful links in the margins of digital and printed pages.
Inky-Linky has just announced its latest idea, which allows customers to add QR codes to the margins of websites so that when the pages are printed out, they will still include a fast and easy way to return to the site.
This new and clever way to reference all of the links from the page could change the face of web design.
The key to the QR codes from Inky-Linky is in their simplicity. As it remains common to print pages from websites for various reasons, there has been a need to help to maintain the links that were embedded into the text and images of the site. By working the barcodes into the margins of the page, there will always be a way to benefit from those hyperlinks, regardless of whether they are for the actual page, other locations on the site, or off-site pages.
These QR codes help to regain the lost value of hyperlinks on a page that has been printed.
When the webpage is printed out, the QR codes appear in the margins on either side of the page content. Though this has been receiving a great deal of attention and applause, there have been some people who have pointed out a few scenarios where this technique may not be as effective.
For example, when pages have a large number of hyperlinks, the sheer quantity of barcodes that would be required to represent all of the links would cause errors in many browsers, and will provide a messy and crowded printout that will likely not offer real benefit to the user. As it is becoming increasingly common to add a large number of links to any given webpage, this could represent an important hurdle that Inky-Linky may need to overcome.
The next struggle is that while a couple of QR codes on the standard webpage and on a printout may be pleasant and handy enough, it causes notable struggles when trying to view a site over a mobile device. It causes misalignments, slow download times, and other struggles that many users find highly frustrating. Therefore, at least for the moment, it will need to be used by companies that have a dedicated mobile site alternative.
