Introduction

Barcode fonts enable you to print barcodes on high quality graphics printers that can accept fonts (i.e. a Windows supported graphics printer or a PostScript printer that can accept downloaded fonts). However, the user needs to be aware of a number of factors that determine whether printed barcodes can actually be scanned correctly.

1. Just because you are using a barcode font, this does NOT mean that you can type ABC, render it is the barcode font, and produce a scannable barcode image. Barcodes – especially 2D barcodes like PDF417 – include other "characters" in addition to those which you enter as data. In the case of PDF417 each row of the barcode starts with a start pattern and ends with a stop pattern. Many of the characters in the barcode are actually "error correction digits" designed to enable the barcode to be decoded correctly even if some parts of the image have been damaged.

2. The thickness of bars and spaces in barcodes is important. Some types of barcode use only two thicknesses of bar, others use three thicknesses, and others more. Even when you print a barcode using a dLSoft barcode font, you need to ensure that the barcode has not been printed too small - so that within the resolution of the printer a single thickness bar has been printed at the same size as a double thickness bar.  Consequently it is essential that you check that a printed barcode is readable using an appropriate scanner or reader.

Barcodes printed by laser or quality ink-jet printer will, in general, be printed correctly, but codes printed by matrix printers must be reproduced at a large enough scale that the barcodes unit size is at least as large as the printer's pins.

3. Bar thickness reduction: Most dLSoft barcode fonts are supplied in three bar thicknesses. The Wide font (and its variants - names ending in W) should be suitable for most 600 and 1200 dpi laser printers - it has the bar/space ratio defined at its correct value. The Regular font (names ending in R) has all bars reduced by 5-8% and will probably be a better choice for 300 dpi laser printers and good quality ink-jets. The Narrow font (names ending in N) has all bars reduced by 10-16% and is supplied for users who will be creating master copy which will subsequently be printed using a wet ink technique (in which the ink spreads, so making each bar thicker than in the master).  The narrow fonts should only be used if you know that a bar thickness reduction is required. Picking the wrong font usually produces unreadable images! If greater control of bar thickness is needed then an image creating system, such as dBarcode, will be required.

The font details and translation DLL calling instructions given in the following sections cover the following font kits:

Aztec Font Kit
DataMatrix Font Kit
PDF417 Font Kit
QR Code Font Kit

Please see the relevant section for details of your kit.

More:

Aztec barcodes