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 include other "characters" in addition to those that you enter as data. All barcodes start with a start pattern and end with a stop pattern. One or more of the characters in the barcode are actually "check digits" designed to enable the barcode scanner to check that it has read all the other digits correctly.

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. Height to Width ratio: The dLSoft Universal Barcode Fonts are supplied in five height/width ratios; the narrowest being UNA and the widest being UNE. It is, of course, not necessary to install all the fonts if only a limited number of height/width ratios are required.

The ratios (for the narrowest bar) are:

UNA 50:1

UNB 33:1

UNC 25:1

UND 20:1

UNE 15:1

UNF 33:1 (Clocked codes only)

4. Bar thickness reduction: The dLSoft Universal 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.

5. Barcode size: While most barcode can be printed at any size beyond a certain minimum, some have standard widths (such as the EAN and UPC retail codes) which should be followed.

The clocked codes (such as PostNet, RM4SCC, etc) are more critical, in that both the number of bars per inch and the height of the bars must be within certain limits. The characters for the clocked code are provided ONLY in the UNF fonts, and should be reproduced at the following sizes:

Australia Post 16-17 point
Korean PA 26-28 point
PostNet/Planet 18 point
RM4SCC 16-17 point

The Fonts