First a short explanation about bar codes. There’s a great many different types of bar-codes. Amongst the often used are: UPC, Code 39 and EAN. Some types are used for specific standards, and some are used only in certain countries, for instance.
EAN bar-code on a retail product
EAN is a good example of this; this bar-code is only used in Europe. The existence of these different types of bar-codes means that there’s demands to the layout of the code, but also to its content. With EAN codes there’s a number of digits that decides from which manufacturer a product originates. This is especially important for consumer goods, since these bar-codes are used for scanning at the cash register. Double bar-codes would cause a lot of trouble in this situation, and that’s why an EAN code is only allowed to be used by one organization at a time.
A typeface for bar-codes?
Let’s say you want to print a bar-code. That might seem complicated, but in reality it’s not! By using a word processor like Word or Open Office, you can make a template for printing barcodes. That template works by making use of a bar-code font.
Not everybody knows that there are free bar code fonts available on the Internet. You can download these, and use them as you please. But not every bar-code font is suitable for all tasks. For example, some typefaces allow only for numbers to be encoded. A bar-code-font uses the rules set by the bar-code convention in regards to the encoding of the bars, and keep the spacing and size of the bars in check.
Bar-codes and Scanners
An Opticon H19 bar-code scanner
Bar-code scanners can usually read many different kinds of bar-codes. A scanner translates the code to a string of characters that can consist of letters, numbers, and symbols. This string is then saved, or passed on to another device or program. The order of these characters, and how they are arranged, is completely up to you. However, it’s very important to decide how you want to use the bar-codes. If you would create a location bar-code system for use in a warehouse, you could use any kind of bar-code, since only your own company is using it. But if you would create a bar-code system that allows you to send out packages with the mailing companies bar-codes, you would have to adjust to their code standards. When a product is supposed to go into retail, there’s also some rules to keep in mind in creating your bar-code.
Let’s get to work!
In this example, we’ll use the Code 39 bar-code system to create our barcode.
Step 1
Download the free 3 of 9 barcode font. Unpack the downloaded .ZIP-file.
Step 2
Windows: Copy the two .TTF files to %SYSTEM%\Windows\Fonts
On a Mac: Copy the two .TTF files to /Library/Fonts
Step 3
Start you r favorite word processor (e.g. Word), and enter your code. In this case, the code needs to open and close with an asterisk, so that it looks like this: *12345678*
Step 4
Select the text you just typed. From the font list, select: Free 3 of 9.
A bar-code in the word processor: The Free 3 of 9 at the top, below the same text in readable characters.
That’s it! Your own bar-code!
Tips and Tricks
Through the mail merge functions in most office software, you can easily print many labels at the same time.
Microsoft Word calls this Mailings, and Open Office there’s the Mail Merge Wizard to help you out.
