Hacker News Reader

Comment by LoonyPandora | Hacker News Reader

I think you need a little more instruction. What does this do?

My first thought was that it would generate a QR code for any string you provide, through url hacking. (i.e anything after the domain name is used as the string to encode) - This doesn't seem to be the case.

Very little instruction on the website, nothing on twitter, and no info here… Could you shed a little light please?

EDIT: As tiwilliam informed me, it uses the HTTP referer to create a QR code that contains a link back to that same HTTP referer. If it is not present, the default is lilqr.com.

It's a nice idea, but I don't see the value in having a QR code that links to the page you are already on? A bit more explanation is still necessary :)

View on HN

Sorry, I just wanted to launch it as early as possible. Just put the img-tag on whatever page you would like to have a QR code for and it will create one to the URL of that page.

"Just paste this snippet on any page and get a QR-code to it!" made fine sense to me. nice work

Yes, but what the hell is a QR code? Hehe. Or rather, why do I want one?

I have no idea what this is used for. I'm 1/5th of the way down http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code and still have no idea how this applies to websites. Most people who don't know aren't going to take time to go research it.

In a sentence: I have no idea what value benefit this has for me.

I'm telling you this because I want you to succeed, and if you want to gain traction outside if the HN bubble, then you'll probably want to appeal to regular people.

Same question here - What would I do with the QR code?

It would be great to have on the print version of your page.

Still, a more explicit api would be great.

link the desktop version to the mobile version

Not sure I follow... How would the QR code link the two?

If you have the webpage open on your desktop/laptop, you can easily open it on the mobile browser by scanning the QR code.

As an example, I use Evernote on my laptop and phone. I never need something like this, though, because Evernote synchronizes my data across devices. Likewise, if I want a convenient link for a long, hard-to-remember url, why not just use a url shortener?

EDIT:

Ah, I think I see your point now. The hypothetical website doesn't have an associated mobile app. If I'm reading the site on my laptop and want to switch to my phone, I could scan the QR code rather than typing in the url.

Great for long articles/videos with nasty urls, ...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com