Guide · Creating links
Short links on paper: flyers, posters and business cards
A link printed on paper cannot be clicked, copied or corrected. It can only be typed, so everything about it should make typing easy, and the print should outlive the campaign.
Paper is typed, not clicked
A reader of a flyer reads the address aloud, types it on a phone and slips where characters look alike. A random code of seven letters and digits is built for machines. An alias, a short lowercase word, is built for people.
Pair the address with a QR code when there is room, and print the address in text beside it for the reader whose camera fails.
How capitals behave
- Random codes are case-sensitive: a code and the same code in lowercase are two different links. A reader who gets the case wrong lands nowhere.
- Aliases are lowercase and resolve in any case, so a reader who types a capital still arrives.
- RFC 3986 makes the scheme and the host of an address case-insensitive. That says nothing about the part after the host, which is where a code lives.
Prefer an alias made of plain words. It has no zero to confuse with an O and no one to confuse with a lowercase L.
Make it outlive the print run
A free link lasts a week, and a flyer hangs for a month. A printed link should be a premium link, which lasts a year, with the date it ends written next to the print order.
Test before printing: type the address from the proof by hand on a phone, and scan the QR code with two different phones.
Questions
Which is better on a poster, a code or an alias?
An alias. It is lowercase, readable aloud and resolves in any case.
Is a free link suitable for print?
No. A free link lasts a week, and printed material outlasts that.
Why print the address beside a QR code?
A camera can fail on a crease or in poor light; the printed address still works.
Sources
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