A business friend who has a Smart-Phone told me about tag readers. A tag reader is a small image embedded (I think) with a website address that any webmaster can set up. The cell phone owner just needs to download a tag reader app. When the tag reader image is placed on a website, a person with a camera-and-Internet enabled phone can hover over the image with the phone, tap the image, and be able to view the website on their cell phone through the app. With a cursory look at the topic, it seems like it might be a good idea. And it is free for webmasters to use. Within discussions about monitor sizes, page/code design, page size, image sizes used on websites, etc., I'm wondering if a tag reader would be an asset or a detriment to put onto a genealogy/histoy website? Do webpages look on a cell phone app just like they look on the Internet, or would webmasters first need to re-do their webpages (and, how)? Would tag readers reach more people interested in genealogy research? Would an on-site Google Seach Box be able to be used when a person views the website through a tag reader app? If not, how would the user find content? Could someone list the major reasons that a tag reader would NOT be a good idea to place on the kind of websites all of us create? I don't own a cell phone and have rarely used a friend's phone (to make a call), so please be detailed when talking about the cell phone side of this question. Judy

Judy, I would like some answers, too. I have often wondered how our RW sites behave on mobile. Having no mobile devices I have had to rely on online mobile emulators. My experience won't answer the significant questions posted by Judy but will help understand the mobile situation, some what. I recently had to opportunity to build a business website and one of the requirements was that it display on mobile devices. So my search started. Which ones? Which platforms, devices and sizes? And, more are emerging into the market. Displaying a web page on mobile meant that I had to make decisions. For instance, which screen size to support, which devices, to the exclusion of others, and so on. Some technologies are better supported than others. There seems to be a lack of agreement on which mobile standard to support, too. W3C supports one, over another. While that group supports the opposite. And to make the job harder, not all mobile browsers behave the same nor do they support the same styles or even recognize that a page should access a mobile css sheet. Mobile seems to be where desktop technology was several years ago, a mix of new technologies with few standards. What I ended up doing was choosing some of the more popular, more used, screen sizes and brands. It is a mess just right now. I look forward to someone answering Judy's question. Lorrie On 07/20/11 13:08, J.A. Florian wrote: > A business friend who has a Smart-Phone told me about tag readers. A tag > reader is a small image embedded (I think) with a website address that any > webmaster can set up. The cell phone owner just needs to download a tag > reader app. When the tag reader image is placed on a website, a person with > a camera-and-Internet enabled phone can hover over the image with the phone, > tap the image, and be able to view the website on their cell phone through > the app. With a cursory look at the topic, it seems like it might be a good > idea. And it is free for webmasters to use. > > Within discussions about monitor sizes, page/code design, page size, image > sizes used on websites, etc., I'm wondering if a tag reader would be an > asset or a detriment to put onto a genealogy/histoy website? Do webpages > look on a cell phone app just like they look on the Internet, or would > webmasters first need to re-do their webpages (and, how)? Would tag > readers reach more people interested in genealogy research? Would an > on-site Google Seach Box be able to be used when a person views the website > through a tag reader app? If not, how would the user find content? > > Could someone list the major reasons that a tag reader would NOT be a good > idea to place on the kind of websites all of us create? > > I don't own a cell phone and have rarely used a friend's phone (to make a > call), so please be detailed when talking about the cell phone side of this > question. > > Judy > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FREEPAGES-HELP-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

As an additional question QR tag readers... What if I put the tag on a County research aid which is a PDF? Would that make it easier when cellphone folks are in the city and wanting to know where to find records? (Our county's records are spread hither and yon due to lack of court house space.) Like Ralph and others have said, I don't want to bother with QR tags on a website if it wouldn't help anyone. Judy On Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 2:08 PM, J.A. Florian <cageycat@gmail.com> wrote: > A business friend who has a Smart-Phone told me about tag readers. A tag > reader is a small image embedded (I think) with a website address that any > webmaster can set up. The cell phone owner just needs to download a tag > reader app. When the tag reader image is placed on a website, a person with > a camera-and-Internet enabled phone can hover over the image with the phone, > tap the image, and be able to view the website on their cell phone through > the app. With a cursory look at the topic, it seems like it might be a good > idea. And it is free for webmasters to use. > > Within discussions about monitor sizes, page/code design, page size, image > sizes used on websites, etc., I'm wondering if a tag reader would be an > asset or a detriment to put onto a genealogy/histoy website? Do webpages > look on a cell phone app just like they look on the Internet, or would > webmasters first need to re-do their webpages (and, how)? Would tag > readers reach more people interested in genealogy research? Would an > on-site Google Seach Box be able to be used when a person views the website > through a tag reader app? If not, how would the user find content? > > Could someone list the major reasons that a tag reader would NOT be a good > idea to place on the kind of websites all of us create? > > I don't own a cell phone and have rarely used a friend's phone (to make a > call), so please be detailed when talking about the cell phone side of this > question. > > Judy >

Judy, Does this help? http://tag.microsoft.com/what-is-tag/benefits.aspx I had thought that you meant favicons at first. What is the difference between favicons and tags then? Kind Regards, Jill -----Original Message----- From: freepages-help-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:freepages-help-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of J.A. Florian Sent: 20 July 2011 19:09 To: LIST_freepages-help@rootsweb.com; LIST: pagenweb@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FreeHelp] Need feedback about "Tag Readers" and webdesign/usability potential issues A business friend who has a Smart-Phone told me about tag readers. A tag reader is a small image embedded (I think) with a website address that any webmaster can set up. The cell phone owner just needs to download a tag reader app. When the tag reader image is placed on a website, a person with a camera-and-Internet enabled phone can hover over the image with the phone, tap the image, and be able to view the website on their cell phone through the app. With a cursory look at the topic, it seems like it might be a good idea. And it is free for webmasters to use. Within discussions about monitor sizes, page/code design, page size, image sizes used on websites, etc., I'm wondering if a tag reader would be an asset or a detriment to put onto a genealogy/histoy website? Do webpages look on a cell phone app just like they look on the Internet, or would webmasters first need to re-do their webpages (and, how)? Would tag readers reach more people interested in genealogy research? Would an on-site Google Seach Box be able to be used when a person views the website through a tag reader app? If not, how would the user find content? Could someone list the major reasons that a tag reader would NOT be a good idea to place on the kind of websites all of us create? I don't own a cell phone and have rarely used a friend's phone (to make a call), so please be detailed when talking about the cell phone side of this question. Judy ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FREEPAGES-HELP-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message