I should have also asked this question about Smart Phones and QR. Let's say a business, or genealogy speaker, puts a QR on a brochure. A Smart Phone user scans the QR. Does the QR then stay "in" the phone, like a bookmark that the person can re-visit at will? I still don't know/understand Apps. >From what I've learned in this discussion, I guess I should tell my business friend to take his QR off his website and put it into his next flyer instead. Judy On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 8:47 AM, J.A. Florian <cageycat@gmail.com> wrote: > Before I leave this topic... > > Since I don't have a cell phone and never used one to go onto the Internet, > could someone tell me -- > 1. Besides font size issues etc with the tiny screen, do Internet enabled > phones allow a user to click links on a regular/ordinary/html webpage. > 2. Is cell phone Internet just used primarily to play games and get > addresses? > 3. If cell phones can't really see the Internet content very well, what's > the purpose of Internet-enabled phones? One person said they managed to do > one E-mail on a cellphone---that seems (to me) like little productivity for > high cost. > > Judy > > On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Ralph Taylor <rt-sails@comcast.net>wrote: > >> Both Judy & Lorrie wondered about issues involved in developing website >> for >> new devices like smart phones. >> >> I'm not an expert; I use my cell phone only to make and receive calls. I >> can't answer Lorrie's technical questions, except to observe that the >> entire >> industry seems in great flux. New devices, with new operating systems, are >> appearing every day. My guess: W3C can't keep up with the technological >> changes. >> >> My wife, though, has gone through a series of "smart phones" -- most >> recently a Blackberry and an Android. She recently switched to the >> Android's >> larger screen, because the Blackberry's screen was too small to read the >> Google calendar & maps she needs for a new job. >> >> So, that brings up the screen size issue. By the time you get down to a >> 4-inch diagonal, you're talking pretty small and there are only two ways >> to >> show a page designed for an 11-inch (or larger) diagonal: (1) Shrink >> everything down to an unreadable size or (2) Show only part of the page at >> a >> time. I vaguely recall that some sites have "Lite" versions designed for >> these devices. >> >> The "tag-readers" referred to are, I think, called "QR codes"; they're >> graphic images. They can, of course, be used as links like any other >> image. >> They are roughly analogous to bar codes, but bar codes are one-dimensional >> and QR codes are two-dimensional. QR codes are the hot new thing; they can >> automatically charge your card for a Starbucks coffee. >> >> I'm fairly sure I will NOT be redesigning my websites to fit on 3- or >> 4-inch >> screens for these reasons: >> 1. It's a lot of work -- a total re-thinking of layouts and designs -- >> even >> before getting to implementation. >> a. You'd need an image for the code; it would need to follow the >> protocols. >> b. An app for the QR code would need to be built or obtained. >> c. A means of getting the image & app on viewers' phones would be >> needed. >> 2. Detail would be lost; there just isn't room for everything. Do I want >> to >> sacrifice content? >> 3. Would anyone want to see what I could produce that would fit on those >> devices? >> 4. People interested in genealogy tend to be older, with lesser eyesight >> than 20-somethings. Could they read the product? (My eyesight, for >> example, >> won't let me read my wife's laptop.) >> 5. I don't have a profit motive; I'm not expecting income from the sites. >> If >> viewer traffic is less than maximum, so be it. >> >> I'm not sure I completely agree with McCluhan's "The medium IS the >> message.", but certainly the medium controls the message. Just as the >> World >> Wide Web is a very different medium than print on paper, the new >> Web-enabled >> smart phones are a different medium than the Web seen on a laptop or >> desktop. >> -rt_/) >> >>