Welcome to Barcode Blitz for Windows XP & Windows Vista

Introduction

Barcode Blitz (or BB for short) is an easy to use software that creates the barcode Code EAN and some of its applications like ISBN as high resolution raster graphics. Typical applications are barcodes for layout, DTP, package design, book titles or covers etc. Barcode Blitz is very reasonably priced and pays for itself with only a few codes thus bringing the inhouse creation of barcodes within the reach of small businesses, home offices, or mom-and-pop service bureaus.

Supported symbologies

Output options

Main Window

BB is extremely easy to use, even if you are a newbie to barcodes. Simply select the barcode type you need, enter the data to encode and save the code to a file:



Installation

BB does not require any particular installation. You can launch the application directly from the ZIP archive you downloaded. For your convenience you can copy the application to the desktop or into your Program Files folder.


Demo

An demo version of Barcode Blitz is available. The demo version supports all code types, output formats, and output resolutions but places the word "DEMO" near the barcode. (This will not affect the ability to scan the code with a barcode scanner.) To buy the software, unlock the demo and remove this restriction, click the "License..." button and follow the instructions on your screen.

You can also visit our online store here.


Creating codes

To create a barcode, first select the required code type from the list of supported codes. The software will then expect you to enter data as follows:

Code EAN 8 - 7 or 8 digits, e.g. "1234567". If you enter 8 digits the software will discard the last digit and calculate a proper checksum and append it to the preceding 7 digits. This is normal and required to produce a scanable code.

Code EAN 13 - 12 or 13 digits, e.g. "123456789012". If you enter 13 digits the software will discard the last digit and calculate a proper checksum and append it to the preceding 12 digits. This is normal and required to produce a scanable code.

Code ISBN 10 - A valid 10 digit ISBN, with all hyphens, e.g. "1-12345-123-1". (It's possible and normal that the last digit is an "X"). To encode a supplementary addon barcode enter exactly 5 digits, e.g. "52995". You can add plain text (usually to display currency and pricing) of up to 10 characters. If you are unsure about the purpose of the addon, please visit the ISBN website.

Code ISBN 13 - A valid 13 digit ISBN, with all hyphens, e.g. "978-1-12345-123-1". (See screenshot above). To encode a supplementary addon barcode enter exactly 5 digits, e.g. "52995". You can add plain text (usually to display currency and pricing) of up to 10 characters. If you are unsure about the purpose of the addon, please visit the ISBN website. Regarding the migration from ISBN 10 to ISBN 13 please see also this document.

Saving codes

To save the created barcode to a file, first select the desired file format. Currently supported are PNG, TIFF, BMP and JPEG. Although JPEG files are created with the highest quality setting, keep in mind that JPEG is basically a lossy compression which may reduce the quality of the code. JPEG should only be used as a last resort when none of the other formats is usable in your specific case. Also, given the pure black and white character of the codes, JPEG compression is not particularly effective.

Next, select the required output resolution (between 100dpi and 3,200 dpi). It's strongly recommended to select the resolution with which the code will eventually be printed out to avoid unnecessary rescaling. If in doubt, use the highest available resolution. Even with 3,200 dpi resolution typical codes come out at less than 1 MB so they are still manageable.

Finally, select the required code size. In the majority of applications SC 2 (corresponding to 100% of the standardized size) will be ok.

Note: For EPS output the options for resolution and code size are disabled. EPS is vector-based and can be scaled in the target application. The software will create a SC 2 (100%) barcode; when rescaling you must not create codes outside the tolerable limits of 82% to 200%.

Click "Save..." to open a standard "Save as..." file dialog where you can choose output directory and file name.

FAQ

Q I want to encode 5 digits into a barcode EAN but the software will only show an error message?
A All codes available in the software are standardized by ISO. In the case of Code EAN 13, to pick an example, the code is specified to encode 12 digits plus a compulsory check digit, hence the name. If you want to create a code with less than 12 digits you'll have to left pad your number with zeroes, e.g. "000000012345".

Q The generated images are in RGB format. Is it possible to have b/w images?
A Currently the software will only create RGB raster images. If you need monochrome (or any other format) images, you can easily and without loss of quality convert the images, e.g. in Photoshop.

Q What about the SC sizes? Why can't I set my own sizes?
A Code EAN and deviated codes (like ISBN) are ISO standardized. The standard specifies 10 sizes (SC0 to SC9) with SC2 set as 100%. Other sizes for this barcode type are not permitted to maintain conformity with the standard.

Q Even with the lowest size (SC 0) the code is to large for my application. What can I do?
A As long as the width of the overall code remains unaffected (the width is the only criteria that effects the scanability of the code), you can safely reduce the height of the code, provided the overall height stays above around 15 mm (0.6"). To do so you can either clip the upper part of the code or overlay a white rectangle, e.g. in Photoshop.

Q I'd like to have another font / font size / text position with the barcode?
A With standardized codes like EAN the font size and position depend on the given output size and can not be changed by the user to his liking. This is intentional to maintain the conformity of the created barcodes with the standard. However, you can anytime clip or overlay the text area in the exported barcode in software such as Photoshop.

Q I have Windows 3.x / Windows NT / Windows 98 etc. Can I use Barcode Blitz?
A Barcode Blitz requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher. Also supported is Windows Vista.

Q I'm on a Mac. Can I use Barcode Blitz?
A On a recent Intel Mac you can use Barcode Blitz with either Parallels or Apple's Bootcamp. Visit Barcode For Mac for native Macintosh barcode software.

Q I have more questions. Can I ask you directly?
A Sure. Direct all questions to info AT pro-barcode.com.

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