How Barcodes Work
Don't be intimidated by barcodes.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand them; they are just a different way of encoding numbers and letters by using a combination of bars and spaces of varying widths. Think of them as another way of writing since they replace key-data entry as a method of gathering data. In business, the correct use of barcodes can reduce inefficiencies and improve a company's productivity thereby growing its bottom line.
Simply put, barcodes are a fast, easy, and accurate way of entering data.
Bar Code Symbologies
There are a number of different types of bar codes, called "symbologies." The most popular ones, like Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5, or Postnet are simple one dimensional symbologies, meaning they consist just of lines. There are also two dimensional bar codes which can encode a great deal of information. The "bible" of bar code recognition is The Bar Code Book by Roger C. Palmer. It may not be in your local bookstore, but it is available on the Internet.
Bar Code Pros and Cons
Although not easily read by people, bar codes are a very sure way of passing information from a piece of paper into your computer. ScanPoint reads barcodes with speed amazing accuracy. Of course, bar codes have their drawbacks. For example, if a bar code is not read by the recognition engine, then what to do? It is important to always put a human readable version of the value on the same page as the bar code itself.
