- Goto http://goo.gl/
- Enter a URL
- Click shorten
- Click “details”
- Note/save the QR code
If you dig deeper, you find that you can click on the QR code there, which will take you to a Google Charts link. For example, here is the Google Charts link for a link I made Paid Membership Pro’s page in the WordPress repository:
http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=150×150&choe=UTF-8&chld=H&chl=http://goo.gl/sLIg0
Hmmm, what if we just change that URL at the end of the query? Will it generate a new QR code for me? For a non-goo.gl URL? Yes!
This link works too, and doesn’t go through Goo.gl:
http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=150×150&choe=UTF-8&chld=H&chl=http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/paid-memberships-pro/
Some people will want to use the shortened code since Google adds some value by showing link throughs, etc. Some people may like that their own URL shows up in the QR reading for a moment and choose to roll their own code using the Google Charts API there.
Have fun making those QR codes!