This project contains source code and a basic HTML page to generate a business card embedded 100% inside of a QR code. From a real world perspective, scanning the QR code simply brings up the native contact viewer on the smartphone which scanned the QR code, making it very easy to save the contact immediately or continue to edit the contact. From a technical perspective, the QR code generated by this process embeds the source code for a VCF contact file, or vCard file, which should be automatically interpreted by the receiving device through the native Contacts app available on all smart phones today. The QR code generated from this process does not link to a website or other tracking service as many QR code services will do in order to share and display contact information. The QR code generated from this process does not require any other application or third party installation.
The purpose of this project is to host the code behind a simple webpage published on github pages that gives people the ability to create their own digital business card for free. The inspiration behind this project was the desire to avoid services and apps which take multiple steps to accomplish a simple goal of sharing contact information. Many of these third party services collect information, unknowingly track activity, and require an active internet connection to share the contact information. Embedding the contact information directly in a vCard file allows the face to face interaction to happen quickly and painlessly because no internet connection or third party application is required - only a smart phone and a camera.
The following skeleton code represents the syntax and structure used for the contact creation.
BEGIN:VCARD
VERSION:3.0
N:{{Last name}};{{First name}};
FN: {{Full name}}
ORG:{{Organization}};
TEL;TYPE=mobile;TYPE=pref:{{Primary phone number}}
TEL;TYPE=home:{{Secondary phone number}}
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET;TYPE=WORK:{{Work email}}
EMAIL;TYPE=INTERNET;TYPE=HOME:{{Personal email}}
ADR;type=HOME;type=pref:;;123 Street;City;State;Zip;Country
ADR;type=WORK:;;123 Street;City;State;Zip;Country
NOTE:Freeform notes
BDAY:1984-02-09
TITLE:{{Job title}}
URL:{{Primary website}}
URL:{{Secondary website}}
VERSION:3.0
END:VCARD