What this app could become. Everything above the backend line runs
in the browser on GitHub Pages — no server, no account, no tracking.
Effort is rough: S = an afternoon, M = a few days, L = a project of its own.
Area
Today
Payloads
24 kinds — 10 everyday, 14 behind an Other disclosure (payments, GS1, TOTP, app links, …)
Style
6 module shapes (including fluid, merging neighbours), 4 eye frames, 3 eye centres, linear gradient, separate eye colour, quiet zone, 5 presets
Mark
5,492 icons (Simple Icons + Lucide), SVG/PNG upload, brand-hex tint, clearance, auto-fit
Verify
Every preview rasterized and decoded with zxing-wasm; contrast ratio warning
Export
SVG, PNG, JPG, WebP, transparent background; copy image; copy share link
Persistence
Design in the URL hash, saved designs in localStorage
All 24 are in, specs under src/payloads/. What is left from this section:
Idea
Detail
Effort
Payload templates
Pre-filled examples per type — "try a sample" instead of a blank form
S
Raw / advanced mode
Textarea with a byte counter and the chosen encoding mode shown
S
zxing-wasm is already a dependency and its writeBarcode can emit far more than QR. This is the
highest value-per-line item in the whole list.
Idea
Detail
Effort
Micro QR / rMQR
Tiny and rectangular codes for narrow labels and cable tags
M
Data Matrix, Aztec, PDF417
Logistics, tickets, driver's licences
M
EAN-13, UPC-A, Code128, Code39, ITF
Retail and warehouse barcodes — same styling engine, same verify loop
M
Structured Append
Split one long payload across several linked QR codes
L
Version / mask pinning
Force a symbol version or mask pattern instead of letting the encoder pick
M
Idea
Detail
Effort
Frame with call-to-action
"SCAN ME" plate around the code, a few frame shapes, custom label and colour
M
Radial and angled gradients
Today: linear at a fixed 45°. Add angle, radial, and a 3+ stop editor
S
Gradient on eyes and background
Separate gradient targets, as qr-code-styling has
S
Per-corner eye styling
Each of the three finders its own shape and colour
S
More module shapes
Diamond, star, cross, vertical and horizontal bars
M
Background image
Photo behind the code with an opacity/scrim control, verified as always
M
Halftone / artistic QR
Image mapped onto module density; each module a small tile
L
Custom module image
Tile a logo or emoji as the module glyph
M
Rounded outer container
Corner radius + drop shadow + border on the exported canvas
S
Colour extraction from logo
Upload a logo, offer its dominant colours as the palette
M
Palette suggestions
Given fg, propose backgrounds that clear 3:1 and look intentional
S
Preset library
Many more than 5, grouped (corporate, playful, print, mono), each thumbnailed
S
Invert / dark-mode variant
Export a light-on-dark twin in one click
S
Mark shapes
Circle/rounded/square plate behind the mark, mark offset, mark rotation
S
4. Scannability — the differentiator Verifying with a real decoder is already this app's best idea. Push it further; nobody else does.
Idea
Detail
Effort
Robustness grading
Re-decode under blur, rotation, perspective, noise, low light. Report "scans through 40% blur" instead of a pass/fail badge
M
Multi-decoder agreement
Verify with zxing and the browser's BarcodeDetector and jsQR — cross-scanner confidence, not one library's opinion
M
Print size calculator
Scan distance → minimum print size (the 10:1 rule), module size in mm, DPI check for the chosen pixel size
S
Damage simulation
Cover a corner, fold, scratch — show how much the current ECC really buys
M
Move verification to a worker
fitMarkSize binary-searches ~10 rasterize+decode rounds on the main thread. A worker keeps typing smoothM
Auto-fix suggestions
"Raise ECC to Q", "shorten this URL by 12 chars to drop a version", "darken fg to #1a3ad0" — one-click each
M
Payload length budget
Live "you have 41 characters before the code jumps a version"
S
Quiet-zone lint
Warn below 4 modules, explain why a scanner then misses it
S
CMYK / print warning
Flag colours that shift badly in CMYK, or pure-black-on-white advice for offset print
S
5. Decoding (read, not just write) The decoder is already bundled. A "Scan" tab is nearly free and doubles the app's usefulness.
Idea
Detail
Effort
Decode from camera
getUserMedia + zxing, liveM
Decode from file / paste / drop
Drop a PNG, get the payload
S
Round-trip
Decode a code, parse the payload back into a design, edit and re-export it
M
Payload inspector
Pretty-print what a decoded vCard/Wi-Fi/EPC payload actually contains, flag suspicious URLs
S
Safety check
Warn on IDN homographs, punycode, shortener chains, javascript: payloads
M
Idea
Detail
Effort
CSV bulk generation
Upload a CSV, one QR per row, one shared design, ZIP download — entirely client-side
M
Template variables
https://x.be/{{slug}} filled per rowS
Print sheet export
Avery label grids, cut marks, N-up PDF — the thing people actually want for events
M
PDF export
Real vector PDF, sized in mm, ready for a printer
M
EPS export
Still requested by print shops
M
Undo / redo
The design reducer is already a clean action log — cheap to make time-travel
S
Keyboard shortcuts
Step navigation, download, copy
S
Import / export saved designs
JSON file in and out; today a localStorage wipe loses everything
S
IndexedDB for uploads
The 100 KB localStorage cap silently drops uploaded logos on save
S
Shorter share links
Compress the hash (LZ + base64url); the URL is unwieldy for a vCard
S
Design diff / compare
Two variants side by side, both verified
M
Named brand kit
Lock colours + logo + shapes, then only the payload changes per code
S
Idea
Detail
Effort
PWA / offline
Service worker, installable, works on a stand at a conference with no Wi-Fi
M
Web Share Target
Share a URL from the phone straight into the generator
S
Web Share API
"Share" the PNG to WhatsApp/Slack from mobile
S
Print stylesheet
Ctrl+P gives a clean sheet, not the app chrome
S
i18n
NL / FR / EN — itenium is Belgian, the audience is trilingual
M
Accessibility pass
Alt text on the preview, live-region for the scan verdict, focus management between steps, reduced motion
M
Deep link to a step
#…&step=3 so a shared link opens where you left itS
Onboarding
A 20-second tour, or a "surprise me" random design
S
Analytics-free badge
Say it out loud: nothing leaves the browser. It is a real differentiator
S
Idea
Detail
Effort
npm package
@itenium/qr — the renderer and verifier, framework-freeM
React component
<QrDesign design={…} />S
Web Component
<itenium-qr payload="…"> for non-React sitesM
CLI
bunx @itenium/qr --wifi … -o qr.svg, using resvg (already a devDependency)M
GitHub Action
Generate codes in CI from a CSV in a repo
S
Embeddable iframe
A widget other itenium sites drop in
S
Idea
Detail
Effort
Visual regression tests
Snapshot the SVG per preset; catch silent render drift
S
Fuzz the payload encoders
Unicode, emoji, semicolons, quotes, RTL — Wi-Fi and vCard escaping is where these break
S
Decode matrix in CI
Every preset × every shape × several payload lengths, all decoded
M
Bundle budget
The icon index is 5,492 entries — track what the first paint actually costs
S
Lighthouse in CI
Perf and a11y as a gate
S
Everything above is possible without one. These are not — they need state that outlives the tab
and a URL the app controls.
Dynamic codes — the whole category A dynamic code encodes a short link the app owns and can re-point later. Every feature below
follows from that one capability.
Idea
Detail
Editable destination
Reprint nothing. The poster stays, the URL changes
Scan analytics
Count, timestamp, coarse geo, device, OS, referrer; charts and CSV export
Custom short domain
qr.itenium.be/x7f instead of a third party's brand on your poster
Expiry and scheduling
Live from Monday, dead after the event
Geo and device routing
iOS→App Store, Android→Play, desktop→website; NL visitors→NL page
A/B destinations
Split traffic, measure which landing page wins
Password / access gate
Confidential documents behind a code
Scan-limit codes
One-time tickets, N-use vouchers
Retargeting pixels
Meta/Google/TikTok tags fired in the redirect hop
Scan notifications
Email, webhook, or Slack on scan or on a traffic spike
Accounts and collaboration
Idea
Detail
Real accounts
Designs and codes follow you across devices; no more localStorage-only
Teams and roles
Shared workspace, viewer/editor/admin, audit log
Shared brand kits
One locked corporate style everyone in the org generates against
Asset library
Logos hosted server-side, no 100 KB cap, reusable across codes
SSO / SAML
The thing that makes it sellable to an enterprise
Idea
Detail
Landing page builder
vCard page, restaurant menu, event page, link-in-bio — QR points at a page you host
File hosting
PDF menu or brochure behind the code, swappable without reprinting
Wi-Fi guest page
Terms + password + a one-tap join, instead of raw WIFI:
Lead capture
Form behind the code, results to CSV or a CRM
Idea
Detail
Image API
GET /qr.png?d=<design> — QR codes inside emails, PDFs, and server-rendered docs
Generation API + keys
Programmatic creation, rate-limited, SDKs
Async bulk jobs
50,000 codes, server-side ZIP, webhook when done
Server-side rendering
resvg/Chromium for exact raster, true CMYK PDF and EPS
Malware screening
Safe Browsing check on every destination — the abuse vector for any redirector
Abuse controls
Rate limits, takedown flow, retention and GDPR policy
AI artistic QR
ControlNet-style image-conditioned codes; needs a GPU, verified with the existing decode loop
Dynamic codes do not require a real server. Worth prototyping before committing to one:
Approach
What you get
Cost
Redirect map in the repo
#/r/<id> on Pages resolves against a committed JSON; edit = commitFree, no analytics, public map
Cloudflare Worker + KV
Real redirects, real edit, basic counters
Free tier covers a lot
Netlify / Vercel edge function
Same, plus their analytics
Free tier
Plausible or GoatCounter
Scan counts without building an analytics stack
Cheap, GDPR-friendly
Barcode formats via writeBarcode — zxing-wasm is already installed; Data Matrix, Aztec, EAN and Code128 are mostly wiring.A Scan tab — the decoder is already bundled and verified; reading codes doubles the app's reason to exist.Robustness grading instead of a pass/fail badge — nobody else verifies at all, let alone tells you how much margin you have.