QR Code Linking to EEVblog Forum Topic for PCB - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mr. Wizard
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 02:50:04 am
content: I’m designing a PCB and wanted to place a QR code on it to link toa specific topic on the EEVblog forum. Right now, the URL is fairly long, but the PCB is very small (smaller than 1 cm x 1 cm). The shorter the URL, the smaller the QR code can be, so I want as short a URL as possible.I was wondering if anyone knows a reliable way to shorten EEVblog forum URLs—for example, perhaps taking just a message number and using that in a URL that has a shorter form. I’ve been looking through theSimple Machines Forumdocs but don’t see anything obvious. I found it’s possible to omit the forum name and use/forum/index.php?topic=121gw-multimeter-battery-mod, but that ends up creating a longer URL. Perhaps there is a numeric topic ID I could uncover that could help.I’d prefer not to use a third-party URL shortener so as to not hide that the URL goes to eevblog.com.

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 03:37:31 am
content: This url should do the job:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/?topic=267962.0

author: Mr. Wizard
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 03:41:23 am
content: Nice! Thanks! That’s perfect.How did you find the numeric topic ID?

author: cortex_m0
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 03:54:12 am
content: It's embedded in the search form for "search this topic" at top right.

author: Mr. Wizard
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 04:06:18 am
content: Nice. Thanks—good find! Looks like I can also leave out the.0at the end, and (at least for now) thewww.So I can get it down tohttps://eevblog.com/forum/?topic=267962which gives me a significantly less dense QR code compared to the original.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 04:12:31 am
content: I would link to something you control, for example GitHub page or your own site, where you can update the link as needed. Topics don't live forever, forums don't live forever. Things get moved or renamed.There are also all sorts of URL shortening services, but I'm, not sure I'd relay on them either.

author: Mr. Wizard
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 04:38:17 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on July 21, 2021, 04:12:31 amThat’s a valid point. I was looking for the simplest solution without having to create and maintain an external site, and since this PCB is a mod board for the EEVblog 121GW multimeter I figured its utility won’t necessarily outlast this forum.However, it may be worth creating a GitHub repository for the associated files anyway. I could link to that on the PCB, and include a link back to the forum from there. (Then I could also likely feel safe using the git.io URL shortener, making the URL absolutely tiny.)

author: Mr. Wizard
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 21, 2021, 05:27:39 am
content: I created a GitHub repository. The URL is nice,https://git.io/121gwli, and the QR code (below) is far less dense than the earlier one. I’ll populate the repository with all related files once the PCB is ready. Thanks for the idea!