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PLEASE NOTE: Due to a problem with the software not operating correctly with recent versions of Windows patches, we have suspended sales of the 'AVS Barcode Source' software until we have fixed the problem.
Click on a question to see the answer... If you have a question that doesn't appear here, please get in touch.
What does the software do?
Can I create a barcode for my book using the software?
What file formats are supported?
What barcode formats are supported?
How much does it cost?
Can I try it before I buy?
Can I pay by cheque / bank transfer / purchase order?
What do other people say about the software?
I've never heard of Alver Valley Software. Who are you? Where are you based? Why should I trust you?
Why is it called "AVS Barcode Source"? Is the source code available?
Why isn't it an open-source product?
Does the software print barcodes?
Does the software use barcode fonts?
When I buy the software, do I get upgrades for free?
Does the software run on Windows? Which versions? How much disk / RAM do I need?
Is the software available for Apple Mac OS-X?
Can I resize barcodes after I've created them?
Do I need to test my barcodes after I create them?
How do I test my barcodes?
Does the software create the necessary checksums?
Can I use any colours for my barcodes?
Does the software create bearer bars (the black box around the barcode image)?
Where do babies come from?
Do you offer technical support?
Do you allocate barcode numbers?
Will you create a barcode for me?
Is there an option to do XYZ?
Do you support barcode format XYZ and/or graphic format XYZ?
Do barcodes contain the price of the item?
What barcode type should I use?
What graphics format should I use?
Very simply, the software can turn a barcode number into an actual image of a barcode, in graphics format. You can then use this graphics image in your desktop publishing (DTP) package, word processor, Adobe Illustrator, etc.
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Can I create a barcode for my book using the software?
Yes. Almost all new books being published require an ISBN barcode. AVS Barcode Source has full support for ISBN barcodes, including the optional 'additional information' which can be used to encode the price. You will be able to save the barcode image in a graphics file ready to give to your publisher or printer. The software has been used to create the barcodes on a number of books.
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What file formats are supported?
See the specification page. But briefly, a number of bitmap formats like BMP and TIFF are supported, and the EPS vector format.
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What barcode formats are supported?
See the specification page for the full list. But all major linear formats including EAN-13, UPC-A, ITF-14 and Code 128 are supported, as is the DataMatrix 2D format (ASCII mode only).
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How much does it cost?
See the pricing page. You can pay using PayPal, either with your credit card (no need to register) or a PayPal account.
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Can I try it before I buy?
Yes. When you download the software, you can use it straightaway in 'demonstration mode' - this lets you try out all features of the software, including saving and loading. However, your barcodes will only contain '1', not your real data. If you decide to buy the software, we will send you an authorisation key which will 'unlock' the full version of the software to let you enter your real barcode data. Even then, we offer a 30-day money back guarantee if you don't get on with the software.
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Can I pay by cheque / bank transfer / purchase order?
To keep our admin costs down, we operate a simple principle that we will not release an authorisation key until the money is in our bank account. If you want to send us a cheque or pay by bank transfer, you may (contact us for details), but it will delay the process of getting your authorisation key. PayPal is really the best way to pay us and receive your key quickly. We do not operate on a purchase order / invoice basis.
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What do other people say about the software?
We ask all our customers for feedback after they've had the software for a few weeks. This is how we know what people like and don't like. You can read some of our customer testimonials here.
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I've never heard of Alver Valley Software. Who are you? Where are you based? Why should I trust you?
We are a Limited Company, registed in England (see about us). We are based in Lee on the Solent, near Portsmouth, UK. The Alver Valley, from which we take our name, is a local area of natural beauty, with sites of special scientific interest, wildlife, etc. When deciding whether to trust us, look at some of our customer testimonials, and also bear in mind that we have a 30-day money-back guarantee. Finally, your payment is handled by PayPal, which has its own safeguards in place - we do not see your credit card details at any time.
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Why is it called "AVS Barcode Source"? Is the source code available?
AVS after our company name. And it's a "source" of barcode images for use in other applications in your workflow, such as DTP or illustration packages. No, the source code is not available - it's not an open source product.
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Why isn't it an open-source product?
We need to eat, and keep up our mortgage repayments. We don't think that makes us evil. We work hard to make the software great, and we think that means it's worth selling for a modest price (click here) rather than giving away for free. We think the price is low enough to be affordable by any organisation or individual likely to be dealing with barcodes.
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Does the software print barcodes?
Not directly, no. The software is a 'source' of barcode graphic images, which can be saved, and then imported into your DTP (or other) application. The reason for this is that barcodes are rarely used "on their own", but are almost always as part of a larger image, for example a book cover, packaging design, wine label, etc.
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Does the software use barcode fonts?
No. Barcode fonts are usually considered to be the lower-quality or "quick and dirty" method of creating barcode images. AVS Barcode Source create the entire barcode image from graphics constructs for maximum flexibility and accuracy. Of course, if your barcode image includes a "human readable" (i.e. text) part, then that is created using fonts.
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When I buy the software, do I get upgrades for free?
When you buy the software, your authorisation key will work for all future releases of that version of the software. For example, the current version is 1.1 - if we release future builds of v1.1 with new features and/or bug fixes, your authorisation key will work with those versions. When we release a new major version (such as 1.2, or 2.0), you will need to buy that separately, although existing customers may be offered a discount.
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Does the software run on Windows? Which versions? How much disk / RAM do I need?
Yes, it runs on Windows, from XP SP2 onwards, Vista and Windows 7. Disk and RAM requirements are trivial compared to most modern applications.
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Is the software available for Apple Mac OS-X?
Not yet, but we're working on it, and it's due for release in the autumn of 2009. If you'd like to be involved in testing the Mac version when it's ready, and get a free version of the production version afterwards, please click here to read more.
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You can resize barcodes fully within the product, and that is by far the best place to do it. You should get the size right in AVS Barcode Source, and then save the image - do not resize your images in other software such as your DTP application. The reason for this is that when you resize an image in DTP or other applications, it may widen some bars more than others, which is very critical for a barcode image. If you get the size right in AVS Barcode Source, the software will ensure that all bars are the correct width relative to each other.
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Do I need to test my barcodes after I create them?
Definitely. Although the software tries to create barcodes that are as accurate as possible, it cannot control everything - for example, your choice of colours, print surface, paper type, etc, all affect how well a barcode will scan. So you should always test barcodes carefully before doing a big print run.
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How do I test my barcodes?
Ultimately, it's up to you. What would be the penalty if your barcode image failed to scan some of the time? At the very least, you should print them on your final choice of paper, and make sure they scan with a few different barcode scanners. If doing a really big print run, it may be worth buying or hiring professional barcode verification hardware.
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Does the software create the necessary checksums?
Yes - some barcode formats require checksums, and in these cases, the software creates them for you (or validates the checksum you enter, if you enter it yourself). In the case of the DataMatrix 2D format, which requires very complex error-correction codes to be added (known as Reed-Solomon encoding), this is fully handled by the software completely automatically.
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Can I use any colours for my barcodes?
The software lets you choose the foreground (bar) and background (space) colours. You can use any combination - however, be aware that some colour combinations scan better than others - for example, light yellow on a white background is probably not going to work well. Sticking to high-contrast combinations, like black bars on a white background, is usually the safest choice.
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Does the software create bearer bars (the black box around the barcode image)?
For formats that require it, or specify it as an option, yes. Bearer bars can help increase printing and scanning accuracy for some types of barcode, and should be used where specified.
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Where do babies come from?
Erm, ask someone else, we're here to talk about barcodes.
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Support is expensive to provide, and that cost is built into the price of some other products. We do not build the cost of providing telephone-based support into our product, so please don't ring us and ask for help. However, if you are having problems, please email us, and we will of course try to help, although we do not have a guaranteed response time to any support queries. Rest assured that we will try to get you working, or in the worst-case scenario, we will honour our 30-day money back guarantee (although we've never been asked to yet!)
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Do you allocate barcode numbers?
No, that is done by international organisations who control the sequence of numbers to make sure they are unique. What our software does is turn your existing barcode numbers into high-quality barcode images ready for use on your product.
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Will you create a barcode for me?
No, sorry. The software we sell makes it VERY easy for you to do it yourself, though, as confirmed by many of our customers! But we are a software house, not a services company. If you really want someone else to do it for you, there are companies who provide barcode images ready to use, although in some cases a single image costs more than our entire software product which you could use to create as many as you want!
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Is there an option to do XYZ?
All the options are there on the main screen. We believe we've covered most of the possibilities, based on our customer feedback - but if you want to do something you can't see on the screen, it may not be built into the product yet. Please let us know though - we may be able to offer a workaround, and we will take all requests onboard for future versions.
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Do you support barcode format XYZ and/or graphic format XYZ?
All the barcode and graphic formats we support are listed in the specification page, and also available in the demonstration version of the software for you to try. If you have a requirement we do not meet, please let us know - we will add it to our list and let you know as soon as it's done.
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Not usually, no. Barcodes usually just contain an 'item number', which is unique to that item - the price is looked up from that when the barcode is scanned. The price can change, and you don't want to have to reprint all barcodes every time there is a price change. There are some exceptions to this, though: for example, barcodes on books often contain an additional barcode to the right of the main barcode, which does contain the price.
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What barcode type should I use?
We can't really tell you that - it depends on your requirement. There are many different formats, some are used for specific things. EAN-13 is the most common format for retail products. ISBN is used on books. ISSN is used on newspapers and magazines. ITF-14 is sometimes used for outer packaging. Code 128 is often used on electronics items. The chances are that which format you need to use will be decided for you depending on what your product is, and who will be using the resulting barcodes.
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What graphics format should I use?
If you're producing images to send to your printer or publisher, then ask them what they want. EPS or TIFF are usually good choices. If you're going to be working with the resulting image yourself, then it will depend what formats your DTP application supports, but again, EPS is a good choice, as is TIFF. Try to avoid JPG, which is not high enough quality for barcode work, and may be discontinued as a supported format by AVS Barcode Source in the future.
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