08 Jan

Barcode Basics for macOS Reviews

Thanks for the reviews!

As a small development company, app reviews from our customers mean an awful lot to us. We’d like to thank those of you who left them, and share the best of them with the rest of you.

Here are some of our favourite Mac App Store for our flagship macOS barcode generator, Barcode Basics:

update if you need to change over from barcode pro this is the best option without having to break the bank. package designer working with this every day. nice layout and it works crating a vector file.
(4/5) from mac-user-101, USA

After trying “less expensive” alternatives I found that this app is worth they price. You get what you pay for. Some paid apps are as much as $300. The free apps either lure you into spending much more to get what you need, give you incorrect codes or produce unscalable bitmaps. Bit maps may develop blured lines that dont scan properly for your customers. This program creates clean eps files that are scalable.
(5/5) from live to learn, learn to live, USA

Affordable and does what I need. Excellent value for money. Pretty much faultless.
(5/5) stars from AJKS, UK

At last a stand alone barcode application which can be used without paying a fortune. It is quick and easy, very user friendly and is (I believe) industry standard, just right for the packaging trade. Good app, good price and versatile!
(5/5) stars from freespeakiain, UK

Great little app, that is affordable, simple and quick to use. The developer is really responsive, he added support for Code 128 barcodes a few days after requesting it!
(5/5) stars from ChrisRichards, UK

If you’re looking for a macOS barcode generator which won’t break the bank then why not give Barcode Basics a try! Click the Mac App Store link below for more information and to get your copy.


Link to Mac App Store to purchase Barcode Basics - Mac barcode software

macOS barcode software screenshot

27 Nov

Barcode Basics now supports Mojave’s Dark Mode

Users of our popular macOS barcode creator, Barcode Basics, can now choose to take advantage of dark mode support in macOS Mojave (10.14) or higher.

Dark mode is a dramatic new look in macOS that’s easy on your eyes and helps you focus on your work. Barcode Basics supports it fully, and we think it looks pretty smart.

As always, the update from the Mac app store is completed free. If you don’t already own a copy then click here for more info.

Let us know what you think!

Barcode Basics fully supports dark mode in macOS Mojave

11 Oct

Is your Barcode app ready for 64 bit?

Recently, we’ve had a few questions about 64-bit apps and also code signing. It seemed sensible to talk about them here, rather than keep repeating the same message!

64-bit applications

A number of users have asked whether our macOS barcode app, Barcode Basics is a 64-bit app. The short answer, is “yes”. But why does is matter? Well, all modern Macs have 64-bit processors. This means that apps designed to run on 64-bit processors will generally run faster and better than apps designed to run on the old legacy 32bit processors. So, why are people suddenly asking?

macOS displays this message if you try to run 32bit apps

Apple has been supporting both types of apps for quite some time, but has now announced that its current macOS (Mojave) will be the last to support 32-bit technology.

So it’s a good time to check that the apps you rely on are 64-bit, otherwise you may find yourself without them on the next major macOS release. To check whether an app is 64-bit or not, you could either contact the developer or follow these steps:

  • From the Apple Menu, select “About this Mac”
  • Click the “System Report” button
  • From the system report, scroll down to “Software” in the left hand sidebar, then click “Applications”
  • Select the Application you’re interested in and you will see a field called “64-bit (Intel)”
  • If you see “Yes” in the “64-bit (Intel)” field then the selected app wasdesigned for 64 bit.

    • More about 64-bit here: Apple info on 32-bit/64-bit app compatibility

    Code Signing

    We also sometimes get asked about code signing. Code signing assures you that an app is from a known source and hasn’t been tampered with since it was signed. Logically, if an app isn’t code signed then you can’t be certain where it came from or that something malicious hasn’t been done to is since it was created – a popular way of introducing malware.

    All apps purchased direct from the Mac App Store are code-signed (Apple simply rejects them if they’re not). However, apps from other sources (e.g. downloaded from websites) may or may not be code signed.

    Apps which are not code signed can still run on macOS, although you may get a warning when you try to run them, depending on your security settings. If this happens, you should think carefully about whether you trust the source of the app and whether you’re comfortable with the risks of running unsigned code.

    More about code signing here: Apple info about code signing

    Summary

    Barcode Basics is 64-bit compatible and fully code signed so you can be sure it will continue to work in the next macOS, and that it hasn’t been maliciously changed since it was signed by us. Here’s a comparison between Barcode Basics and it’s competitors:

    App Name64-bitCode SignedPrice Per User
    Barcode Basics

    Yes

    Yes

    		$19.99
    MBC4

    No

    Yes

    		$395
    Agamick Barcoder

    Yes

    No

    		$97 - $195 (depending on functionality)
    Barcode X

    No

    Yes

    		$386
    Barcode Producer

    No

    Yes

    		$299
    iBarcoder

    Yes

    Yes

    		$49.99
    Data correct at October 2018. Some prices shown were converted to USD using exchange rates at time of writing.

    While we have your attention… why not check out our macOS apps?

    Barcode Basics – macOS barcode generator (including Automator support)
    Ai Actions – Automator action pack for Adobe Illustrator
    Pages Automator Actions – Automator action pack for Pages

    24 Aug

    Automate barcode production on macOS

    We’re excited to announce the launch of a new version of Barcode Basics which includes support for Apple’s Automator app. This means that you can create barcodes in your own Automator workflows, services and even simple apps – without knowing anything about programming.

    Imagine creating batches of barcodes from numbers supplied in a spread sheet. Or creating a barcode directly from text selected in an email. Anything you can do in Barcode Basics, you can now do in an Automator workflow.

    Barcode Basics’ Automator workflow is included in every version of Barcode Basics, as standard. There are no hidden extra charges. And Barcode Basics is the cheapest way of automating barcode production by a long shot.

    For more information about Barcode Basics, or to pick up your copy head over to the Mac App Store by clicking the link below.


    Link to Mac App Store to purchase Barcode Basics - Mac barcode software

    09 Aug

    Ain’t no party like a barcode party…

    Barcode Party!

    Our macOS barcode creation app “Barcode Basics” hit an important milestone today. Since it’s release in late 2013, it’s now sold over 2,500 copies.

    Our vision was to make a barcode app that was affordable to the masses, yet still produced barcodes good enough for packaging, publishing etc.

    Five years later and Barcode Basics has matured nicely and is being used on a daily basis by freelance graphic designers, publishers and printers around the world. It’s still the only barcode app we’re aware of that ships with Automator actions as standard.

    We’d like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to every last one of our users, to assure you that we will continue to develop and support the app. Now to figure out what exactly a barcode party entails…

    15 May

    Using Automator to convert Pages to PDF

    Recently we were asked how to use Automator to convert Apple Pages documents into PDFs. In the spirit of sharing the knowledge, here’s how we did it.

    It’d be great to make an app which we could drop our Pages files on and have them made into PDFs. The obvious way to make such an app is with Automator. Unfortunately, Pages doesn’t ship with Automator actions (although there are some funky third party options)

    Luckily, Pages is AppleScriptable so we can make our own action. Let’s look at how to do that.

    First, launch Automator (you’ll find it in your Mac’s Applications folder). Select “Application”.

    Screen Shot 2016-05-12 at 13.19.38

    Next, drag a “Run AppleScript” workflow into your workflow so you have something that looks like this:

    Screen Shot 2016-05-12 at 13.20.06

    Replace all the purple text in the action with the following AppleScript:

    on run {input, parameters}

    repeat with theFile in input
    tell application "Finder"
    set theFilesFolder to (folder of theFile) as text
    end tell

    tell application "Pages"
    set theDoc to open theFile

    set theDocName to name of theDoc
    set theName to (characters 1 thru -7 of theDocName) as text
    export theDoc as PDF to file ((theFilesFolder & theName & ".pdf") as text)

    close theDoc

    end tell
    end repeat
    return input
    end run

    Save the workflow and you should now have an app that you can drop Pages documents on.

    Note that it’s up to you to make sure that the documents you drop actually are Pages documents – the script doesn’t check and may error if you drop the wrong type of documents.

    On a related note, if you’d rather dodge the AppleScripting all together then you could try out our handy Pages Automator Actions.

    While we have your attention… why not check out our macOS apps?

    Barcode Basics – macOS barcode generator (including Automator support)
    Ai Actions – Automator action pack for Adobe Illustrator
    Pages Automator Actions – Automator action pack for Pages