Barcode applications exist in many flavours and versions. Excellent barcode applications for Mac OS X include Intelli Innovations’ products and Barcode Toolbox plug-in for Illustrator. But Barcode Generator from Wolf Software is an especially likeable barcode creation tool.

Barcode Generator 2.3--the version that I had the chance of reviewing--is a cleanly designed program with tabs for linear barcodes, PDF417 and Datamatrix. The latter was new to me in a Mac OS X application. None of the other developers has included it in their toolbox. Barcode Generator has a lot to like. The barcode itself is previewed in a large preview box that immediately reflects your changes.

Barcodes can be adjusted to width, height and aspect ratio. They can be directly printed or saved to EPS or TIFF format. Output resolution can be selected. Human readable text can be set by selecting font and size from drop-down menus. And everything can be accessed from the same window, and within the limits of the same barcode family, from the same tab.

Some options are a bit obscure. In PDF417, for example, changing the number of rows from the default -1 to +3 results in a stretched out barcode that looks the same as with +1 rows. However, increasing the number of rows to 7 visually changes the barcode's presentation as well.

A bit disappointing is that Barcode Generator does not include information for non-professional users. You're on your own figuring out which numbers can and cannot be included in any linear barcode. Except for some basic information (e.g. "Code 39 can contain alphanumeric characters") there's no way to know when your barcode is exact. The program will not accept wrongly formatted barcodes, however. So, unless you're in for a good deal of trial and error based fiddling with the code, you may never obtain a printable result.

Granted, it's not the programmer's job to educate his users with respect to barcodes. Nevertheless, I also found that some codes, which are identical but called different in different parts of the world, are not as such included, nor has any mention been made of the fact that these may be called different elsewhere. Another detail that I found a bit disturbing was the lack of ready-made templates for not only ISBN but also ISSN and perhaps even ISMN codes. All of these codes are virtually equal, with the exception of different first three digits.

These are niceties that are included in Barcode Producer by Intelli Innovations, for example. On the other hand, Barcode Generator's PDF417 and Datamatrix capabilities are far better than those of Barcode Producer. Not only does the programmer present you with a nice empty entry field, but you can also directly print the code, just as the others, or save it as EPS or TIFF. Intelli's reasoning behind not offering you such ease-of-use is that PDF417 must be printed as sharp as possible in order for a PDF417 scanner to properly decode the barcode.

But in my own experience, Intelli's OEM'ed scanner IT3800PDF-12 made by HandHeld Products, is perfectly capable of reading even miserably printed PDF417 codes. And I've tried scanning very miserable barcodes with this excellent scanner. Before running Barcode Generator, I would have to create the PDF417 code in Barcode Producer, export it to EPS--the only supported format for PDF417 by Barcode Producer--then read this EPS file in Photoshop, trim it, and export it to high-resolution TIFF.

I tested the TIFF PDF417 code generated by Barcode Generator, and the output was crispier than the conversion in Photoshop (logical) and the scanner had no trouble reading it whatsoever. Even when I increased the number of rows in Barcode Generator--usually resulting in a harder to scan code--the scanner got it right from the first time, everytime.

Up till now, Barcode Generator lacked an automation feature. In version 2.3 it has gained Applescript support, with the capability to create batches of code by feeding the software a series of numbers from AppleWorks or Excel. It's not as elegant as Barcode Automator yet, but it is a good start. What is a perfect addition to this application, is the new capability to drag and drop barcodes in any document. The only thing you must keep in mind when doing so, is that not every application accepts EPS files. If they don't nothing will seem to happen. Changing the output format to TIFF solves the problem.

By now it should be clear I'm exceptionally pleased with Barcode Generator. It's a clean piece of software with many capabilities, including the capability to output the Datamatrix 2D barcode. Although I couldn't test the quality of that code by lack of a capable scanner, I'm sure it will be fine, given my experiences with the other barcodes. Intelli Innovations and other barcode application developers just have found the criteria they now must meet in order to match or better the specifications of Barcode Generator.