Positioning Human Readable Characters

In many applications of barcodes, human readable characters provide an easy way to verify the contents of a barcode. To enhance the appearance and/or readability of a barcode symbol, BarTender gives you control over the positioning of the barcode by adjusting the placement and alignment of the human readable characters.

Placement refers to the location of the human readable characters in relation to the barcode. Alignment defines the horizontal positioning of the characters within the human readable characters. You can configure both options by using the Human Readable property page of the Barcode Properties dialog.

Placement

The placement of the human readable characters refers to the position of the characters relative to the barcode symbol. By default, when you first add a barcode to your template, BarTender sets the placement to Bottom, meaning that the human readable characters are placed below the barcode symbol. The following options are available:

Top: Specifies that the human readable characters are displayed and printed above the barcode.
Bottom: Specifies that the human readable characters are displayed and printed below the barcode.
Left: Specifies that the human readable characters are displayed and printed to the left of the barcode.
Right: Specifies that the human readable characters are displayed and printed to the right of the barcode.
Middle: Specifies that the human readable characters are displayed and printed in a blank space that is surrounded by the barcode symbol (the center hole of the barcode). Available only for circular barcodes.
Split: Specifies that the primary human readable characters (such as the GS1 identification key) are displayed and printed below the barcode and the secondary characters (such as the GS1 key attributes) are displayed and printed above the barcode. For more information, refer to Barcode Symbologies (opens in an external browser window; requires an Internet connection). Available only for composite barcodes and for GS1 DataMatrix.

After you define the placement of the human readable characters, you can adjust the position of the text by modifying the offset values. The Vertical Offset specifies the vertical distance between the text and the barcode symbol. The Horizontal Offset specifies the position of the text relative to the symbol. A positive value moves the human readable characters to the right; a negative value moves them to the left.

Alignment

The alignment of the human readable characters specifies the alignment method that is used to position the human readable characters relative to the barcode. For top or bottom placements, the alignment determines the horizontal positioning of the characters. For left or right placements, the alignment refers to the vertical position of the text. Depending on your selection for Placement, the following Alignment settings may be available:

Left: Specifies that the first human readable character lines up with the first bar of the barcode. Available for Top or Bottom placement selections.
Right: Specifies that the last human readable character lines up with the last bar of the barcode. Available for Top or Bottom placement selections.
Top: Specifies that the top edge of the human readable characters lines up with the top edge of the barcode. Available for Left or Right placement selections.
Bottom: Specifies that the bottom edge of the human readable characters lines up with the bottom edge of the barcode. Available for Left or Right placement selections.
Bar Density: Specifies that the human readable characters are spaced according to the density of the barcode. The left edge of each human readable character lines up exactly with the left edge of the beginning of each barcode character in the barcode message. Available for Anker-Plessey, BC412, CEPNet, Codabar (NW-7), Code 11 (USD-8), Code 39 - Full ASCII, Code 39 - Regular, Code 93, Code 128, Datalogic 2 of 5 (China Post), GS1-128, Industrial 2 of 5, Interleaved 2 of 5, ITF-14, Japanese Post 4-State Customer Code, KIX 4-State Customer Code, Matrix 2 of 5, MSI Plessey, NEC 2 of 5, Royal Mail 4-State Customer Code, Standard 2 of 5 (IATA), Telepen, UK Plessey, USPS Intelligent Mail (4-State Customer Code), USPS PLANET, and USPS POSTNET (ZIP, ZIP+4, DPBC) for Top or Bottom placement selections.
Space Evenly: Specifies that the human readable characters are spaced evenly along the width of the barcode; the left and right edges of the human readable characters line up exactly with the left and right edges of the barcode. Available for Australia Post 4-State Customer Code, Channel Code, Code 32 (Italian Pharmacode), Deutsche Post Identcode, Deutsche Post Leitcode, GS1 DataBar (RSS), Korea Post, OPC (Optical Product Code, VCA), PHARMA-CODE - One-Track, PHARMA-CODE - Two-Track, PosiCode, and PZN, when the Hide Error Correction Digits option is not selected.
Centered: Specifies that the human readable characters are centered between the two edges of the barcode. Available for all placement selections.