"I would love to see menus printed in OCR-A" just takes a regular human readable paper menu, and increases the success rate if you were to painstakingly scan each page to make a PDF with selectable text. That doesn't solve an actual need when sitting with the paper menu.
Taking a QR code that takes you to a URL, and writing out the URL in text does not enable anything, as you still must have an internet-connected device to retrieve the content, in which case you would most likely be able to scan the QR code anyway.
The point is to have e.g. a QR code, while still having human-readable content for those not having or wishing to use their smartphone in this interaction. E.g., just having the list of things on the menu printed in plain text (e.g., on a wall, over the counter, paper menu, ...), but also having a QR code with images and the ability to order directly to your table - stuff beyond what text would get you.
> Taking a QR code that takes you to a URL, and writing out the URL in text does not enable anything, as you still must have an internet-connected device to retrieve the content, in which case you would most likely be able to scan the QR code anyway
I often see things that I want to "look up later" while I'm passing by, but they only have QR code. I don't know if it is worth the time to stop and scan but if there's a URL I can just read it and remember.
To keep an actual URL for later you'd have to write it down or take a picture of it (which also works for the QR code, either by following it later or keeping the tab open). URL's aren't human-readable or memorizable, nor is it meant to be.
"Easy to remember URLs" are just domains that mostly match the human-friendly name of the place. As you are not memorizing a full URL, you can only really go to the frontpage, and so you can just memorize the name of the place instead.
It's a different story if there's just a random QR code with no clear purpose of ownership, but... maybe don't scan that.
I always find it strange here when I share an experience and people want to tell me why what I experienced was technically impossible. URLs don't have to be human readable but they often are, and the frontpage is probably fine indeed but to get there I need to know the name of the thing or some search term when more and more often--and this is the point I'm making--the only thing I'm given is a QR code.
You misinterpret - I am not saying that what you experienced was technically impossible (you saw a URL, later recreating a valid URL at least partially), but that your interpretation of what happened is neither practical nor possible in the general case, nor is it necessary. Let's try with an example:
You see a poster. "Samsung Galaxy, for real this time. Tune in on 1st of April to watch the ceremony live where we subjugate the last planet in the Milkyway.".
Scenario 1: The poster has a QR code, and a URL: https://events.samsung.com/press-room/world-domination. You memorize the hostname (events, samsung, com), and half a day later you manage to pull up a page for events, select the intended one, and get to the live feed.
Scenario 2: The poster has a QR code, no URL. You memorize "samsung galaxy", or "samsung event", or even just "samsung", and half a day layter you type this into your browser's address bar, which gives you as the first result the live feed you were looking for, or at the very least to samsung's event page.
"memorizable URLs" is not human-readable information, but computer-readable information constructed with certain rules to mimic human-readable information - e.g., the company name mangled to fit URL syntax. The original, unmangled information is easier to remember.
Scenario 3 the poster is a cool looking image with people doing something that interests me. There is a QR code and no other information.
Scenario 3 the poster says something is happening like "Neighbourhood dinner, Sunday at 7 -- Want to help cooking? Scan this code" -- There is a QR code but no information about who is organising it, where it is or how else to contact someone about helping to cook.
Yes, a name serve just as well as a URL, the point is that people begin to believe that a QR code is more convenient than text. Give me a link, give me a name, give me a search term, just give me something more than a QR code.
If you need to add human readable information (which is your scenario), a URL is never the right answer. Write a name or a sentence. Computer-readable information is for computers to read.
Taking a QR code that takes you to a URL, and writing out the URL in text does not enable anything, as you still must have an internet-connected device to retrieve the content, in which case you would most likely be able to scan the QR code anyway.
The point is to have e.g. a QR code, while still having human-readable content for those not having or wishing to use their smartphone in this interaction. E.g., just having the list of things on the menu printed in plain text (e.g., on a wall, over the counter, paper menu, ...), but also having a QR code with images and the ability to order directly to your table - stuff beyond what text would get you.