18th June 2015, 10:59 AM
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/06/b...icode-8-0/
Unicode by itself makes sense. Standardize the lettering from written languages around the world so that it "just works" on any machine that supports it. I try to use unicode whenever possible.
Emoji are illustrated versions of emoticons.
These: :crap:
:D:)
:evil:
:loopy:
:(
Now, in theory, adding graphical representations of certain symbols to unicode isn't a bad idea. It's just an expansion of a standard meant to help people around the world communicate more easily. You've got things like the six universal human facial expressions, arrows, and certain other universal signs that cut across cultures. Then you've got emoji. They are routinely bloating up standardized emoji with more and more pointless symbols that, more often than not, don't really cut across cultures so easily. A lot of their hand gestures, for example, are very western-centric, and as such there's not much point including them here. More importantly, anyone who wants to support Unicode 8, for example now needs to dedicate time and artists towards illustrating EVERY emoji in the standard. As the emoji part of the standard becomes more and more bloated, individual companies will start to feel less inclined to use the full standard. Once they start cutting some of the standard, who's to say they won't cut more, like Hebrew characters? Eventually, there'll be no point to it.
Now, I say "bloated" but it's absolutely true that unicode has "room" for way more than this before the standard is actually anywhere near "full". Still, what a bunch of work to give people to do. Also, every single face is another chance for some artist to screw something up and draw something horribly offensive. Just, you know, a possible issue there.
Unicode by itself makes sense. Standardize the lettering from written languages around the world so that it "just works" on any machine that supports it. I try to use unicode whenever possible.
Emoji are illustrated versions of emoticons.
These: :crap:
:D:):evil::loopy::(Now, in theory, adding graphical representations of certain symbols to unicode isn't a bad idea. It's just an expansion of a standard meant to help people around the world communicate more easily. You've got things like the six universal human facial expressions, arrows, and certain other universal signs that cut across cultures. Then you've got emoji. They are routinely bloating up standardized emoji with more and more pointless symbols that, more often than not, don't really cut across cultures so easily. A lot of their hand gestures, for example, are very western-centric, and as such there's not much point including them here. More importantly, anyone who wants to support Unicode 8, for example now needs to dedicate time and artists towards illustrating EVERY emoji in the standard. As the emoji part of the standard becomes more and more bloated, individual companies will start to feel less inclined to use the full standard. Once they start cutting some of the standard, who's to say they won't cut more, like Hebrew characters? Eventually, there'll be no point to it.
Now, I say "bloated" but it's absolutely true that unicode has "room" for way more than this before the standard is actually anywhere near "full". Still, what a bunch of work to give people to do. Also, every single face is another chance for some artist to screw something up and draw something horribly offensive. Just, you know, a possible issue there.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
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