Using Emoji
Emoji are fun. They add a bit of character to posts and text messages. (If you don't know, emoji text symbols that, to humans, look like pictures but are treated as text by a computer or phone). I even use one of the clock emoji in the title of calendar events that don't have a definite starting time or that I am not sure of, just to remind me of that fact.
The problem is that the standards for emoji are a little open to interpretation, and even then are sometimes ignored. This can cause problems, especially when you are depending on the exact shape of an emoji symbol on your particular device.
Take a look at this website. This guy sat down and made a comparison chart between the emoji symbols in Android vs. the ones in iOS. While they are generally the same, there are some mostly small differences. The smileys in one are more animated than the other. The cigarettes are pointing different directions. The power cord in one is just a plug in the other.
However, there are a few major differences. Take a look at the first group, second row from the bottom, seventh symbol from the left. In iOS it is a yellow heart. In Android it is a hairy pink heart. Huh? In fact, all of those colored hearts are different. Turns out Apple is following the standard much more closely that Google here. The Google icons are just weird.
Smaller differences also exist. Take the caterpillar in iOS that looks like a centipede in Android, or the boot i iOS that is a pair of boots in Android. To small to matter? If the message you were trying to get across was "pair of boots", on Android you would use one copy of the symbol while in iOS you would use two. Your friend with the other device would see something very different.
The differences are small enough that I don't worry about it until someone asks me what I meant by a use of a particular emoji. But having this chart handy will help me track down problems with the symbols I use.
The problem is that the standards for emoji are a little open to interpretation, and even then are sometimes ignored. This can cause problems, especially when you are depending on the exact shape of an emoji symbol on your particular device.
Take a look at this website. This guy sat down and made a comparison chart between the emoji symbols in Android vs. the ones in iOS. While they are generally the same, there are some mostly small differences. The smileys in one are more animated than the other. The cigarettes are pointing different directions. The power cord in one is just a plug in the other.
However, there are a few major differences. Take a look at the first group, second row from the bottom, seventh symbol from the left. In iOS it is a yellow heart. In Android it is a hairy pink heart. Huh? In fact, all of those colored hearts are different. Turns out Apple is following the standard much more closely that Google here. The Google icons are just weird.
Smaller differences also exist. Take the caterpillar in iOS that looks like a centipede in Android, or the boot i iOS that is a pair of boots in Android. To small to matter? If the message you were trying to get across was "pair of boots", on Android you would use one copy of the symbol while in iOS you would use two. Your friend with the other device would see something very different.
The differences are small enough that I don't worry about it until someone asks me what I meant by a use of a particular emoji. But having this chart handy will help me track down problems with the symbols I use.
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