UnicodeForUs is a repository of fun unicode symbols
July 29, 2012 3:49 PM   Subscribe

UnicodeForUs is a repository of fun unicode symbols
I wanted to make a repository of fun symbols like ☃, ★, ☁, and ✈ (snowman, star, cloud and airplane) that wouldn't become inundated with ads or disappear off the web after a year. So then I did. Check it out, and add your own if you like!

I occasionally want to use a fun symbol in a tweet or document, and I always end up Googling "unicode X." Sadly (☹), these sites tend to come and go (☠), so I decided to make my own, and take advantage of Github's Pages functionality to host it for free.

The project is an open-source (☭) repo on GitHub, so anyone can fork it, add their own characters, or use it for their own purposes. The readme has instructions for adding a character, or you can file a ticket and I'll do it.
Role: alpha and omega
posted by !Jim (5 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite

this is fun and potentially very useful. very well designed. postal face guy is pretty awesome.

my only suggestion (if you're taking them) would be a way to submit new characters directly on the site, not using github. I know many non-devs for whom this would be useful, but they'd be turned off by the devy-ness of "forking" things on github. Something as simple as a "+" button at the bottom that leads to a little email form?

I also get the impulse to "rate" them for some reason, but that's definitely a completely different project. A "hot or not" for unicode characters!
posted by chriscollins at 5:20 PM on July 29, 2012


Great idea. One small design tweak would be to make "Explore unicode characters now" more prominent. (bigger text? or add a drop shadow or box around it, maybe? I'm not a webdesigner.) As it is, when I arrived thinking "let me see the characters" it took me several seconds to find the right place to click.
posted by jlh at 2:12 PM on July 31, 2012


It's a greatly designed site!
Isn't there like a $#%^& load more characters you could put up?

http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2600.pdf
http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F300.pdf

Or did you just find your favorites? A cool thing would be to have a Firefox and Chrome extension that let's you pick quickly some of these types of characters using your site as a source of the characters.
posted by KHinds10 at 6:24 AM on August 1, 2012


You are missing "pile of poo".
posted by chairface at 11:50 AM on August 5, 2012


I request a bicycle. (And a tandem bicycle. And a bicycle-with-trailer.) Please.
posted by aniola at 11:53 AM on August 21, 2012


« Older Banff Centre Live!...   |   R Money Music Video... Newer »


You are not currently logged in. Log in or create a new account to post comments.