💡 Emojis without secrets: answers to your questions

Why does Windows only show some two-letter codes when I insert a country flag emoji, and not the flags themselves? Is this some kind of bug?

No, it’s not a bug! The country flag emoji are technically made up of two regional indicator characters that form a two-letter country code. Whether or not to display these codes as pretty flags is a decision that each platform (e.g. operating system, app, website) makes on its own. Windows has chosen not to implement flag rendering for these emoji, so you just see the codes. On other devices or platforms (e.g. your phone or another website), you may see the actual flags because they’ve chosen to display them. So it’s a display issue, not a coding issue with the emoji itself.

What is the difference between emoji and emoticons? I always thought they were the same thing, but I often hear that they are different things. How do I tell them apart?

You asked a great question! Although the terms are often used interchangeably, there is a significant difference between emoticons and emoji. Emoticons (or smileys) are typically simple graphic symbols made from keyboard characters (like “:-)” for a smile). They were developed earlier and usually depict faces expressing emotions.

Emoji, on the other hand, are much more complex and varied graphic symbols. They are not limited to faces and emotions, but can represent a wide variety of objects, concepts, actions, and even entire situations (like pizza 🍕 or a globe 🌍). Emoji were developed later, were standardized by Unicode, and are therefore supported on most modern devices and platforms.

So, in short: emoticons are simple “faces” made from characters, while emoji are full-fledged pictures that represent a wider range of things.

Why do the emojis I see on Facebook look a little different than, for example, on my phone or on other sites? Does Facebook use some of its own emojis?

Yes, that’s absolutely right! Facebook uses its own system for displaying emojis, called Facebook Emoji. When you insert emojis into your posts or comments, Facebook automatically replaces them with its own versions. This is done to ensure that all Facebook users see emojis the same way, no matter what device or operating system they have. This is how Facebook ensures that emojis are displayed consistently across its platform.

Where can I find a complete list of all existing emoji that are officially standardized in Unicode?

If you are looking for a comprehensive list of all emojis that have been standardized by Unicode, you should visit the official Unicode Consortium website . There you will find a section with detailed tables that list all emojis, including the newest ones, as well as information about their encoding and Unicode version. This is the most reliable and up-to-date source of information about all approved emojis!

Who came up with the idea of ​​dividing emoji into categories? And what categories of emoji are there?

The idea of ​​dividing emoji into thematic categories belongs to one very far-sighted person. Back in the last century, noticing the growing popularity of emoticons, he created an online dictionary and divided them into groups to make it easier to find the right one. Among the categories were: “Classic”, “Emotions”, “Flags”, “Holidays”, “Entertainment”, “Sports”, “Weather”, “Animals”, “Food”, “Nationalities”, “Professions”, “Planets”, “Zodiac”, “Babies”. This catalog was the first of its kind and significantly simplified the use of emoji in digital communication.

How to write Эмоджи or Эмодзи in Russian?

The word “Эмодзи” comes from Japanese (絵文字, えもじ), where “e” (絵) means “picture” and “moji” (文字) means “character” or “letter”. When transliterated into Russian, the “эмодзи” variant is used, as it more accurately reflects the pronunciation of the original word. Although the “эмоджи” variant is sometimes encountered, “эмодзи” is a more common and linguistically sound spelling in Russian.

What are JoyPixels and NativeEmoji and how are they different?

JoyPixels is a set of emojis with a unique style, featuring a more detailed design and the ability to choose skin tones for emojis. To use them on a website or in an application, you need to install a special font or images, as they are not built into operating systems. JoyPixels is a paid service that offers commercial use of its emojis.

NativeEmoji are standard emojis built into operating systems (iOS, Android, Windows). They are automatically displayed on user devices without the need to install additional files. Their appearance depends on the platform, so the same emoji may look different on different devices.

The main difference: JoyPixels requires the installation of additional resources, but provides a unique design, and NativeEmoji works immediately, but uses the standard appearance of emoji, depending on the platform.

Why are some emojis not showing up or showing up as squares?

This happens due to an outdated operating system, browser, or lack of support for new emoji on your device. Some platforms update the emoji list with a delay, so new characters may not be displayed. The problem may also be due to the lack of the required font or incorrect page encoding.

Solution: Update the OS, browser, and fonts on your device. Use supported fonts (e.g. Segoe UI Emoji, Noto Emoji). Check that the site or application uses UTF-8 encoding.

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