#Unicode

Unicode絵文字に脳🧠や肺🫁はあるのに胃は無いようです。
脳や肺と同程度には使い道があると思うのですが。
#Unicode #emoji #絵文字

Unicode絵文字に脳🧠や肺🫁はあるのに胃は無いようです。
脳や肺と同程度には使い道があると思うのですが。
#Unicode #emoji #絵文字

Unicode絵文字に脳🧠や肺🫁はあるのに胃は無いようです。
脳や肺と同程度には使い道があると思うのですが。
#Unicode #emoji #絵文字

The latest version 2.3.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Symbolica" introduces a new Language drop-down menu in the "Emoji Data Finder" utility, which lets you display the short name and keywords of all the emoji in 170 languages, including the ones whose direction is Right-To-Left (RTL).

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-symbolica

The linguistic data comes from the Unicode CLDR Project:

🔗 https://cldr.unicode.org/

And all contributions to it are much welcome!

#Unicopedia #Emoji #Languages #Unicode

The latest version 2.3.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Symbolica" introduces a new Language drop-down menu in the "Emoji Data Finder" utility, which lets you display the short name and keywords of all the emoji in 170 languages, including the ones whose direction is Right-To-Left (RTL).

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-symbolica

The linguistic data comes from the Unicode CLDR Project:

🔗 https://cldr.unicode.org/

And all contributions to it are much welcome!

#Unicopedia #Emoji #Languages #Unicode

UTF-16 reintroduced the old byte split bugs on two byte quantities.

#unicode #utf16

https://george.mand.is/2026/05/my-favorite-bugs-invalid-surrogate-pairs/

UTF-16 reintroduced the old byte split bugs on two byte quantities.

#unicode #utf16

https://george.mand.is/2026/05/my-favorite-bugs-invalid-surrogate-pairs/

卢比奥 (lú bǐ ào) ➔ 鲁比奥 (lǔ bǐ ào)

U+5362 卢
U+5362 kDefinition cottage, hut; surname; black
U+5362 kMandarin lú
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=5362

➔

U+9C81 鲁
U+9C81 kDefinition foolish, stupid, rash; vulgar
U+9C81 kMandarin lǔ
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=9C81

#Rubio #ChineseName #Transliteration #Unicode

@silverpill @Profpatsch @hongminhee @liaizon @Edent @north @aumetra
I have considered publishing an FEP about #GloballyInclusiveHandles . At FediForum six months ago I got the advice to write three:
1. Advocating for #GloballyInclusive handles and laying out requirements and issues
2. Explaining prior art from #Unicode technical annexes on domain names and identifiers, #ICANN label generation rules for DNS, #UniversalAcceptance, email addresses, etc.
3. Advocating for linkification of globally inclusive handles and layout out requirements and issues.
Do those sound like good FEPs to write at this point?

ASCII Chessboard, No HTML Required - Sometimes, when I have absolutely nothing to do, I play with ASCII characters in vim. Today I made an ASCII chess board with black and white chess pieces. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first one to make an ascii chessboard and I won't be the last. I thought it looks pretty nice so I wanted to share it on my blog.

Full blog post at https://sava.rocks/blog/ascii-chessboard-no-html-required/

#ascii #unicode #chess

ASCII Chessboard, No HTML Required - Sometimes, when I have absolutely nothing to do, I play with ASCII characters in vim. Today I made an ASCII chess board with black and white chess pieces. I'm pretty sure I'm not the first one to make an ascii chessboard and I won't be the last. I thought it looks pretty nice so I wanted to share it on my blog.

Full blog post at https://sava.rocks/blog/ascii-chessboard-no-html-required/

#ascii #unicode #chess

The latest version 2.0.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Symbolica" (previously part of the "Unicopedia Plus" application) adds a new "Emoji Taxonomy" utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-symbolica

#Unicopedia #Symbolica #Unicode #Emoji #Taxonomy

The latest version 2.0.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Symbolica" (previously part of the "Unicopedia Plus" application) adds a new "Emoji Taxonomy" utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-symbolica

#Unicopedia #Symbolica #Unicode #Emoji #Taxonomy

Today I learned that the 64 I Ching hexagram symbols are all included in Unicode.

I'm fairly sure I'll never need to use them so I'll add it to my ever growing list of probably useless bits of knowledge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hexagrams_of_the_I_Ching

#unicode #hexagram #symbols

Today I learned that the 64 I Ching hexagram symbols are all included in Unicode.

I'm fairly sure I'll never need to use them so I'll add it to my ever growing list of probably useless bits of knowledge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hexagrams_of_the_I_Ching

#unicode #hexagram #symbols

Unicode Emoji: Money, Money, Money...

• <U+1F4B6> euro banknote
• <U+1F4B4> yen banknote
• <U+1F4B7> pound banknote
• <U+1F4B5> dollar banknote
• <U+1FA99> coin
• <U+1F4B0> money bag
• <U+1F4B8> money with wings
• <U+1F911> money-mouth face

#Unicode #Emoji #Money #Greed

Unicode Emoji: Money, Money, Money...

• <U+1F4B6> euro banknote
• <U+1F4B4> yen banknote
• <U+1F4B7> pound banknote
• <U+1F4B5> dollar banknote
• <U+1FA99> coin
• <U+1F4B0> money bag
• <U+1F4B8> money with wings
• <U+1F911> money-mouth face

#Unicode #Emoji #Money #Greed

Zi Tools, by Yi Bai: a wealth of information about all #Chinese characters defined in #Unicode, and even more...

zi.tools 字統网
Yet another full index of CJKV Ideographs

🔗 https://zi.tools

#CJK #CJKV #Unihan

Interesting video about the encoding of Maya script for computing

https://youtu.be/Vhx-hRyh6BM?is=a-yreBkSYjzJSWPc

#Unicode #Maya #MayaScript

Interesting video about the encoding of Maya script for computing

https://youtu.be/Vhx-hRyh6BM?is=a-yreBkSYjzJSWPc

#Unicode #Maya #MayaScript

A character encoding defines how text is stored as bytes. If you’ve seen “café” instead of “café,” that’s an encoding mismatch. This intro covers how encoding works, how #Unicode and UTF-8 relate, and why mistakes break apps and websites. It also matters beyond #developers, affecting readability, search, data exchange, #accessibility and whether people see text correctly online.

🎬 Watch @xfq, @w3c's Internationalization Lead, explain what character encoding is: https://youtu.be/y2ay7otbFWk
#i18n

A character encoding defines how text is stored as bytes. If you’ve seen “café” instead of “café,” that’s an encoding mismatch. This intro covers how encoding works, how #Unicode and UTF-8 relate, and why mistakes break apps and websites. It also matters beyond #developers, affecting readability, search, data exchange, #accessibility and whether people see text correctly online.

🎬 Watch @xfq, @w3c's Internationalization Lead, explain what character encoding is: https://youtu.be/y2ay7otbFWk
#i18n

A character encoding defines how text is stored as bytes. If you’ve seen “café” instead of “café,” that’s an encoding mismatch. This intro covers how encoding works, how #Unicode and UTF-8 relate, and why mistakes break apps and websites. It also matters beyond #developers, affecting readability, search, data exchange, #accessibility and whether people see text correctly online.

🎬 Watch @xfq, @w3c's Internationalization Lead, explain what character encoding is: https://youtu.be/y2ay7otbFWk
#i18n

A character encoding defines how text is stored as bytes. If you’ve seen “café” instead of “café,” that’s an encoding mismatch. This intro covers how encoding works, how #Unicode and UTF-8 relate, and why mistakes break apps and websites. It also matters beyond #developers, affecting readability, search, data exchange, #accessibility and whether people see text correctly online.

🎬 Watch @xfq, @w3c's Internationalization Lead, explain what character encoding is: https://youtu.be/y2ay7otbFWk
#i18n

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-04-20): Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Compared to the full members list dated 2026-04-04, Amazon has disappeared and Google (re-)appeared. Great "substitution" magic trick indeed!

On a side note, the HTML page source code indicates:

<!-- List generated: 2026-04-20, 16:07:01 GMT -->

and tomorrow starts the UTC #187 meeting (2026-04-21 to 2026-04-23)...

#Unicode #Members

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-04-20): Adobe, Airbnb, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Compared to the full members list dated 2026-04-04, Amazon has disappeared and Google (re-)appeared. Great "substitution" magic trick indeed!

On a side note, the HTML page source code indicates:

<!-- List generated: 2026-04-20, 16:07:01 GMT -->

and tomorrow starts the UTC #187 meeting (2026-04-21 to 2026-04-23)...

#Unicode #Members

I am not getting very good results online, so I am asking here. Is it possible to apply bold/italic to only the combining character of a letter (such as the ̈ within ö)
The character did not render correctly in my post (after pasting, the mark applied to the e, it didn't while I was drafting this) I am referring to the combining character in the included image, or U+0308 (Combining Diæresis)
I have been working on a large linguistic dictionary, and I am interested in doing something like this. #linguistics #unicode #richtext #formatting #syntax #help

While implementing a file drag-and-drop feature in one of my Electron-based apps, I fortuitously found an issue in the Electron framework which I believe could be a major security hole... Fortunately, this was not too difficult to fix, but I still don't understand why this has been overlooked so far...

All applications have been corrected and can be downloaded from my Codeberg repository:
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/

#OpenSource #DesktopApps #ElectronJS #Unicode #Unicopedia

While implementing a file drag-and-drop feature in one of my Electron-based apps, I fortuitously found an issue in the Electron framework which I believe could be a major security hole... Fortunately, this was not too difficult to fix, but I still don't understand why this has been overlooked so far...

All applications have been corrected and can be downloaded from my Codeberg repository:
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/

#OpenSource #DesktopApps #ElectronJS #Unicode #Unicopedia

A pretty neat online tool for making Unicode wireframes.

https://wiretext.app

via @piccalilli

#WebDev #WebDesign #wireframes #unicode

A pretty neat online tool for making Unicode wireframes.

https://wiretext.app

via @piccalilli

#WebDev #WebDesign #wireframes #unicode

A cool little guide to Unicode characters that I found (now I want to make a font that has them all):

https://antofthy.gitlab.io/info/data/utf8_demo.txt

#typography #unicode #characters #glyphs #guide #unicodeBlocks

A cool little guide to Unicode characters that I found (now I want to make a font that has them all):

https://antofthy.gitlab.io/info/data/utf8_demo.txt

#typography #unicode #characters #glyphs #guide #unicodeBlocks

A cool little guide to Unicode characters that I found (now I want to make a font that has them all):

https://antofthy.gitlab.io/info/data/utf8_demo.txt

#typography #unicode #characters #glyphs #guide #unicodeBlocks

A cool little guide to Unicode characters that I found (now I want to make a font that has them all):

https://antofthy.gitlab.io/info/data/utf8_demo.txt

#typography #unicode #characters #glyphs #guide #unicodeBlocks

@SnoopJ On the topic of Unicode updates, what do you think about this? https://discuss.python.org/t/allow-beta-ucd-files-to-be-used-in-the-future/106626
#Python #Unicode

@SnoopJ On the topic of Unicode updates, what do you think about this? https://discuss.python.org/t/allow-beta-ucd-files-to-be-used-in-the-future/106626
#Python #Unicode

more specifically, this PR exposes a curious side effect of the Unicode 15.0 → Unicode 15.1 upgrade when it comes to #Python identifiers: ZWJ is now allowed as a 'continue' character (i.e. you can use it in an identifier as long as it's not the first codepoint)

```
$ python3.12 -c 'print(str.isidentifier("A_\u200d_B"))'
False
$ python3.13 -c 'print(str.isidentifier("A_\u200d_B"))'
True
$ python3.13 -c 'print(str.isidentifier("A_\u200d"))' # unfortunately, a trailing ZWJ is legal too
```

https://github.com/python/cpython/pull/109560

#CPythonTrivia #Unicode

✍️ In case you haven’t heard of `font-variant-emoji`, neither have I.

https://cssence.com/2026/font-variant-emoji/

#CSS #Emoji #Unicode

✍️ In case you haven’t heard of `font-variant-emoji`, neither have I.

https://cssence.com/2026/font-variant-emoji/

#CSS #Emoji #Unicode

When reality goes beyond fiction...
Here is a list of all #Unicode #CJK characters with the repeated component: 木

The latest version v18.1.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Sinica" is now available, embedding all data files required to display CJK ideographs as SVG glyphs in the "CJK Sources" and "CJK Variations" utilities...

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV #SVG #Love

The latest version v18.1.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Sinica" is now available, embedding all data files required to display CJK ideographs as SVG glyphs in the "CJK Sources" and "CJK Variations" utilities...

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV #SVG #Love

Charcuterie, a visual explorer for #Unicode. Browse the character set, discover related glyphs, and learn more about the scripts, symbols, and shapes that make up the standard.

https://charcuterie.elastiq.ch/#U+221E

Charcuterie, a visual explorer for #Unicode. Browse the character set, discover related glyphs, and learn more about the scripts, symbols, and shapes that make up the standard.

https://charcuterie.elastiq.ch/#U+221E

Charcuterie, a visual explorer for #Unicode. Browse the character set, discover related glyphs, and learn more about the scripts, symbols, and shapes that make up the standard.

https://charcuterie.elastiq.ch/#U+221E

Charcuterie, a visual explorer for #Unicode. Browse the character set, discover related glyphs, and learn more about the scripts, symbols, and shapes that make up the standard.

https://charcuterie.elastiq.ch/#U+221E

Even if you have no vested interest in unicode per se, this is an interesting representation and UI for exploring things that may or may not be related.
#Unicode

Charcuterie, a visual explorer for #Unicode. Browse the character set, discover related glyphs, and learn more about the scripts, symbols, and shapes that make up the standard.

https://charcuterie.elastiq.ch/#U+221E

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-04-04): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Adobe is back too! Just in time for Easter Day. Maybe a sign from heaven...

#Unicode #Members

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-04-04): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Adobe is back too! Just in time for Easter Day. Maybe a sign from heaven...

#Unicode #Members

Happy emoji proposal re-opening day to all who celebrate.

Emoji season runs from today through Jul. 31.

(There are still no capybara, guinea pig, or squirrel emoji as far as I know.)

https://unicode.org/emoji/proposals.html #emoji #unicode

Happy emoji proposal re-opening day to all who celebrate.

Emoji season runs from today through Jul. 31.

(There are still no capybara, guinea pig, or squirrel emoji as far as I know.)

https://unicode.org/emoji/proposals.html #emoji #unicode

https://www.babelstone.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

#BabelStone #AndrewWest #Unicode

Thanks to @jlhwung, the so beautifully crafted 'BabelStone Han' font by Andrew West (魏安), is alive and well!

The latest version 17.0.0, made of 'BabelStoneHanBasic.ttf' and 'BabelStoneHanExtra.ttf', is available from:

🔗 https://github.com/babelstone/babelstonehan-ufo/releases/latest

#BabelStone #BabelStoneHan #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV

https://www.babelstone.co.uk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

#BabelStone #AndrewWest #Unicode

👴 Welcome to the riveting world of #writing #systems and Unicode! Because who doesn't want to spend their day deciphering character sets and #script links? 💤 Here's a fun fact: #Chinese #characters were simplified in the 1950s, because evidently, Mainland China thought people had way too much free time. 🙄
https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2 #Unicode #links #tech #humor #HackerNews #ngated

An Introduction to Writing Systems and Unicode

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#HackerNews #WritingSystems #Unicode #Tutorial #Linguistics #TechEducation

👴 Welcome to the riveting world of #writing #systems and Unicode! Because who doesn't want to spend their day deciphering character sets and #script links? 💤 Here's a fun fact: #Chinese #characters were simplified in the 1950s, because evidently, Mainland China thought people had way too much free time. 🙄
https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2 #Unicode #links #tech #humor #HackerNews #ngated

An Introduction to Writing Systems and Unicode

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#HackerNews #WritingSystems #Unicode #Tutorial #Linguistics #TechEducation

An excellent "Introduction to Writing Systems & Unicode" and its "Large character sets", by Richard Ishida @ri

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#Unicode #WritingSystems #CharacterSets #r12a

An excellent "Introduction to Writing Systems & Unicode" and its "Large character sets", by Richard Ishida @ri

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#Unicode #WritingSystems #CharacterSets #r12a

An excellent "Introduction to Writing Systems & Unicode" and its "Large character sets", by Richard Ishida @ri

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#Unicode #WritingSystems #CharacterSets #r12a

An excellent "Introduction to Writing Systems & Unicode" and its "Large character sets", by Richard Ishida @ri

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#Unicode #WritingSystems #CharacterSets #r12a

An excellent "Introduction to Writing Systems & Unicode" and its "Large character sets", by Richard Ishida @ri

https://r12a.github.io/scripts/tutorial/part2

#Unicode #WritingSystems #CharacterSets #r12a

@Edent

The one most familiar to me is 4. For some reason my fedilab app on GrapheneOS won't render 1. People who have never seen a 3.5" floppy seem to manage the famous save icon, so maybe it's what we know in an interface that counts most.

#Unicode

- Technically speaking, Khitan Small Script and Yi script are not included (yet) in the data for non-Han ideographic scripts.

- The Jurchen and Seal scripts are poised to be officially added to Unicode 18.0 in September 2026...

- BabelStone (Andrew West) reference links:
🔗 https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Jurchen/
🔗 https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Khitan/
🔗 https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Yi/

#Unicode #Ideographic #Unihan #CJK #CJKV #Jurchen #Khitan #Nüshu #Seal #Tangut #Yi

About two-thirds of the #Unicode 17.0 standard characters originate from China, most of them of ideographic nature, and are therefore largely over-represented...

Ideographic: 110,943
Han: 103,351
Non-Han (Khitan Small Script + Nüshu + Tangut + Yi): 9,148
Han + Non-Han: 112,499
Standard: 159,799

Ideographic / Standard: 69.43 %
(Han + Non-Han) / Standard: 70.40 %

UAX #38: Unicode Han Database (Unihan)
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr38/

UAX #60: Data for non Han Ideographic Scripts
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr60/

- Technically speaking, Khitan Small Script and Yi script are not included (yet) in the data for non-Han ideographic scripts.

- The Jurchen and Seal scripts are poised to be officially added to Unicode 18.0 in September 2026...

- BabelStone (Andrew West) reference links:
🔗 https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Jurchen/
🔗 https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Khitan/
🔗 https://www.babelstone.co.uk/Yi/

#Unicode #Ideographic #Unihan #CJK #CJKV #Jurchen #Khitan #Nüshu #Seal #Tangut #Yi

"graphic languages: a visual guide to the world’s writing systems" – ein wunderbares buch für #schrift-nerds wie mich. 😊
https://www.slanted.de/product/graphic-languages-a-visual-guide-to-the-worlds-writing-systems/
#schriftsysteme #unicode #typografie

"graphic languages: a visual guide to the world’s writing systems" – ein wunderbares buch für #schrift-nerds wie mich. 😊
https://www.slanted.de/product/graphic-languages-a-visual-guide-to-the-worlds-writing-systems/
#schriftsysteme #unicode #typografie

About two-thirds of the #Unicode 17.0 standard characters originate from China, most of them of ideographic nature, and are therefore largely over-represented...

Ideographic: 110,943
Han: 103,351
Non-Han (Khitan Small Script + Nüshu + Tangut + Yi): 9,148
Han + Non-Han: 112,499
Standard: 159,799

Ideographic / Standard: 69.43 %
(Han + Non-Han) / Standard: 70.40 %

UAX #38: Unicode Han Database (Unihan)
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr38/

UAX #60: Data for non Han Ideographic Scripts
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr60/

Which of these #Unicode symbols do you think *best* represents the concept of "copy"?

That is, if you click it, something will be copied to your clipboard.

(Other suggestions welcome if they are in Unicode.)

Which of these #Unicode symbols do you think *best* represents the concept of "copy"?

That is, if you click it, something will be copied to your clipboard.

(Other suggestions welcome if they are in Unicode.)

The latest version 3.5.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Ægypta" adds a new "Cross-Referenced" field to the "Unikemet Inspector" utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

It relies on the important "Unikemet" database, which is an impressive work, still in progress... Feedback is welcome!

Public Review Issue #538: Proposed Update UAX #57, Unicode Egyptian Hieroglyph Database (Unikemet)

https://www.unicode.org/review/pri538/
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr57/tr57-6.html

#Unicopedia #Unikemet #EgyptianHieroglyphs #Unicode

The latest version 3.5.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Ægypta" adds a new "Cross-Referenced" field to the "Unikemet Inspector" utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

It relies on the important "Unikemet" database, which is an impressive work, still in progress... Feedback is welcome!

Public Review Issue #538: Proposed Update UAX #57, Unicode Egyptian Hieroglyph Database (Unikemet)

https://www.unicode.org/review/pri538/
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr57/tr57-6.html

#Unicopedia #Unikemet #EgyptianHieroglyphs #Unicode

Which of these #Unicode symbols do you think *best* represents the concept of "copy"?

That is, if you click it, something will be copied to your clipboard.

(Other suggestions welcome if they are in Unicode.)

Which of these #Unicode symbols do you think *best* represents the concept of "copy"?

That is, if you click it, something will be copied to your clipboard.

(Other suggestions welcome if they are in Unicode.)

"Why does "👩🏾‍🌾" have a length of 7 in #JavaScript?"

A very nice analyse! 

#utf16 #unicode
by @EvanHahn
https://evanhahn.com/javascript-string-lengths/

"Why does "👩🏾‍🌾" have a length of 7 in #JavaScript?"

A very nice analyse! 

#utf16 #unicode
by @EvanHahn
https://evanhahn.com/javascript-string-lengths/

"The invisible #Unicode characters were devised decades ago and then largely forgotten. That is, until 2024, when hackers began using the characters to conceal malicious prompts fed to AI engines. While the text was invisible to humans and text scanners, #LLMs had little trouble reading them and following the malicious instructions they conveyed."

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/

"The invisible #Unicode characters were devised decades ago and then largely forgotten. That is, until 2024, when hackers began using the characters to conceal malicious prompts fed to AI engines. While the text was invisible to humans and text scanners, #LLMs had little trouble reading them and following the malicious instructions they conveyed."

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/

The basic underlying problem is that coders and their tooling assume that code is mostly ASCII, when in reality it is Unicode, which most tools don't handle properly.

I'm just waiting for Bidi-injection toolchain injections…

#coding #unicode #texteditor #toolchain #computersecurity

https://www.aikido.dev/blog/glassworm-returns-unicode-attack-github-npm-vscode

The basic underlying problem is that coders and their tooling assume that code is mostly ASCII, when in reality it is Unicode, which most tools don't handle properly.

I'm just waiting for Bidi-injection toolchain injections…

#coding #unicode #texteditor #toolchain #computersecurity

https://www.aikido.dev/blog/glassworm-returns-unicode-attack-github-npm-vscode

Glassworm Is Back: A New Wave of Invisible Unicode Attacks Hits Repositories

https://www.aikido.dev/blog/glassworm-returns-unicode-attack-github-npm-vscode

#HackerNews #Glassworm #Invisible #Unicode #Attacks #Cybersecurity #GitHub #Repositories

🚨 Oh no! The dreaded #Glassworm is back, like a transparent hacker on a mission to confuse developers with invisible #Unicode attacks. With 150 #GitHub repositories compromised, the solution is a dizzying list of acronyms and jargon that promises to protect your code, but only if you squint hard enough to see it! 🐛🔍 #SecurityTheater
https://www.aikido.dev/blog/glassworm-returns-unicode-attack-github-npm-vscode #InvisibleAttacks #SecurityThreat #DeveloperConfusion #HackerNews #ngated

🚨 Oh no! The dreaded #Glassworm is back, like a transparent hacker on a mission to confuse developers with invisible #Unicode attacks. With 150 #GitHub repositories compromised, the solution is a dizzying list of acronyms and jargon that promises to protect your code, but only if you squint hard enough to see it! 🐛🔍 #SecurityTheater
https://www.aikido.dev/blog/glassworm-returns-unicode-attack-github-npm-vscode #InvisibleAttacks #SecurityThreat #DeveloperConfusion #HackerNews #ngated

Glassworm Is Back: A New Wave of Invisible Unicode Attacks Hits Repositories

https://www.aikido.dev/blog/glassworm-returns-unicode-attack-github-npm-vscode

#HackerNews #Glassworm #Invisible #Unicode #Attacks #Cybersecurity #GitHub #Repositories

Je viens d'apprendre un truc.
#Typographie #Unicode

Le petits symboles de drapeaux qu'on trouve sur nos claviers avec tous les autres émojis… eh bien ce ne sont PAS des caractères uniques (comme les autres émojis) mais des combinaisons de 2 caractères pris dans la famille des « Regional Indicator Symbol » (https://www.compart.com/fr/unicode/search?q=regional%20indicator#characters ) selon la codification des pays avec 2 caractères de la norme ISO https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1

1/2

Je viens d'apprendre un truc.
#Typographie #Unicode

Le petits symboles de drapeaux qu'on trouve sur nos claviers avec tous les autres émojis… eh bien ce ne sont PAS des caractères uniques (comme les autres émojis) mais des combinaisons de 2 caractères pris dans la famille des « Regional Indicator Symbol » (https://www.compart.com/fr/unicode/search?q=regional%20indicator#characters ) selon la codification des pays avec 2 caractères de la norme ISO https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1

1/2

Beware of blank lines and white spaces — Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories

Unicode that’s invisible to the human eye was largely abandoned - until attackers took notice.

🧑‍💻 https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/

#hacking #blankline #whitespace #github #supplychain #unicode #hack #git #code #coding #invisible #gitrepo #itsecurity #it #itsec

Beware of blank lines and white spaces — Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories

Unicode that’s invisible to the human eye was largely abandoned - until attackers took notice.

🧑‍💻 https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/

#hacking #blankline #whitespace #github #supplychain #unicode #hack #git #code #coding #invisible #gitrepo #itsecurity #it #itsec

When I say "IT mostly just runs in circles" I mean it: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/

This article from 2026 describes something I've been fighting with ~17 years ago. Sure, slightly more clever payload and different delivery method, but in principle nothing new: https://github.com/MichalBryxi/Apache-fork-hack-finder-cleaner/tree/master

#Glassworm #Unicode #InvisibleCharacters #Whitespace #Hack

When I say "IT mostly just runs in circles" I mean it: https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/03/supply-chain-attack-using-invisible-code-hits-github-and-other-repositories/

This article from 2026 describes something I've been fighting with ~17 years ago. Sure, slightly more clever payload and different delivery method, but in principle nothing new: https://github.com/MichalBryxi/Apache-fork-hack-finder-cleaner/tree/master

#Glassworm #Unicode #InvisibleCharacters #Whitespace #Hack

Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories https://arstechni.ca/LKbk #supplychainattacks #publicuseareas #Security #Unicode #Biz&IT

Supply-chain attack using invisible code hits GitHub and other repositories https://arstechni.ca/LKbk #supplychainattacks #publicuseareas #Security #Unicode #Biz&IT

Thanks to @jlhwung, the so beautifully crafted 'BabelStone Han' font by Andrew West (魏安), is alive and well!

The latest version 17.0.0, made of 'BabelStoneHanBasic.ttf' and 'BabelStoneHanExtra.ttf', is available from:

🔗 https://github.com/babelstone/babelstonehan-ufo/releases/latest

#BabelStone #BabelStoneHan #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV

The mystery of Unicode ⍼ (U+237C) has been solved!

https://ionathan.ch/2026/02/16/angzarr.html

#unicode #symbols #typography

The mystery of Unicode ⍼ (U+237C) has been solved!

https://ionathan.ch/2026/02/16/angzarr.html

#unicode #symbols #typography

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-03-10): Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Airbnb is back! No comment...

#Unicode #Members

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-03-10): Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Airbnb is back! No comment...

#Unicode #Members

Want to know how #Unicode handles Braille?

One code point for each possible glyph.

Not character. Glyph.

There is one code point for each of 2⁸ (256) possible combinations you can punch out of an 8 dot braille pad.

That means the unicode code point for ⠜ can represent literally 18 different characters!

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E2%A0%9C

Anyways, here's my challenge to somebody.

The CJK space in #Unicode represents ~100,000 Chinese, Japanese, and/or Korean language words.

Can we universalize the Kanji?

鹿 is the character for the animal deer. How can we make that readable to the rest of the world?

Who is a bad enough dude to make a CJK emoji font.

Want to know how #Unicode handles Braille?

One code point for each possible glyph.

Not character. Glyph.

There is one code point for each of 2⁸ (256) possible combinations you can punch out of an 8 dot braille pad.

That means the unicode code point for ⠜ can represent literally 18 different characters!

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E2%A0%9C

Musqueam language literally uses the North American Phonetic Alphabet.

Is #Unicode going to add a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ block?

- Of course not!

Saanich language uses a modified version of IPA.

Is #Unicode going to add a SENĆOŦEN block?

- Of course not! Saanich gets five supplementary characters and they'll be happy about it.

Would it be possible to represent both of these phonetic alphabets by sharing the same #IPA code points?

Yes! You would literally just need to change the fonts.

IPA uses a basically random assortment of characters from whatever existing Unicode blocks had similarly-shaped scripts.

There's no consistent IPA in Unicode. Just a patchwork.

Why does any of this matter?

Well, for one is makes linguistics more difficult.

Unicode is fine with adding a bunch of dead or even undeciphered languages to Unicode to help out academics, but linguists I guess can get fucked.

But also there's a bigger and more obvious problem.

#IPA #Unicode

#IPA is the alphabet used to less ambiguously represent sounds.

Just like Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic, it's an alphabet.

The IPA "a" doesn't have the same meaning as the Latin "a" or the Cyrillic "а". Instead it represents the "open front unrounded vowel".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_front_unrounded_vowel

So what #Unicode character are IPA users supposed to use?

Just the Latin one.

#Unicode goes by characters, not glyphs.

Each Unicode character is supposed to represent a unique meaning, not just the shape associated with a letter.

That's why the glyph "A" is in Unicode more than three times.

It's not actually the same letter in Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic alphabets. They're three different characters represented by the same glyph.

Unicode allows you to make clear which you're talking about.

U+0041 A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A

U+0391 Α GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA

U+0410 А CYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER A

I like #Unicode.

If you happened to have followed me on Twitter, you'll know that I know way more about how emoji work than most people.

But holy crap, did Unicode manage to mess up how they handled #IPA.

For anybody who knows what this means: I think Unicode's handling of IPA is more serious stumble than CJK Unification.

#Unicode 18.0 will add at least 13,000 characters.

“At UTC #185, nearly 13,000 additional characters were approved for encoding in Unicode 18.0.

The approved additions include encoding of Small Seal script ("Seal"), a repertoire of 11,328 ideographic characters. Seal is distinct from modern Han ideographs (aka, "CJK"), but is an important precursor of CJK resulting from the first efforts to standardize writing across Chinese-speaking regions during China's Qin Dynasty. As such, Seal has important cultural significance in China and for Chinese speakers throughout the world”

https://blog.unicode.org/2025/12/utc-185-highlights.html?m=1

More on seal script: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_script

跨性別專屬中文代名詞「X也」 正式納入 Unicode 系統
由跨性別社群自創的中文代名詞「X也」在 2025 年 9 月正式獲統一碼（Unicode）批准納入 Unico […]
#社交網絡 #科技新聞 #LGBTQ #Unicode
https://unwire.hk/2026/02/11/x-unicode/fun-tech/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=x-unicode

Whoa, I just noticed:

#Unicode Technical Standard #58 was published two weeks ago!

Unicode Link Detection and Formatting:
URLs and Email Addresses
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr58/

---

【This document specifies two consistent, standardized mechanisms that address [URL] problems, consisting of:

1 )link detection: detecting URLs and email addresses embedded in plain text that properly handles non-ASCII characters, and
2) minimally escaping: minimal escaping of non-ASCII code points in the Path, Query, and Fragment portions of a URL.】

@shibao there is a special codepoint called ZERO WIDTH JOINER (abbreviated ZWJ) that is not printable (so you would never "see" it) but which carries the meaning that it's meant to join two codepoints (usually but not *exclusively* emoji) together in some sense.

The semantics for emoji ZWJ sequences (as they are called) allow for fallback behavior that "just" shows the two emoji next to each other if the system is not capable of showing you the glyph for the "combined" form.

@emojipedia has a good blog post about the concept in general: https://blog.emojipedia.org/emoji-zwj-sequences-three-letters-many-possibilities/

And if you want to see the nuts and bolts of the standardization, check #Unicode Technical Report #51, §2.5 ("Emoji ZWJ Sequences"): https://unicode.org/reports/tr51/#Emoji_ZWJ_Sequences

The latest post on the Unicode Consortium blog gives an exhaustive list of all the new Unicode properties in regular expressions (regex), and explains why all the supported properties are so important and can be so useful:

https://blog.unicode.org/2026/03/uts-18-more-unicode-properties-in.html

#Unicode #Properties #Regex #RegularExpressions

@shibao there is a special codepoint called ZERO WIDTH JOINER (abbreviated ZWJ) that is not printable (so you would never "see" it) but which carries the meaning that it's meant to join two codepoints (usually but not *exclusively* emoji) together in some sense.

The semantics for emoji ZWJ sequences (as they are called) allow for fallback behavior that "just" shows the two emoji next to each other if the system is not capable of showing you the glyph for the "combined" form.

@emojipedia has a good blog post about the concept in general: https://blog.emojipedia.org/emoji-zwj-sequences-three-letters-many-possibilities/

And if you want to see the nuts and bolts of the standardization, check #Unicode Technical Report #51, §2.5 ("Emoji ZWJ Sequences"): https://unicode.org/reports/tr51/#Emoji_ZWJ_Sequences

The latest version 3.0.0 of the open-source application "Unicopedia Ægypta" is now available, displaying all the representative glyphs of the 4,403 Egyptian hieroglyphs belonging to the "Core Unikemet" set.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

#Unicopedia #Egyptian #Hieroglyphs #Unikemet #Unicode #NewGardiner #Font

Unicode Emoji: Pan-CJK Flags

• <U+1F1E8, U+1F1F3> flag: China [CN]
• <U+1F1ED, U+1F1F0> flag: Hong Kong SAR China [HK]
• <U+1F1EF, U+1F1F5> flag: Japan [JP]
• <U+1F1F0, U+1F1F5> flag: North Korea [KP]
• <U+1F1F0, U+1F1F7> flag: South Korea [KR]
• <U+1F1F2, U+1F1F4> flag: Macao SAR China [MO]
• <U+1F1F2, U+1F1FE> flag: Malaysia [MY]
• <U+1F1F8, U+1F1EC> flag: Singapore [SG]
• <U+1F1F9, U+1F1FC> flag: Taiwan [TW]
• <U+1F1FB, U+1F1F3> flag: Vietnam [VN]

#Unicode #Emoji #PanCJK #Flags

#Unicode #Symbols: #Diversity

U+2640 FEMALE SIGN
U+2642 MALE SIGN
U+26A2 DOUBLED FEMALE SIGN
U+26A3 DOUBLED MALE SIGN
U+26A4 INTERLOCKED FEMALE AND MALE SIGN
U+26A5 MALE AND FEMALE SIGN
U+26A6 MALE WITH STROKE SIGN
U+26A7 MALE WITH STROKE AND MALE AND FEMALE SIGN
U+26A8 VERTICAL MALE WITH STROKE SIGN
U+26A9 HORIZONTAL MALE WITH STROKE SIGN
U+26B2 NEUTER

#Unicode #Emoji: #Hearts #Galore

U+2764 U+FE0F U+1FA77 U+1F9E1 U+1F49B U+1F49A U+1F499 U+1FA75 U+1F49C U+1F90E U+1F5A4 U+1FA76 U+1F90D

U+1F49F U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1F525 U+1F494 U+2764 U+FE0F U+200D U+1FA79 U+2763 U+FE0F U+1F498 U+1F493 U+1F497 U+1F496 U+1F49D U+1F495 U+1F49E

U+1F970 U+1F60D U+1F618 U+1F63B U+1F48C U+1FAF6 U+1FAF6 U+1F3FB U+1FAF6 U+1F3FC U+1FAF6 U+1F3FD U+1FAF6 U+1F3FE U+1FAF6 U+1F3FF U+1FAC0

#Unicode #Emoji: #Sweat & #Tears

U+1F4A6 U+1F4A7 U+1F979 U+1F639 U+1F63F

U+1F602 U+1F605 U+1F613 U+1F622 U+1F625 U+1F62A U+1F62D U+1F630 U+1F923 U+1F972 U+1F975

#Unicode #Emoji: #Skintones

U+1F473 U+1F473 U+1F3FB U+1F473 U+1F3FC U+1F473 U+1F3FD U+1F473 U+1F3FE U+1F473 U+1F3FF

U+1F478 U+1F478 U+1F3FB U+1F478 U+1F3FC U+1F478 U+1F3FD U+1F478 U+1F3FE U+1F478 U+1F3FF

#Unicode #Emoji: #Math #Geekiness

<U+1F605> <U+1F4A7> <U+1F604>

#Unicode #Emoji: #Japanese #Buttons

U+1F201 U+1F202 U+FE0F U+1F233 U+1F237 U+FE0F U+1F236 U+1F21A U+1F251 U+1F238 U+1F23A U+000A U+1F22F U+1F250 U+1F239 U+1F232 U+1F234 U+3297 U+FE0F U+3299 U+FE0F U+1F235

The icon of the new #Unicopedia #Sigilla application shows the provisional #Seal character U+3FBB5 𿮵 whose equivalent #CJK #ideograph is U+5B57 字, meaning "letter, character, word".

#Unicode

@sleepycat this paper doesn't cite two relevant official #Unicode reports on the subject: "Unicode Security Mechanisms" https://unicode.org/reports/tr39/ and "Unicode Identifiers and Syntax" https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr31/ . Was the paper interested in solving problems, or just in collecting the engagement from pointing them out?

Very interesting insights into currency symbols in Unicode and how their implementation involves decisions and actions on so many different levels:

🔗 https://blog.unicode.org/2026/02/from-central-bank-to-code-point-roadmap.html

#Unicode #Currency #Symbols #Roadmap

This #Unicode technical report (tr58) on non-ASCII characters in urls and email addresses might be relevant for #ActivityPub implementations

https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr58/

#tr58

In *theory* you should be able to follow this test user:

@你好@i18n.viii.fi

But I can't find any Fediverse software which actually supports non-ASCII usernames.

If you are able to see the user, its description, and its avatar - please send me a screenshot 🙂

#Fediverse #ActivityPub #Unicode

This #Unicode technical report (tr58) on non-ASCII characters in urls and email addresses might be relevant for #ActivityPub implementations

https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr58/

#tr58

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-02-25): Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Exit Adobe, Airbnb, Google... Ça sent le roussi !

#Unicode #Members

The current version of Unicopedia Sigilla is marked as "alpha", since it relies on #Unicode 18.0-alpha, which is still a draft: assigned code points for Seal characters, as well as their source references and glyphs, may evolve before the final release planned for September 2026.

Consequently, no Unicode-aware font exists yet for Seal characters, at least until the new Seal block gets stable. So, display of characters in the application is "Tōfu Matsuri" for the time being...

#Tofu #豆腐祭り

Unicopedia Sigilla is a developer-oriented set of #Unicode utilities related to Seal characters, wrapped into one single app, built with #Electron.

Repository: 🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sigilla

#Unicopedia #Seal #Characters #JavaScript #CodePoints #Glyphs #OpenSource #DesktopApplication

Unicopedia Sigilla is a developer-oriented set of #Unicode utilities related to Seal characters, wrapped into one single app, built with #Electron.

Repository: 🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sigilla

#Unicopedia #Seal #Characters #JavaScript #CodePoints #Glyphs #OpenSource #DesktopApplication

I just released version 8.0 of UniChar, the Unicode character viewer app I created nearly 12 years ago! Has some big new features. I spent a good amount of time polishing it for iOS 26 ✍︎
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unichar-unicode-keyboard/id880811847
#iOSDev #IndieDev #Unicode

I just released version 8.0 of UniChar, the Unicode character viewer app I created nearly 12 years ago! Has some big new features. I spent a good amount of time polishing it for iOS 26 ✍︎
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/unichar-unicode-keyboard/id880811847
#iOSDev #IndieDev #Unicode

I found this reply that I made in 1984 to Dennis Ritchie in the net.followup newsgroup. I was at the time lobbying Sun to add 8-bit character set support to the firmware, but they wanted to hold out for a 16-bit system, like the as yet unnamed Unicode. There was eventually an interim solution but my memory of that is a bit foggy.

#Usenet #DennisRitchie #C #Pascal #emacs #VT100 #charactersets #ISO8859 #languages #Swedish #programming #unicode #SunMicrosystems #Värmland

Internationalise The Fediverse

We live in the future now. It is OK to use Unicode everywhere.

It seems bizarre to me that modern Internet services sometimes "forget" that there's a world outside the Anglosphere. Some people have the temerity to speak foreign languages! And some of those languages have accents on their letters!! Even worse, some don't use English letters at all!!!

A decade ago, I was miffed that GitHub only supported some ASCII characters in its project names. There's no technical reason why your repo can't be called "ഹലോ വേൾഡ്".

Similarly, I'm frustrated that Mastodon (the largest ActivityPub service) doesn't allow Unicode usernames and has resisted efforts to change.

So I built a small ActivityPub server which publishes content from an Actor called @你好@i18n.viii.fi - it is only a demo account, but it works!

Some ActivityPub clients report that they are able to follow it and receive messages from it. Others - like Mastodon - simply can't see anything from it. Take a look at the replies on Mastodon to see which services work. You can also see some of its posts on the Fediverse.

What Does The Fox Spec Say?

The ActivityPub specification says:

Building an international base of users is important in a federated network. Internationalization

I can't find anything in the specifications which limits what languages a username can be written in. But there are a few clues scattered about.

The user's @ name is defined by preferredUsername which is:

A short username which may be used to refer to the actor, with no uniqueness guarantees. 4.1 Actor objects

There's nothing in there about what scripts it can contain. However, later on, the spec says:

Properties containing natural language values, such as name, preferredUsername, or summary, make use of natural language support defined in ActivityStreams. 4. Actors

So it is expected that a preferred username could be written in multiple scripts. Which implies that the default need not be limited to A-Z0-9.

The ActivityStreams specification talks about language mapping.

Finally, the ActivityPub specification has some examples on non-Latin text in names.

So, I think that it is acceptable for usernames to be written in a variety of non-Latin scripts.

But What About...?

There are usually a few objections to "Unicode Everywhere" zealots like me. I'd like to forestall any arguments.

What about homograph attacks?

Well, what about them? ASCII has plenty of similar looking characters. I doubt most people would notice when a capital i is replaced by a lower L - and vice-versa. Similarly the kerning issue of an r and n looking like an m is well known. Are mixed language homographs more dangerous? I don't think so.

What if people make names that can't be typed?

Well, what if they do? Maybe not being found by people who can't type your language is a feature, not a bug. But, anyway, clients can let users search for other people, or copy and paste their names.

What about weird "Zalgo" text?

It is up to a client to decide how they want to render text input. The "problems" of strange Unicode combinations are well known. This is not a hard computer-science problem.

What about bi-directional text?

The spec makes clear this is allowed.

Do people even want a username in their own script?

I have no evidence for this. But I bet you'd get pretty frustrated if you had to switch keyboard just to type your own name, wouldn't you? In any case, why can't I have a username of @😉

What's Next?

If you build ActivityPub software, give some thought to the billions of people who don't have names which easily fit into ASCII.

If your software can see @你好@i18n.viii.fi and its posts, please let me know.

Internationalise The Fediverse

We live in the future now. It is OK to use Unicode everywhere.

It seems bizarre to me that modern Internet services sometimes "forget" that there's a world outside the Anglosphere. Some people have the temerity to speak foreign languages! And some of those languages have accents on their letters!! Even worse, some don't use English letters at all!!!

A decade ago, I was miffed that GitHub only supported some ASCII characters in its project names. There's no technical reason why your repo can't be called "ഹലോ വേൾഡ്".

Similarly, I'm frustrated that Mastodon (the largest ActivityPub service) doesn't allow Unicode usernames and has resisted efforts to change.

So I built a small ActivityPub server which publishes content from an Actor called @你好@i18n.viii.fi - it is only a demo account, but it works!

Some ActivityPub clients report that they are able to follow it and receive messages from it. Others - like Mastodon - simply can't see anything from it. Take a look at the replies on Mastodon to see which services work. You can also see some of its posts on the Fediverse.

What Does The Fox Spec Say?

The ActivityPub specification says:

Building an international base of users is important in a federated network. Internationalization

I can't find anything in the specifications which limits what languages a username can be written in. But there are a few clues scattered about.

The user's @ name is defined by preferredUsername which is:

A short username which may be used to refer to the actor, with no uniqueness guarantees. 4.1 Actor objects

There's nothing in there about what scripts it can contain. However, later on, the spec says:

Properties containing natural language values, such as name, preferredUsername, or summary, make use of natural language support defined in ActivityStreams. 4. Actors

So it is expected that a preferred username could be written in multiple scripts. Which implies that the default need not be limited to A-Z0-9.

The ActivityStreams specification talks about language mapping.

Finally, the ActivityPub specification has some examples on non-Latin text in names.

So, I think that it is acceptable for usernames to be written in a variety of non-Latin scripts.

But What About...?

There are usually a few objections to "Unicode Everywhere" zealots like me. I'd like to forestall any arguments.

What about homograph attacks?

Well, what about them? ASCII has plenty of similar looking characters. I doubt most people would notice when a capital i is replaced by a lower L - and vice-versa. Similarly the kerning issue of an r and n looking like an m is well known. Are mixed language homographs more dangerous? I don't think so.

What if people make names that can't be typed?

Well, what if they do? Maybe not being found by people who can't type your language is a feature, not a bug. But, anyway, clients can let users search for other people, or copy and paste their names.

What about weird "Zalgo" text?

It is up to a client to decide how they want to render text input. The "problems" of strange Unicode combinations are well known. This is not a hard computer-science problem.

What about bi-directional text?

The spec makes clear this is allowed.

Do people even want a username in their own script?

I have no evidence for this. But I bet you'd get pretty frustrated if you had to switch keyboard just to type your own name, wouldn't you? In any case, why can't I have a username of @😉

What's Next?

If you build ActivityPub software, give some thought to the billions of people who don't have names which easily fit into ASCII.

If your software can see @你好@i18n.viii.fi and its posts, please let me know.

Internationalise The Fediverse

We live in the future now. It is OK to use Unicode everywhere.

It seems bizarre to me that modern Internet services sometimes "forget" that there's a world outside the Anglosphere. Some people have the temerity to speak foreign languages! And some of those languages have accents on their letters!! Even worse, some don't use English letters at all!!!

A decade ago, I was miffed that GitHub only supported some ASCII characters in its project names. There's no technical reason why your repo can't be called "ഹലോ വേൾഡ്".

Similarly, I'm frustrated that Mastodon (the largest ActivityPub service) doesn't allow Unicode usernames and has resisted efforts to change.

So I built a small ActivityPub server which publishes content from an Actor called @你好@i18n.viii.fi - it is only a demo account, but it works!

Some ActivityPub clients report that they are able to follow it and receive messages from it. Others - like Mastodon - simply can't see anything from it. Take a look at the replies on Mastodon to see which services work. You can also see some of its posts on the Fediverse.

What Does The Fox Spec Say?

The ActivityPub specification says:

Building an international base of users is important in a federated network. Internationalization

I can't find anything in the specifications which limits what languages a username can be written in. But there are a few clues scattered about.

The user's @ name is defined by preferredUsername which is:

A short username which may be used to refer to the actor, with no uniqueness guarantees. 4.1 Actor objects

There's nothing in there about what scripts it can contain. However, later on, the spec says:

Properties containing natural language values, such as name, preferredUsername, or summary, make use of natural language support defined in ActivityStreams. 4. Actors

So it is expected that a preferred username could be written in multiple scripts. Which implies that the default need not be limited to A-Z0-9.

The ActivityStreams specification talks about language mapping.

Finally, the ActivityPub specification has some examples on non-Latin text in names.

So, I think that it is acceptable for usernames to be written in a variety of non-Latin scripts.

But What About...?

There are usually a few objections to "Unicode Everywhere" zealots like me. I'd like to forestall any arguments.

What about homograph attacks?

Well, what about them? ASCII has plenty of similar looking characters. I doubt most people would notice when a capital i is replaced by a lower L - and vice-versa. Similarly the kerning issue of an r and n looking like an m is well known. Are mixed language homographs more dangerous? I don't think so.

What if people make names that can't be typed?

Well, what if they do? Maybe not being found by people who can't type your language is a feature, not a bug. But, anyway, clients can let users search for other people, or copy and paste their names.

What about weird "Zalgo" text?

It is up to a client to decide how they want to render text input. The "problems" of strange Unicode combinations are well known. This is not a hard computer-science problem.

What about bi-directional text?

The spec makes clear this is allowed.

Do people even want a username in their own script?

I have no evidence for this. But I bet you'd get pretty frustrated if you had to switch keyboard just to type your own name, wouldn't you? In any case, why can't I have a username of @😉

What's Next?

If you build ActivityPub software, give some thought to the billions of people who don't have names which easily fit into ASCII.

If your software can see @你好@i18n.viii.fi and its posts, please let me know.

Internationalise The Fediverse

We live in the future now. It is OK to use Unicode everywhere.

It seems bizarre to me that modern Internet services sometimes "forget" that there's a world outside the Anglosphere. Some people have the temerity to speak foreign languages! And some of those languages have accents on their letters!! Even worse, some don't use English letters at all!!!

A decade ago, I was miffed that GitHub only supported some ASCII characters in its project names. There's no technical reason why your repo can't be called "ഹലോ വേൾഡ്".

Similarly, I'm frustrated that Mastodon (the largest ActivityPub service) doesn't allow Unicode usernames and has resisted efforts to change.

So I built a small ActivityPub server which publishes content from an Actor called @你好@i18n.viii.fi - it is only a demo account, but it works!

Some ActivityPub clients report that they are able to follow it and receive messages from it. Others - like Mastodon - simply can't see anything from it. Take a look at the replies on Mastodon to see which services work. You can also see some of its posts on the Fediverse.

What Does The Fox Spec Say?

The ActivityPub specification says:

Building an international base of users is important in a federated network. Internationalization

I can't find anything in the specifications which limits what languages a username can be written in. But there are a few clues scattered about.

The user's @ name is defined by preferredUsername which is:

A short username which may be used to refer to the actor, with no uniqueness guarantees. 4.1 Actor objects

There's nothing in there about what scripts it can contain. However, later on, the spec says:

Properties containing natural language values, such as name, preferredUsername, or summary, make use of natural language support defined in ActivityStreams. 4. Actors

So it is expected that a preferred username could be written in multiple scripts. Which implies that the default need not be limited to A-Z0-9.

The ActivityStreams specification talks about language mapping.

Finally, the ActivityPub specification has some examples on non-Latin text in names.

So, I think that it is acceptable for usernames to be written in a variety of non-Latin scripts.

But What About...?

There are usually a few objections to "Unicode Everywhere" zealots like me. I'd like to forestall any arguments.

What about homograph attacks?

Well, what about them? ASCII has plenty of similar looking characters. I doubt most people would notice when a capital i is replaced by a lower L - and vice-versa. Similarly the kerning issue of an r and n looking like an m is well known. Are mixed language homographs more dangerous? I don't think so.

What if people make names that can't be typed?

Well, what if they do? Maybe not being found by people who can't type your language is a feature, not a bug. But, anyway, clients can let users search for other people, or copy and paste their names.

What about weird "Zalgo" text?

It is up to a client to decide how they want to render text input. The "problems" of strange Unicode combinations are well known. This is not a hard computer-science problem.

What about bi-directional text?

The spec makes clear this is allowed.

Do people even want a username in their own script?

I have no evidence for this. But I bet you'd get pretty frustrated if you had to switch keyboard just to type your own name, wouldn't you? In any case, why can't I have a username of @😉

What's Next?

If you build ActivityPub software, give some thought to the billions of people who don't have names which easily fit into ASCII.

If your software can see @你好@i18n.viii.fi and its posts, please let me know.

All documents published by the Ideographic Research Group (IRG) are now available on the Unicode web site, and can be easily and efficiently found through the new search bar provided on the IRG homepage.

🔗 https://www.unicode.org/irg/

This long-awaited search feature is very convenient, and so useful to find what you're interested in, and even more (ah, the wonderful power of serendipity!)...

#Unicode #IRG #IdeographicResearchGroup #CJK #Ideographs #Unihan

Whoa, I just noticed:

#Unicode Technical Standard #58 was published two weeks ago!

Unicode Link Detection and Formatting:
URLs and Email Addresses
https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr58/

---

【This document specifies two consistent, standardized mechanisms that address [URL] problems, consisting of:

1 )link detection: detecting URLs and email addresses embedded in plain text that properly handles non-ASCII characters, and
2) minimally escaping: minimal escaping of non-ASCII code points in the Path, Query, and Fragment portions of a URL.】

All documents published by the Ideographic Research Group (IRG) are now available on the Unicode web site, and can be easily and efficiently found through the new search bar provided on the IRG homepage.

🔗 https://www.unicode.org/irg/

This long-awaited search feature is very convenient, and so useful to find what you're interested in, and even more (ah, the wonderful power of serendipity!)...

#Unicode #IRG #IdeographicResearchGroup #CJK #Ideographs #Unihan

All documents published by the Ideographic Research Group (IRG) are now available on the Unicode web site, and can be easily and efficiently found through the new search bar provided on the IRG homepage.

🔗 https://www.unicode.org/irg/

This long-awaited search feature is very convenient, and so useful to find what you're interested in, and even more (ah, the wonderful power of serendipity!)...

#Unicode #IRG #IdeographicResearchGroup #CJK #Ideographs #Unihan

Red Dot of the day.
🔴
Could not show this in #Python with #Unicode '\u' escape codes and ended up pasting it from https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+1F534

All Tangut-related utilities and sample scripts have been moved from 'Unicopedia Sinica' to a new dedicated application: 'Unicopedia Tangutica'

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-tangutica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Tangut #Ideographs

For the record, the icon of the new #Unicopedia #Tangutica application shows the #Tangut #ideograph U+173C7 𗏇 meaning "written character".

#Unicode

All Tangut-related utilities and sample scripts have been moved from 'Unicopedia Sinica' to a new dedicated application: 'Unicopedia Tangutica'

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-tangutica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Tangut #Ideographs

跨性別專屬中文代名詞「X也」 正式納入 Unicode 系統
由跨性別社群自創的中文代名詞「X也」在 2025 年 9 月正式獲統一碼（Unicode）批准納入 Unico […]
#社交網絡 #科技新聞 #LGBTQ #Unicode
https://unwire.hk/2026/02/11/x-unicode/fun-tech/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=x-unicode

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-02-08): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Salesforce is back, once again... on and off, and on and off, and on... Part-time member, possibly?

#Unicode #Members

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-01-25): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Salesforce is gone, once again... on and off and on and off...

Some avatar of #Schrödinger's cat, perhaps?

#Unicode #Members

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-02-08): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Salesforce is back, once again... on and off, and on and off, and on... Part-time member, possibly?

#Unicode #Members

does #Unicode or someone have tables of similar-looking characters somewhere? Since that particular code is in a way dealing with typesetting that could be quite handy.

New blog post, in which I geek out over Urdu digits, Unicode, and CSS counter styles: https://saadatmand.pk/blog/of-urdu-digits-and-css-counter-styles/

#urdu #unicode #css

New blog post, in which I geek out over Urdu digits, Unicode, and CSS counter styles: https://saadatmand.pk/blog/of-urdu-digits-and-css-counter-styles/

#urdu #unicode #css

@Jain We'd love to have you, Jain!
https://www.w3.org/membership/

For Emoji standardization however, you'll have to rely on the #unicode consortium :blobcat3c:
https://home.unicode.org/emoji/about-emoji/

What's the difference between ☄ and ☄️?

The hexcodes start the same but the latter is longer:

☄: e2 98 84

☄️: e2 98 84 ef b8 8f

Are both considered to be "emoji"?

#emoji #unicode

@sleepycat this paper doesn't cite two relevant official #Unicode reports on the subject: "Unicode Security Mechanisms" https://unicode.org/reports/tr39/ and "Unicode Identifiers and Syntax" https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr31/ . Was the paper interested in solving problems, or just in collecting the engagement from pointing them out?

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2026-01-25): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Translated.

🔗 https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Salesforce is gone, once again... on and off and on and off...

Some avatar of #Schrödinger's cat, perhaps?

#Unicode #Members

"Rather than inserting logical bugs, adversaries can attack the encoding of source code files to inject vulnerabilities.

These adversarial encodings produce no visual artifacts.

The trick is to use Unicode control characters to reorder tokens in source code at the encoding level."

#security #encodings #unicode

https://trojansource.codes/

A small collection of text-only websites

A couple of years ago, I started serving my blog posts as plain text. Add .txt to the end of any URl and get a deliciously lo-fi, UTF-8, mono[chrome|space] alternative.

Here's this post in plain text - https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/12/a-small-collection-of-text-only-websites.txt

Obviously a webpage without links is like a fish without a bicycle, but the joy of the web is that there are no gatekeepers. People can try new concepts and, if enough people join in, it becomes normal. I'm not saying the plain-text is the best web experience. But it is an experience. Perfect if you like your browsing fast, simple, and readable. There are no cookie banners, pop-ups, permission prompts, autoplaying videos, or garish colour schemes.

I'm certainly not the first person to do this, so I thought it might be fun to gather a list of websites which you browse in text-only mode. If you know of any more - including your own site - please drop a comment in the box!

• Terence Eden's blog - add .txt to any URl.
• Daring Fireball - add .text to any URl.
• Zach Flowers - replace .html with .txt.
• Fabien Benetou's PIM - add ?action=source to any URl.
• M0YNG - add .txt to any URl.
• Gwern - add .md to any URl or send an HTTP Accept for Markdown.
• Dan Q's textplain.blog - the entire blog is plain text!
• Matt Hobbs - there is a feed of plaintext which allows you to read recent posts.

If you'd like to add a site, please get in touch. The rules are simple - content which has the MIME type of text/plain. No HTML, no multimedia, no RTF, no XML, no ANSI colour escape sequences.

Emoji are fine though; emoji are cool.

#Unicode 18.0 will add at least 13,000 characters.

“At UTC #185, nearly 13,000 additional characters were approved for encoding in Unicode 18.0.

The approved additions include encoding of Small Seal script ("Seal"), a repertoire of 11,328 ideographic characters. Seal is distinct from modern Han ideographs (aka, "CJK"), but is an important precursor of CJK resulting from the first efforts to standardize writing across Chinese-speaking regions during China's Qin Dynasty. As such, Seal has important cultural significance in China and for Chinese speakers throughout the world”

https://blog.unicode.org/2025/12/utc-185-highlights.html?m=1

More on seal script: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_script

>>> sorted(['🥚','🐤'])
['🐤', '🥚']

#python #unicode #meme

>>> sorted(['🥚','🐤'])
['🐤', '🥚']

#python #unicode #meme

>>> sorted(['🥚','🐤'])
['🐤', '🥚']

#python #unicode #meme

The latest version of the open-source application "Unicopedia Plus" is now available, adding support for all the new characters, scripts, and blocks defined in Unicode 17.0.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus

This current app version is a pre-release (Beta), since full support for Unicode 17.0 is not yet available in the Electron framework. More specifically, results from the "Unicode Foldings", "Unicode Normalizer", and "Unicode Segmenter" utilities cannot be fully trusted...

#Unicopedia #Unicode

Was da wohl schon so kaputt gegangen ist, Unicode ist aber in Ordnung? 😬
#MaliciousCompliance #Unicode

Fun tip for anyone who's wondering how I got the "hashtags" in my last toot to not be *actual* hashtags: after the # symbol, and before the next letter, I put a Unicode Word Joiner character. That breaks up the string so it no longer counts as a hashtag, but also makes it so there can't be a line-break after the # symbol.

https://unicode-explorer.com/c/2060

You can type one in Linux Mint by doing Ctrl+Shift+U then "2060" and Enter.

#ProTip #typography #unicode #hashtags

Off-label uses of pandoc: conversion between text encodings.

E.g., UTF-8 to UTF-16:

echo 'X' | pandoc lua -e 'io.write(pandoc.text.toencoding(io.read"a", "utf-16"))'

Other direction:

echo 'X' | pandoc lua -e 'io.write(pandoc.text.fromencoding(io.read"a", "utf-16"))'

The set of supported encodings is platform dependent, but always includes UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32, and latin1.

#pandoc #Unicode #encoding #conversion

Off-label uses of pandoc: conversion between text encodings.

E.g., UTF-8 to UTF-16:

echo 'X' | pandoc lua -e 'io.write(pandoc.text.toencoding(io.read"a", "utf-16"))'

Other direction:

echo 'X' | pandoc lua -e 'io.write(pandoc.text.fromencoding(io.read"a", "utf-16"))'

The set of supported encodings is platform dependent, but always includes UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32, and latin1.

#pandoc #Unicode #encoding #conversion

@Marmalade Wouldn't surprise me if it were floating around somewhere in #Unicode already. @codepoints

New in Unicopedia Sinica:

- Added new Tangut Inspector utility.
- Added new Tangut Data Finder utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Tangut

New in Unicopedia Sinica:

- Added new Tangut Inspector utility.
- Added new Tangut Data Finder utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Tangut

There is a very interesting article about gender-inclusive pronouns in Chinese, including mentions of characters yet to be added to the Unicode set, making use of Ideographic Description Sequences (IDS): ⿰无也, ⿰㐅也, ⿰男也...

Janet Davey. (2025). Taking "TA" Beyond the Binary: In Search of Multimodal Gender-inclusive Pronouns in Chinese. Image & Narrative, 25(03), 131–163. Retrieved from https://imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/3417

🔗 [PDF] https://imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/3417/2829

#Unicode #Chinese #GenderInclusive #PersonalPronouns

No matter how badly you screw up at work, at least your silly mistake won't be absolutely IMMORTALIZED in the #Unicode specification. Unless you work at Unicode, in which case, good luck. We're all counting on you.

👉 https://util.unicode.org/UnicodeJsps/character.jsp?a=FE18

The latest version of the open-source application "Unicopedia Sinica" is now available, adding support for all the new CJK/Unihan characters defined in Unicode 17.0.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV

New in Unicopedia Sinica:

- Added new Tangut Components utility.
- Added new Tangut References utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Tangut #Components #References

New in Unicopedia Sinica:

- Added new Tangut Components utility.
- Added new Tangut References utility.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Tangut #Components #References

No matter how badly you screw up at work, at least your silly mistake won't be absolutely IMMORTALIZED in the #Unicode specification. Unless you work at Unicode, in which case, good luck. We're all counting on you.

👉 https://util.unicode.org/UnicodeJsps/character.jsp?a=FE18

A small collection of text-only websites

A couple of years ago, I started serving my blog posts as plain text. Add .txt to the end of any URl and get a deliciously lo-fi, UTF-8, mono[chrome|space] alternative.

Here's this post in plain text - https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/12/a-small-collection-of-text-only-websites.txt

Obviously a webpage without links is like a fish without a bicycle, but the joy of the web is that there are no gatekeepers. People can try new concepts and, if enough people join in, it becomes normal. I'm not saying the plain-text is the best web experience. But it is an experience. Perfect if you like your browsing fast, simple, and readable. There are no cookie banners, pop-ups, permission prompts, autoplaying videos, or garish colour schemes.

I'm certainly not the first person to do this, so I thought it might be fun to gather a list of websites which you browse in text-only mode. If you know of any more - including your own site - please drop a comment in the box!

• Terence Eden's blog - add .txt to any URl.
• Daring Fireball - add .text to any URl.
• Zach Flowers - replace .html with .txt.
• Fabien Benetou's PIM - add ?action=source to any URl.
• M0YNG - add .txt to any URl.
• Gwern - add .md to any URl or send an HTTP Accept for Markdown.
• Dan Q's textplain.blog - the entire blog is plain text!
• Matt Hobbs - there is a feed of plaintext which allows you to read recent posts.

If you'd like to add a site, please get in touch. The rules are simple - content which has the MIME type of text/plain. No HTML, no multimedia, no RTF, no XML, no ANSI colour escape sequences.

Emoji are fine though; emoji are cool.

A small collection of text-only websites

A couple of years ago, I started serving my blog posts as plain text. Add .txt to the end of any URl and get a deliciously lo-fi, UTF-8, mono[chrome|space] alternative.

Here's this post in plain text - https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/12/a-small-collection-of-text-only-websites.txt

Obviously a webpage without links is like a fish without a bicycle, but the joy of the web is that there are no gatekeepers. People can try new concepts and, if enough people join in, it becomes normal. I'm not saying the plain-text is the best web experience. But it is an experience. Perfect if you like your browsing fast, simple, and readable. There are no cookie banners, pop-ups, permission prompts, autoplaying videos, or garish colour schemes.

I'm certainly not the first person to do this, so I thought it might be fun to gather a list of websites which you browse in text-only mode. If you know of any more - including your own site - please drop a comment in the box!

• Terence Eden's blog - add .txt to any URl.
• Daring Fireball - add .text to any URl.
• Zach Flowers - replace .html with .txt.
• Fabien Benetou's PIM - add ?action=source to any URl.
• M0YNG - add .txt to any URl.
• Gwern - add .md to any URl or send an HTTP Accept for Markdown.
• Dan Q's textplain.blog - the entire blog is plain text!
• Matt Hobbs - there is a feed of plaintext which allows you to read recent posts.

If you'd like to add a site, please get in touch. The rules are simple - content which has the MIME type of text/plain. No HTML, no multimedia, no RTF, no XML, no ANSI colour escape sequences.

Emoji are fine though; emoji are cool.

It was the best of times, it was the

#unicode

It was the best of times, it was the

#unicode

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2025-12-24): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Salesforce is back, as if by magic, just in time for Christmas... A true miracle!

#Unicode #Members

Today (April Fools' Day), Adobe is apparently back to the list of full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium, but for how long this time: one full year?

« Ça s’en va et ça revient
C’est fait de tout petits riens
Ça se chante et ça se danse
Et ça revient, ça se retient
Comme une chanson populaire »

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium: Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

#unicode #members

Full members (voting) of the Unicode Consortium (2025-12-24): Adobe, Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Translated.

https://home.unicode.org/membership/members/

Salesforce is back, as if by magic, just in time for Christmas... A true miracle!

#Unicode #Members

This probably means that someone should modernize HTTP by creating HTTP/1.4.

#HTTP #HTTP_1_4 #Unicode #UTF8 #WorldWideWeb

the most important part of #Unicode history is when a mouse fell out of a light fixture and got added to the count of members present at a Technical Committee meeting (9 Nov 2016)

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16325.htm#149-A94

Generally, new CJK Ideographs proposed by members of the IRG (Ideographic Research Group) go through several rounds of exchanges/discussions until they get approved or possibly postponed or rejected.

For instance, here is the page dedicated to UK-20538 ⿰㐅也 (with images as "pieces of evidence"), which eventually made its way to Unicode 17.0, encoded as U+323BF 𲎿 :

🔗 https://hc.jsecs.org/irg/ws2021/app/?id=00029

#Unicode #Unihan #IdeographicResearchGroup #IRG #CJK #CJKV

Filtering Unicode "Emoji" and other symbols is a hell with PCRE.

#Perl #PCRE #Unicode #Emojis

I see various #JavaScript and #Dart libraries offering functions for detecting #Japanese kanji characters, but they almost always do this in a limited way that misses a huge number of characters, i.e. nothing beyond the #Unicode BMP, or even missing ranges in the BMP.

The only way to do this right is to

1. Work with codepoints, not UTF-16 code units

2. Look at the Unicode script property, which should be `Han` for kanji/hanzi

I used the new Unicode script matchers in Orgro (https://orgro.org/) to improve text reflow for Japanese and Chinese text.

Previously all text would reflow like the Latin text above—with a space where line breaks were. Now I remove the space when appropriate based on the script of the abutting non-whitespace characters.

#Orgro #Emacs #OrgMode #Unicode #Japanese #Chinese

I used the new Unicode script matchers in Orgro (https://orgro.org/) to improve text reflow for Japanese and Chinese text.

Previously all text would reflow like the Latin text above—with a space where line breaks were. Now I remove the space when appropriate based on the script of the abutting non-whitespace characters.

#Orgro #Emacs #OrgMode #Unicode #Japanese #Chinese

I see various #JavaScript and #Dart libraries offering functions for detecting #Japanese kanji characters, but they almost always do this in a limited way that misses a huge number of characters, i.e. nothing beyond the #Unicode BMP, or even missing ranges in the BMP.

The only way to do this right is to

1. Work with codepoints, not UTF-16 code units

2. Look at the Unicode script property, which should be `Han` for kanji/hanzi

Unicode isn't a standard. It's a geopolitical fever dream where linguistics, cyber warfare, influence ops, censorship, OSINT, and national identity all collide.

Homoglyph attacks, script politics, emoji diplomacy, etc.

"The Geopolitics of Unicode: How Scripts, Fonts, and Character Sets Become Cybersecurity Issues"

New read at:
https://www.keystone-collective.org/the-geopolitics-of-unicode-how-scripts-fonts-and-character-sets-become-cybersecurity-issues/ #politics #geopolitics #technology #unicode #cybersecurity #osint #diplomacy

Unicode Emoji: Pan-CJK Flags

• <U+1F1E8, U+1F1F3> flag: China [CN]
• <U+1F1ED, U+1F1F0> flag: Hong Kong SAR China [HK]
• <U+1F1EF, U+1F1F5> flag: Japan [JP]
• <U+1F1F0, U+1F1F5> flag: North Korea [KP]
• <U+1F1F0, U+1F1F7> flag: South Korea [KR]
• <U+1F1F2, U+1F1F4> flag: Macao SAR China [MO]
• <U+1F1F2, U+1F1FE> flag: Malaysia [MY]
• <U+1F1F8, U+1F1EC> flag: Singapore [SG]
• <U+1F1F9, U+1F1FC> flag: Taiwan [TW]
• <U+1F1FB, U+1F1F3> flag: Vietnam [VN]

#Unicode #Emoji #PanCJK #Flags

The latest post on the Unicode Blog gives some important details about the future character repertoire in Unicode 18.0, notably the addition of 11,328 "Small Seal" ideographic characters, plus 965 "Jurchen" characters and radicals . It also offers very clear insights about the work of the UTC (Unicode Technical Committee) on CJK & Unihan characters, in collaboration with the IRG (Ideographic Research Group).

🔗 https://blog.unicode.org/2025/12/utc-185-highlights.html

#Unicode #UTC #IRG #SmallSeal #Jurchen

The Ideographic Research Group (IRG) is responsible for preparing and reviewing sets of CJK unified ideographs to be included in the Unicode Standard.

It has recently made available a useful list of so-called disunified CJK ideographs, coming with images of glyphs and IRG source references, which also provides links to documents giving the rationale behind each disunification:

🔗 https://www.unicode.org/irg/disunified.html

#Unicode #IRG #Disunified #Ideographs #Unihan #CJK

Unicode isn't a standard. It's a geopolitical fever dream where linguistics, cyber warfare, influence ops, censorship, OSINT, and national identity all collide.

Homoglyph attacks, script politics, emoji diplomacy, etc.

"The Geopolitics of Unicode: How Scripts, Fonts, and Character Sets Become Cybersecurity Issues"

New read at:
https://www.keystone-collective.org/the-geopolitics-of-unicode-how-scripts-fonts-and-character-sets-become-cybersecurity-issues/ #politics #geopolitics #technology #unicode #cybersecurity #osint #diplomacy

TIL: `font-feature-settings: "ccmp" off` also breaks ZWJ emojis.

#CSS #emoji #Unicode

TIL: `font-feature-settings: "ccmp" off` also breaks ZWJ emojis.

#CSS #emoji #Unicode

Unicode 17.0 introduces five new CJK Unified Ideographs related to Chinese personal pronouns, four of them having been proposed by Andrew West (BabelStone):

« The other Chinese pronoun coming to Unicode v. 17.0 next year, in addition to ⿰㐅也 (3p gender-neutral, ⿰男也 (3p explicitly male), ⿱妳心 ( f. equivalent of 您), ⿱我心 (Taiwanese 1p plural), is ⿱她心 (f. equivalent to 怹) »

🔗 https://bsky.app/profile/babelstone.co.uk/post/3lbrxowqt7k24

#Unicopedia #Unicode #BabelStone #Chinese #PersonalPronouns

Unicode 17.0 introduces five new CJK Unified Ideographs related to Chinese personal pronouns, four of them having been proposed by Andrew West (BabelStone):

« The other Chinese pronoun coming to Unicode v. 17.0 next year, in addition to ⿰㐅也 (3p gender-neutral, ⿰男也 (3p explicitly male), ⿱妳心 ( f. equivalent of 您), ⿱我心 (Taiwanese 1p plural), is ⿱她心 (f. equivalent to 怹) »

🔗 https://bsky.app/profile/babelstone.co.uk/post/3lbrxowqt7k24

#Unicopedia #Unicode #BabelStone #Chinese #PersonalPronouns

> This increases the number of encoded CJK ideographs to over 100,000!

十万字【じゅうまんじ】！

#Unicode #Jūmanji #Unihan #CJK #CJKV

New additions include 4,298 additional CJK unified ideographs in a new block, CJK Unified Ideographs Extension J, as well as 18 other CJK ideographs added to the existing Extension C and Extension E blocks.

This increases the number of encoded CJK ideographs to over 100,000!

Also, nearly 2,500 already-encoded CJK ideographs are horizontally extended by the addition of source references and glyphs reflecting use of those ideographs in China and Korea.

🔗 https://blog.unicode.org/2025/09/unicode-170-release-announcement.html

#Unicode #CJK

The latest version of the open-source application "Unicopedia Sinica" is now available, adding support for all the new CJK/Unihan characters defined in Unicode 17.0.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV

The latest version of the open-source application "Unicopedia Sinica" is now available, adding support for all the new CJK/Unihan characters defined in Unicode 17.0.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #CJK #CJKV

the most important part of #Unicode history is when a mouse fell out of a light fixture and got added to the count of members present at a Technical Committee meeting (9 Nov 2016)

https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2016/16325.htm#149-A94

In Unicode, up to 11,328 "Small Seal" characters are finally making their way through the "Pipeline"...

"WG2 N5341 - Small Seal Code charts and Data set"
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n5341-SmallSealChart.pdf

"Topical Document List: Seal Script"
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/L2/topical/seal/

"Proposed New Characters: The Pipeline"
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/alloc/Pipeline.html

#Unicode #SmallSeal #Pipeline

New in Unicopedia Ægypta:

- Added all Unikemet-related utilities from Unicopedia Plus.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unikemet

New in Unicopedia Ægypta:

- Added all Unikemet-related utilities from Unicopedia Plus.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unikemet

New in Unicopedia Sinica:

- Added all Unihan-related utilities from Unicopedia Plus.
- Added typeface selector between serif and sans-serif in the Pan-CJK Font Variants utility.

Planned:

- Utilities for non-Han scripts: Khitan Small Script, Nüshu, Tangut.
- Utilities for Jurchen, Small Seal (Unicode 18.0?)

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #PanCJK

New in Unicopedia Sinica:

- Added all Unihan-related utilities from Unicopedia Plus.
- Added typeface selector between serif and sans-serif in the Pan-CJK Font Variants utility.

Planned:

- Utilities for non-Han scripts: Khitan Small Script, Nüshu, Tangut.
- Utilities for Jurchen, Small Seal (Unicode 18.0?)

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Unihan #PanCJK

New in Unicopedia Plus:

- All Unihan-related utilities have been moved to Unicopedia Sinica.
- All Unikemet-related utilities have been moved to Unicopedia Ægypta.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Emoji #MathGeekiness

New in Unicopedia Plus:

- All Unihan-related utilities have been moved to Unicopedia Sinica.
- All Unikemet-related utilities have been moved to Unicopedia Ægypta.

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-sinica
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-aegypta

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Emoji #MathGeekiness

[Follow-Up]

Reference links:

- UTS #18: Unicode Regular Expressions
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/

- UTS #18: Unicode Regular Expressions [Proposed Update]
🔗 https://www.unicode.org/reports/tr18/proposed.html

- Issues - tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus - Codeberg.org
🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus/issues

#Unicopedia #Unicode #Regex #RegularExpressions

The "official" Unicode Regular Expressions (UTS #18) document, dated February 8, 2022, has never been updated since then, and the four new Unicode properties introduced in Unicode 15.1 are only listed in the Proposed Update *draft*, dated May 11, 2023...

This could explain why #Safari, #Firefox, and the #Electron framework (#Chromium) trigger an "invalid property" error for the /\p{IDS_Unary_Operator}/u #regex in JavaScript, while /\p{IDS_Binary_Operator}/u is ok...

#unicopedia #unicode

Back in the 1990s, I was kind of annoyed by #GNU people's fondness for misusing the grave accent character ` as an open-quote character. They would write quoted text ``like this''.

I assume it looked good on some 1970s terminal or another, but it looked atrocious in your average '90s GUI font.

Thankfully, #Unicode came along and defined actual open-quote and close-quote characters, and this whole issue exists largely in the past now.

#retrocomputing

“I'm still waiting for him to learn about Unicode, then mandate US ASCII on all government websites”
[Andrew West 魏安 - January 2025]

https://bsky.app/profile/babelstone.co.uk/post/3lgdbhazfps2f

#Unicode #MakeASCIIGreatAgain

Some people in the US are possibly nostalgic of the "ASCII" acronym where "A" stands for "American"... Unicode is definitely more "universal", some might even say "woke":
- It encodes characters of writing systems from all around the world.
- The Script Encoding Initiative (SEI) comes from the University of Berkeley, CA.
- It encodes "diversity" symbols such as ♀♂⚢⚣⚤⚥⚦⚧⚨⚩⚲, 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️, or even 🇪🇺 🇺🇳.
- More than two-thirds of the Unicode characters originate from China.

#Unicode #Diversity

According to the "Can I Unicode‽" web page, as of today, the #Chrome navigator is still "stuck" in Unicode 15.1, while the latest version of #Unicode is 17.0!

https://mathiasbynens.github.io/caniunicode/

The fact that the #Electron framework is based on #Chromium probably explains why it is still lagging behind too...

Supporting Unicode 16.0 would allow me to produce a final stable version of my Unicopedia Plus app, before I can start working on a version for Unicode 17.0.

#unicopedia #electronjs #caniunicode

Until now, I've been able to provide a working (pre-release though) edition of my Unicopedia Plus app, targeting a specific #Unicode version not yet supported by the #Electron framework, by embedding a copy of all the up-to-date Unicode data files, and making use of the `regexpu-core` module to emulate the most "critical" regular expressions, but this is merely a workaround, not what it has been designed for in the first place...

https://github.com/mathiasbynens/regexpu-core

#unicopedia #electronjs #regexpu

As you might expect, my main application Unicopedia Plus relies heavily on #Unicode...

Today, I updated the #Electron framework to its latest major version 39.0.0, hoping it would at last bring full support to Unicode 16.0, published by the UTC in September 2024 , but unfortunately no; it is still stuck in Unicode 15.1, published in September 2023! Moreover, Unicode 17.0 has already been officially released...

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus

#unicopedia #unicode #unihan #unikemet #emoji #electronjs

Wer hat Details dazu, wie sich der #GlassWorm via #Unicode versteckt?

Der Wurm ist sehr ausgefeilt, mich interessiert jedoch dieser Aspekt besonders, weil dadurch angeblich auch "normale" Code-Analyser es nicht erkennen, aber der JavaScript-Interpreter es akzeptiert. Das wurde ich mir gerne mit anderen Interpreten und anderen Editoren ansehen.

Perfekt wäre, wenn jemand den Wurm (oder Teile davon) hätte. Ich nehme aber auch detaillierte Beschreibungen, mit denen ich FAS nachstellen könnte.

#infosec #itsecurity #itsicherheit #Malware #itsec

New utility in Unicopedia Plus:
- Unihan Total Strokes

🔗 https://codeberg.org/tonton-pixel/unicopedia-plus

#unicopedia #unicode #unihan #totalstrokes

Not enough time to do anything too interesting for today's #WeirdWebOctober.

https://weirdweboctober.stefanbohacek.com/2025/15/

#unicode #dataviz