Can't use emojis

[daloonik]

I tried pasting an emoji into Scribus and it shows up as a blank rectangle/box.
However the same emoji 🎸 works just fine everywhere else.
Will Scribus have support for emojis in the future?

[Nermander]

I doubt it works fine "everywhere else", what other places did you try?

My guess is that the problem here is that the font used does not contain emojis. Scribus i very strict when it comes to font use and only uses the exact font you have told it to use.

[a.l.e]

well, that emoji is so well supported, that it even does not show in my browser : - )

anyway, it works in scribus and it's a guitar!
... i just had to copy paste the square from here into a scribus text frame and select an emoji font. of course.

i've used https://github.com/MorbZ/OpenSansEmoji

and https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/31625/are-there-any-free-emoji-fonts mentions a few more.

of course, you won't be able to use svg fonts in scribus. not yet. i think. so no colors. except black.

[Nermander]

Maybe a little more explanation can be useful:

In many programs, when you paste a glyph that is not present in the currently selected font, the program automagically inserts a "temporary font change" for that glyph.

For example, in MS Word, if you have a text in Arial and paste a glyph from Wingdings, that glyph will be presented using the Wingdings font, while the rest of the text remains Arial.

In Scribus however, only the character code of the glyph is inserted, so if the glyph is not present in the currently selected font the glyph won't shown.

I think you can try this for example in a text editor like Notepad. In a text editor only the character codes are stored (not the font), so which glyph is shown depends on the font that the text editor uses. This means if two users use different fonts, they may see different glyphs from the same text file.

[daloonik]

Thanks for the replies. When I wrote that the emoji 🎸 would show up everywhere else, I meant that indeed it was working in Libreoffice, my browser, and even in Scribus' internal text editor. However it wouldn't show up in the text box on the document when I updated the window.

I ended up testing the glyph by selecting the font in Google Fonts and pasting the emoji as sample text and sure enough the glyph wasn't working. So it's indeed a font problem and not a Scribus problem. The Open sans emoji font displays the emoji correctly. thanks for the help everyone!

[Jago]

i've used https://github.com/MorbZ/OpenSansEmoji

Hi a.l.e
I downloaded that font and tried to write something in scribus with it but it doesn't worked. I see only a rectangle when copy paste into a text frame. I also tried with the Segoe UI Emoji from windows but all emojis are black rectangle. What do I do wrong? I trie to input this one: 😎 (Code: 1F60E)

thx for your support and have a good time...

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Portreve]

While I'm not really sure why you'd want to stick an emoji into a page layout, daloonik, the underlying issue here is font availability anyhow.

If you create a layout, no matter what software you use to do this, and hand off that file to someone else, the receiver's ability to perceive that font is completely dependent upon them having the font installed on their system. This was a significant reason Adobe developed the Portable Document Format spec in the first place: we needed a way to trade files without worrying whether the target system shared the same font(s) or even the same creation software.

[Jago]

I'm giving that file as a pdf to others so they must see the emoji as well. I'm layouting the magazin of our sport club and think that emoji's can make the publication more funny. I can post them in MS Word but not in Scribus and I don't understand why.

[a.l.e]

hi

1.4.6 does not seem to be able to handle the emoji font i've linked above.

in 1.5.4svn (and in 1.5.3 probably too) i can pick and use the glyphs.

you should probably use emojis very sparely in a layout (or even refrain from using them) since they tend to make the publication "cheap" and not really much more funny...
but it's up to you!

ciao
a.l.e

[GarryP]

I agree with a.l.e: Unless you are absolutely sure that your audience will both understand and appreciate your use of emojis, don't use them.

Use of emojis can seriously damage your credibility in the eyes of your readers. There have been plenty of studies which show that most people think a person using emojis is less competent than someone using the same text without the emojis.

I understand that emojis can be useful as a shorthand when they are used within a small group where everyone knows each other well enough to understand what the emojis mean within that context, but outside of that group the meaning can be, at best, confusing.

For example, you and your friends might know what you mean by using "Supervillain, Mango, Fire Extinguisher", but most people won't.

For another example, say you add a "Zombie" to the end of a message, what does that mean to the reader? Are you saying that you feel like a zombie, or that you are calling the reader a zombie, or something else? The meanings of words can change over time but the meanings of emojis can change almost overnight while the document they're in could be around for decades.

The text of an article and the type of language used should be enough to get the message across.

Consider these two pieces of text:
"OMG! Fido's dead!  Poor old Lab. Such a shame. RIP Fido!  "
versus
"We regret to announce that loyal friend and companion Fido the Labrador passed away yesterday."

They both say pretty much the same thing but one is much more appropriate than the other.

Feel free to use emojis if you want to, but be ready to have to explain why you have done so.