Emoji: Moon symbols

[Christopher Fynn]

Re: Moon Symbols (e-011 e-015) - it might be useful to set aside 28
characters in a general symbols area for encoding moon symbols. In
some calendars different days of the lunar month can have a
particular significance and are sometimes marked in an almanac or on a
calendar by a symbol. (e.g. in the traditional Tibetan calendar the
10th and 25th days - as well as the New Moon and full moon days of
each month are important and often so marked). Other calendars &
almanacs mark the four quarters of the moon. Allowing for 28 lunar
symbol would enable encoding generic symbols all 28 days of the lunar
month if required.

- Chris

[Markus Scherer]

On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 12:19 AM, Christopher Fynn <chris...@gmail.com> wrote:

Re: Moon Symbols (e-011 e-015) - it might be useful to set aside 28
characters in a general symbols area for encoding moon symbols.

Maybe, but certainly not as part of this proposal. We are not looking for random symbols, we are trying to encode just enough characters so that we can perform round-trip conversions between Unicode and the cell phone character sets.

markus

[Michael Everson]

Yes, but to get this through the committees I am sure we should treat
sections of the proposal in digestible bites. I don't believe it has
to all go in at once. Some parts are easier than others. The clock
faces and weather symbols are not problematic for instance.

A request for additional moon symbols was on my list. I first thought
of it when I noticed "waxing moon" but no "waning moon" (or vice versa).

I would really not like to have some of these collections split up
just because some phone companies weren't inclusive.

Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com

[Mark Davis]

As far as placement goes, whatever is the smoothest for all parties involved; we don't have any particular attachment to placement. Fundamentally, it doesn't really matter where we place characters; there are many instances where Unicode had a smattering of characters and we added more later on.

The only really important thing is to have complete coverage of the emoji (sans logos). If we don't have full coverage, it isn't worth doing anything. So moving into separate blocks is ok if it speeds up the process rather than slowing it down.

Mark

[Christopher Fynn]

Markus

The daily phases of the moon throughout the month are hardly "random"
and, looked at as regular symbols, make as much sense to encode as the
hours on a clock face.

Anyway I was not suggesting to encode them all at this time. What I
was suggesting is that if emoji are going to be treated as normal
symbol characters and encoded not in a "emoji compatibility" block of
their own but alongside other (non-emoji) symbols then it might make
sense to encode the MOON symbols in a block with sufficient space to
accommodate other MOON / LUNAR symbols.

Similarly it might be advisable to encode the 10 national FLAG symbols
in a block with sufficient space to accommodate other existing
national flags; the HAND symbols in a block sufficient space to
accommodate other hand symbols which form parts of well documented
hand sign sets; map symbols in a block large enough for other map
symbols; weather symbols in a block large enough for other weather
symbols; and so on.

I'm all for encoding well established sets of symbols used in text or
alongside text but I'd prefer to see some organization and structure
where possible. This emoji set seems to contain small sub-sets of
other established symbol sets.

- Chris

> markus