Re:Why isn't the external link symbol in Unicode? (2018)
by LudwigNagasena on Thursday April 30, 2020 @10:04AM
(#23030894)
Isn’t Wingdings just a font that can work with whatever character set?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Why isn't the external link symbol in Unicode? (2018)
by goto11 on Thursday April 30, 2020 @10:17AM
(#23031027)
Yeah, it was basically a hack to extend the character repertoire in the time of 8-bit character sets. The kind of shenanigans Unicode was designed to replace.
You still see this kind of mischief when Outlook users type a smiley, and it is rendered as a "J" with the wingdings font. Readers of the mail where styling is stripped or who haven't the font installed just sees a confusing "J".