Character strings instead of emojis

MoodyBlues · Jan 6, 2019

While still using my previous phone, I chalked this issue up to it being so old (Moto X 2nd Generation running Lollipop 5.1), it couldn't display certain things correctly.

But now that it also happens on my new phone...hmmm... :thinking:

See the character string,

Code:

&#128513;&#128513;

My good friend Google confirms what I assumed, that it's code for an emoji.

Anyone know why a brand-spanking new Moto Z² Force Edition running Oreo 8.0.0 should fail to render certain graphics?

olbriar · Jan 6, 2019

My Chrome browser doesn't render them either.

Milo Willamson · Jan 6, 2019

Not so sure.

Do a search in the machine, in system settings for help

MoodyBlues · Jan 6, 2019

olbriar said:
My Chrome browser doesn't render them either.

Really?! It's selective for me, I mean most are displayed as they should be, but a few are not. Is it the same for you?

I've been trying a minimalist philosophy with my new phone, very selectively only installing apps I need. But I think it's time for some browser experimentation! I'll try a few besides Chrome and report back.

MoodyBlues · Jan 6, 2019

Milo Willamson said:
Not so sure. Do a search in the machine, in system settings for help

Um...I don't know about that.

We have the same phone, right, the Z²? Would you mind going to this post in the "Guess who is below you" thread, using Chrome on your phone, and tell us, or better yet, post a screenshot of how it looks?

Milo Willamson · Jan 6, 2019

MoodyBlues said:
Um...I don't know about that.

We have the same phone, right, the Z²? Would you mind going to this post in the "Guess who is below you" thread, using Chrome on your phone, and tell us, or better yet, post a screenshot of how it looks?

Can you wait until tomorrow ?

I will have it uploaded on here, been up since four in the morning, prepairing myself to sleep sweetie

Mikestony · Jan 6, 2019

I think the only place that will render that correctly is the AF app.
My phone Chrome browser and also my laptop with Chrome will not render them as emoji's, just that stringy stuff

MoodyBlues · Jan 6, 2019

Okay, I just viewed this post with Opera, DuckDuckGo, and Firefox--NONE rendered the string as emojis.

Yet if I Google search the string in any of those browsers, emojis are returned as its result.

So it's a forum software issue...or what?

MoodyBlues · Jan 6, 2019

Mikestony said:
I think the only place that will render that correctly is the AF app.

I no longer recall why, but I decided I disliked the app--a few years ago!--and never looked at it again.

My phone Chrome browser and also my laptop with Chrome will not render them as emoji's, just that stringy stuff

Tomorrow I'll try a few browsers on a computer and report back.

MoodyBlues · Jan 6, 2019

Milo Willamson said:
Can you wait until tomorrow ? I will have it uploaded on here, been up since four in the morning, prepairing myself to sleep sweetie

No problem--but I don't think it's necessary now. Catch up on the rest of the posts in this thread and you'll see what I mean.

tommo47 · Jan 7, 2019

Hi @MoodyBlues, it happens with my three browsers - HTC Stock, Chrome and Firefox, but with a quick look through the "Guess who is below you" thread, it's only @almath's posts that show the character string. All other posts show emojis, including yours. So it would seem that it's not my browsers that are unable to render the emojis it's more to do with something being amiss with @almath's input.

Update: I've just had a look at the html code and there is a significant difference with @almath's compared to all others where the emoji is rendered correctly :-

eg. @almath's :- </div>Hey! &#128513;<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>

and this is the code from your first post:-
<blockquote class="quoteContainer"><div class="quote"><a href="https://androidforums.com/members/1089038/" class="internalLink">@almath</a> ! see how much LUV you're spreading already on 2019!</div><div class="quoteExpand">Click to expand...</div></blockquote>
</aside>
</div>&#128513;&#128513;<br />
<br />
<a href="https://androidforums.com/members/871784/" class="username" data-user="871784, @tommo47">@tommo47</a>

Others :- <img src="styles/smilies/google/smilie.png" class="mceSmilie" alt="

" title="Smile

" /><br />

With @almath's input format it is being treated as a text input and not an image input with an appropriate source link.

almath · Jan 7, 2019

I use the AF app and the emojis from my keyboard (Gboard) so that might be why they don't show up.

Hadron · Jan 7, 2019

It's not just almath: there are quite a few members who post emojis that just show as text strings in my browsers. And it makes no difference what browser I use, or indeed whether I'm using a phone or a laptop.

I've never tried using keyboard emojis (I usually go into the keyboard settings and turn them off if I can). Can't test now because I'm typing this on a laptop; will try later if I remember.

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

almath said:
I use the AF app and the emojis from my keyboard (Gboard) so that might be why they don't show up.

Now THIS is interesting. I'd previously noted that when I use Gboard to insert an emoji, the emoji appears while I'm typing my post, but as soon as I submit it, it disappears, not even leaving a blank character where it was. (I only switch to Gboard from Hacker's Keyboard for emojis.)

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

tommo47 said:
Hi @MoodyBlues, it happens with my three browsers - HTC Stock, Chrome and Firefox, but with a quick look through the "Guess who is below you" thread, it's only @almath's posts that show the character string. All other posts show emojis, including yours. So it would seem that it's not my browsers that are unable to render the emojis it's more to do with something being amiss with @almath's input.

Update: I've just had a look at the html code and there is a significant difference with @almath's compared to all others where the emoji is rendered correctly :-

eg. @almath's :- </div>Hey! &#128513;<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>

and this is the code from your first post:-
<blockquote class="quoteContainer"><div class="quote"><a href="https://androidforums.com/members/1089038/" class="internalLink">@almath</a> ! see how much LUV you're spreading already on 2019!</div><div class="quoteExpand">Click to expand...</div></blockquote>
</aside>
</div>&#128513;&#128513;<br />
<br />
<a href="https://androidforums.com/members/871784/" class="username" data-user="871784, @tommo47">@tommo47</a>

Others :- <img src="styles/smilies/google/smilie.png" class="mceSmilie" alt="" title="Smile " /><br />

With @almath's input format it is being treated as a text input and not an image input with an appropriate source link.

Excellent detective work, @tommo47! Very interesting and informative.

Now the question remains, why?

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

Hadron said:
It's not just almath: there are quite a few members who post emojis that just show as text strings in my browsers. And it makes no difference what browser I use, or indeed whether I'm using a phone or a laptop.

Perhaps they're using the AF app like @almath.

I've never tried using keyboard emojis (I usually go into the keyboard settings and turn them off if I can). Can't test now because I'm typing this on a laptop; will try later if I remember.

Just curious which keyboard you're using. Hacker's Keyboard is amazing, and I've used it forever. It has no emoji feature, so I momentarily switch to Gboard to insert emojis. As noted, those emojis disappear as soon as I submit my post--ONLY here on AF.

Hadron · Jan 7, 2019

Yeah, I tried GBoard emojis just now in a draft message and they were not visible on a different device. And SwiftKey emojis were just replaced by a single character.

I've not used Hacker's for a few years now: with small software keyboards, and someties one-handed use, I find good prediction to be too important for me. I've used SwiftKey for a long time, but with the Pixel I've often found Gboard slightly easier: just subtle differences in the sizes/positions of keys on this particular size of screen (even after trying the relatively limited keyboard scaling options). Actually I've not tried Hacker's with the Pixel, now that I think of it...

tommo47 · Jan 7, 2019

MoodyBlues said:
Now THIS is interesting. I'd previously noted that when I use Gboard to insert an emoji, the emoji appears while I'm typing my post, but as soon as I submit it, it disappears, not even leaving a blank character where it was. (I only switch to Gboard from Hacker's Keyboard for emojis.)

Something I've noticed for a long time is that if I try to use my keyboard to enter an emoji only the odd one or two will show so I always go to the emoji button in the tool bar. There is a limited number of emojis available but I find them adequate for most purposes.

I currently only use Gboard but in the past I usually used HTC's stock keyboard but they don't include one now apart from the TouchPal that came with my HTC 10 - total crap which I disabled on day 1.

I have done a search for the &#108513 (smiley face) and as Hadron said there are quite a few examples of it and other strings for other emojis. On checking the html coding the standard format for image display is, as expected, missing on them all.

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

Hadron said:
Yeah, I tried GBoard emojis just now in a draft message and they were not visible on a different device. And SwiftKey emojis were just replaced by a single character.

Mine disappear without a trace, not even leaving a blank character where the emoji was.

I've not used Hacker's for a few years now: with small software keyboards, and someties one-handed use, I find good prediction to be too important for me. I've used SwiftKey for a long time, but with the Pixel I've often found Gboard slightly easier: just subtle differences in the sizes/positions of keys on this particular size of screen (even after trying the relatively limited keyboard scaling options). Actually I've not tried Hacker's with the Pixel, now that I think of it...

You might want to revisit Hacker's now. Its settings options are many...MANY! Here's my default look on my new phone:

Here's how I have it look on my old phone:

Check it out!

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

tommo47 said:
Something I've noticed for a long time is that if I try to use my keyboard to enter an emoji only the odd one or two will show so I always go to the emoji button below the Bold button top right. There is a limited number of emojis available but I find them adequate for most purposes.

Yes, that's what I've been doing, too.

I currently only use Gboard but in the past I usually used HTC's stock keyboard but they don't include one now apart from the TouchPal that came with my HTC 10 - total crap which I disabled on day 1.

As noted in another post, I use, and love, Hacker's Keyboard. It's awesome.

I have done a search for the &#108513 (smiley face) and as Hadron said there are quite a few examples of it and other strings for other emojis. On checking the html coding the standard format for image display is missing on them all.

Yeah, and it looks like we're zeroing in on why.

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

Update: Just tried a few browsers on a laptop, all with the same result as in this thread.

tommo47 · Jan 7, 2019

Mikestony said:
I think the only place that will render that correctly is the AF app.
My phone Chrome browser and also my laptop with Chrome will not render them as emoji's, just that stringy stuff

It might be useful if someone could verify that.

Reading through this thread I'm not sure who does and who does not use the app. I certainly don't use it and possibly almath is the only one who does (in this thread currently).

almath said:
I use the AF app and the emojis from my keyboard (Gboard) so that might be why they don't show up.

So almath, when you have used your keyboard to enter an emoji does it show as an emoji image or as a character string when you have posted it?

Unforgiven · Jan 7, 2019

tommo47 said:
It might be useful if someone could verify that.

I will verify that emojis posted from the app only render correctly in the app. To the rest of us it appears as garbled text.

MoodyBlues · Jan 7, 2019

Unforgiven said:
I will verify that emojis posted from the app only render correctly in the app. To the rest of us it appears as garbled text.

The old...old programmer in me wants to know why, damn it!

almath · Jan 7, 2019

I can see 2 types of emojis in this thread. From post 1 to the last one. I post from the app on my cell not from a browser. I notice if I quote someone the emoji is the string.

Character strings instead of emojis

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