A lot of forum software (not just on retro computing or history) embed image smileys in their messages translated from text-smileys.
It seems they missed that a lot of them have made their way into Unicode, making it not just easier to display but also a lot easier for visually impaired.
So, please software developers, use the Unicode characters whenever possible.
Here is a good start
- List of emoticons: Unicode characters – Wikipedia
- List of emoticons: Western – Wikipedia with a mapping from text emoji to the Unicode glyphs
- List of emoticons: Eastern – Wikipedia also with a mapping from text emoji to the Unicode glyphs
--jeroen





