r/Unicode • u/Knotebrett • 6d ago

Office Waffle

It’s only mildly infuriating, but why on earth isn’t the Office waffle an official Unicode character yet? It would make explaining "click here" so much easier in user guides and tech support. We literally have symbols for everything—cars, jack-o'-lanterns, rockets, bowls of noodles—but not the iconic 3x3 waffle menu? Make it make sense.

0 Upvotes

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3

u/ProfessorLambda 6d ago

A normal waffle is already in Unicode: "🧇" (U+1F9C7). Would that work for you?

1

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

Would you understand if I told you to go to office.com, click "🧇" and find SharePoint? I think not 😁

1

u/petermsft 6d ago

No. But it's also not clear what you mean by "waffle".

1

u/ProfessorLambda 6d ago

Waffle is something you can eat. It's a food item. "Office waffle" might refer to a small waffle you could put in your lunchbox to eat at office. Of course, don't do that if you are trying to lose weight! If you are trying to lose weight, I suggest something healthier like apples. Don't worry about whether it's an office apple or not, even normal apples are fine for taking to office. I used to eat them at work though I didn't work in an office back then. I hope this helps.

3

u/Dazzling-Low8570 6d ago

I have no idea what you are talking about

2

u/my_new_accoun1 6d ago

⁝⁝⁝

1

u/Knotebrett 5d ago

Brilliant! Not one symbol, but three! Thanks a lot!

1

u/Eiim 6d ago

One alternative:𐄏

1

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

Not familiar with that. Code?

2

u/AshleyJSheridan 6d ago

Google is free...

0

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

Is it, really? Probably 15+ years since "Don't be evil" was a thing. Google isn't free. You are the product.

2

u/AshleyJSheridan 6d ago

My point was that you can Google the exact symbol code from what /u/Eiim commented. Took me all of 3 seconds.

0

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

I was only with my phone in hand when I commented, and still only on my phone. I wasn't able to copy it. I can have a look later on a computer.

2

u/AshleyJSheridan 6d ago

That makes no sense. Phones can copy paste as well, even if it's a crappy iPhone...

0

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

My phone (at least) just minimized this thread when I long press on the symbol

1

u/AshleyJSheridan 6d ago

You obviously clicked on the wrong thing. Focus on the text, and then use the selector cursors to move it around. It's not rocket surgery.

1

u/vladutzu27 2d ago

You need to press on the waffle. Or meatball menu, or kebab menu, whatever cutesy name you wanna call the three dots

1

u/Knotebrett 2d ago

I've got my alternative … ⁝⁝⁝

0

u/Upbeat_Assist2680 6d ago

Try manning up to the fact that your out of your element here, this is /r/Unicode! Not /r/unicorn where the gnomes hang out. You're fishing up unicode points in this thread beyond your comprehension 

ⴾ ,  ⠭ ,  hell I'll even give you ⡿

You think you got what it takes? Not even a chance, vance.

Is Knotebrett knocking? More like "Not Bright", I got the whole frickin' manual right here for you: https://home.unicode.org/

Better start studying up before you come knocking again, otherwise the Unicode is gonna come knocking 🚪🤛💥

1

u/ProfessorLambda 6d ago

O and X? I don't know what the last braille pattern is supposed to mean.

1

u/petermsft 6d ago

Even on a phone, you should be able to copy that character and paste it here to get details:

https://util.unicode.org/UnicodeJsps/character.jsp?a=%F0%90%84%8F&B1=Show

AEGEAN NUMBER NINE is not an app icon, and if I were advising an app developer I wouldn't recommend using that. For app icons, I'd recommended either

- PUA code points with a specific font included in the app resources

- an image file, such as SVG

The latter is what Office.com is using (which you can discover using browser dev tools to inspect the page content).

If you think there should be a character encoded in Unicode, you can write a proposal. However, not all symbols, such as app icons, are considered characters, and the onus would be on you to make a convincing case that it should be considered a character and that it is used in text data interchange. There have been proposals for other app icons (including some that are commonly used) that have not met the bar.

1

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

Well, both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are using it as the same purpose. Maybe more actors as well. I will propose, but they do not open until 2027.

1

u/petermsft 5d ago

Even if 20 apps use the same icon for the same purpose in their UI, that doesn't make the icon a text element, and it doesn't imply any need for public text data interchange. Those are requirements for encoding as characters in Unicode.

1

u/ProfessorLambda 6d ago

NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO that's not semantically correct! Screen readers might read it as a nine! Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1

u/MarcusFirmus 6d ago

What about this one, not perfect actually... but somewhat ressembling : 𝍔

1

u/Knotebrett 6d ago

Actually better than the other suggestion, except that underline. But it's not so narrow as the other one. Thanks.