Is there a way to provide custom tool-tips for the emojis?
For example, on NextDoor, it looks like:
Hovering over each icon shows the intended meaning:
Can something like that be done here? Or would that require renaming the characters themselves (and probably breaking their usage elsewhere)?
Not as far as I can tell, but it would be a good suggestion for the Discourse folks. I could see another column in the settings that would let you assign your preferred term.
But how do you display “apple_six_colors” then?
I presume that the 6-color apple is an image, not an emoji. Instead of using emoji characters, can all the ratings be images, each named in a way that indicates its purpose?
UPDATE January 4, 2023 3:32 AM
I see that the Apple Logo “” (U+F8FF) is a “Private Use Area (PUA) character that is supported on iOS and macOS. This character is not recommended for interchange as it is only intended for support on Apple platforms.”
But the apple displayed here in TidBITS Talk is 6 colors, not black and white. So, I guess that you’re not using this emoji character for it.
After fiddling with the page source, these glyphs appear to be drawn with the following css code, not just simply emoji:
<svg class="css-o9wm2k" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" data-testid="reaction-icon" alt="Like" role="img"><path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd" d="M13.275 8.752a1.5 1.5 0 01-2.55 0C9.75 7.18 8.719 5.617 6.565 6.074 5.248 6.352 4 7.433 4 9.644c0 2.153 1.348 4.592 4.259 7.236A28.475 28.475 0 0012 19.74a28.475 28.475 0 003.741-2.86C18.651 14.236 20 11.797 20 9.643c0-2.21-1.25-3.29-2.564-3.57-2.155-.456-3.187 1.106-4.16 2.68zm-2.581-3.48C7.634 2.58 2 4.217 2 9.643c0 2.996 1.85 5.934 4.914 8.717 1.478 1.343 3.1 2.585 4.839 3.575a.5.5 0 00.494 0c1.739-.99 3.361-2.232 4.84-3.575C20.148 15.577 22 12.64 22 9.643c0-5.426-5.634-7.062-8.694-4.371A5.287 5.287 0 0012 7.04a5.287 5.287 0 00-1.306-1.77z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg>
However it works, I can’t understand what is going on.
That is the code of an SVG image, it’s not CSS code. NextDoor appears to use a mix of linked to .svg image files and inlining SVG code in the HTML. None of that helps with replicating having a word appear above the image when hovered, that happens because the word is already in the HTML and CSS is used to make it appear on hover.
Anyway, as Adam suggested, it would be a feature request to make to the Discourse people. Giving the NextDoor UI as an example would be helpful but the implementation details would be up to the Discourse programmers.
Oh, good eye. apple_six_colors is a custom emoji that I named, which would suggest that we could create custom emoji for each, with a custom name for each. A bit of work, but not terrible.
Oh, wait, it looks like there might already be a solution to this:
OK, everyone, try it now. I pulled the 
emoji because it was just too nuanced.
I’d sort of like to get them all on one line, but that would require removing another reaction.
On my Mac Studio and Studio Display, they are on one line. But of course, iOS devices have much smaller screens, so I get what you’re saying. For me, they all seem to work and labeled as intended.
I would vote the Apple logo off the island. Of the seven, that one has the least intuitive meaning to me.
This is a big improvement, though I agree having more than a single row on my iPhone is annoying.
As for which one(s) to vote off the island …
I think that the criterion for selecting emoji should be the degree to which each provides feedback to the poster. With this in mind:
(like) and 
(agree)? In other words, is it likely that someone would like a post but not agree with it? (If someone likes a post but doesn’t agree with it then isn’t a reply post explaining exactly what they like but don’t agree with more useful than choosing between the two?) I think one of them should go and I’d keep because it is obviously the opposite of 
.
is more likely to be perceived as “agree” than “thanks”; in at least one dictionary high-fiving is a sign of celebration and there is no mention of thanks. Therefore, I’d use 
to indicate thanks. Yes, is also a sign of prayer but emojipedia lists “please or thank you” first in its explanation of the character.As always, just my 2¢.
In another forum that I frequent the heart is “Love” and the thumbs up is “Like.” I suppose this kind of inconsistency from one forum to the next is to be expected.
Heart and thumbs up are the same to me - I agree with the post. I will never love a post.
Thumbs up (or heart, since you can’t remove it), thumbs down - that’s all I really need. As long as those are there, that’s fine with me. The rest mean nothing to me.
My vote is for heart = love and thumbs up = yes or I agree; thumbs down = the opposite. Clapping = applause, 100 = 100%.
I do see a difference between “I think you should read this” and “I agree with it”.
There are some topics (especially ones involving politics and cutting-edge science work) where I may think it is important to know about a point of view that I disagree with. Because for these things, it’s important to know what all sides are saying, in order to form coherent arguments when writing about the subject, no matter what your opinion may be.
But I will agree that such topics are less common on a technology forum like this one, where the focus is more on facts and less on opinion.
Except I only read posts via email, so I never see any of these icons until I log onto the website (which I only do for posting as email posting sucks), so none of these are significant or useful in any way.
Am I the only one who reads TT that way?
That’s exactly my thinking. But my understanding as per @ace was that there’s no way to get rid of since it’s the default.
Under those circumstances, I’d do away with just to keep things simple. I don’t need two ways to say I like a post.
I do exactly the same. Reading on the web site doesn’t work for me; having messages arrive in email slots well into my workflow. But for posting, I go to the web site because otherwise you don’t see edits otherwise, and the formatting of posts via email is never what I want it to be.
Yes, there is a default reaction but I don’t see any requirement that the default be any particular emoji.
The description above of the plug-in says:
These for 6 reaction buttons including the default which is on my site is
Likewise, the documentation says:
To customize the reactions use the site setting
discourse_reactions_enabled_reactionsand define emojis you want as reactions separated by|eg:open_mouth|cry|angry
And later:
discourse_reactions_enabled_reactionsTo define the list of enabled reactions, any emoji is allowed here.default: laughing|open_mouth|cry|angry|thumbsup|thumbsdown
Nope, I’m the same. Maybe that’s why all of this doesn’t really matter all that much to me. I do like saying I agree with this post, I disagree with this post, but that’s all I really need.
Good discussion, folks, thank you. I’ve dropped 
from the list; although it was fun to learn about making and enabling custom emoji, it doesn’t really have much meaning.
I’ll keep watching the use of and — I’ve been using as a way of rewarding posts that I think add to the utility of TidBITS Talk, and as a way of saying that I think the technical details in a post are correct.
