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Text makeup – a tool to decode and explore Unicode strings

98 points by microflash 2y ago

ezequiel-garzon 2y ago
Just in case, from the command line I recommend uni: https://github.com/arp242/uni https://github.com/arp242/uni
OutOfHere 2y ago
https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html works well for me for this purpose. It shows all the names and code points.
lifthrasiir 2y ago
While numerous similar tools do already exist, I think an inline annotation is a neat interface and can be leveraged much more. Font requirements, segmentation boundaries, script detection and many others.
qingcharles 2y ago
It gets a little tiny bit out of whack with Zalgo text. e.g., https://text.makeup/#P%CC%B4%CD%82%CC%96h%CC%B4%CC%84%CC%8E%CC%8B%CD%8C%CC%BF%CC%83%CD%9B%CD%85%CD%87%CC%A2%E2%80%99%CC%B8%CC%8F%CD%8A%CC%90%CC%92%CC%BF%CD%98%CD%81%CC%BE%CD%9A%CC%A8%CD%89%CC%A9%CC%99%CD%8D%CD%85%CC%AEn%CC%B8%CC%84%CC%8A%CD%92%CC%88%CD%97%CC%B2%CC%AEg%CC%B8%CD%A0%CC%9B%CC%8E%CC%8B%CD%98%CC%95%CD%9B%CD%A0%CC%89%CC%8E%CC%83%CC%8A%CD%92%CC%96%CC%A0%CC%BC%CD%89%CC%AE%CC%A7%CD%94%CC%A1%CC%A5%CC%AE%CC%A7%CD%88%CC%BBl%CC%B7%CD%8A%CD%A0%CC%BD%CC%94%CD%86%CC%8A%CD%81%CD%A0%CC%8C%CD%97%CC%BF%CD%95%CC%AA%CC%A8%CC%A1%CC%BAu%CC%B4%CC%86%CC%91%CC%8E%CD%84%CD%84%CC%AB%CC%A6%CC%BA%CD%94%CC%AB%CC%A8%CD%94%CC%B1%CC%96%CD%99%CD%96i%CC%B4%CC%82%CD%91%CC%9B%CD%90%CD%94%CC%9C%CC%B1%CC%97%CD%95%CC%AE%CC%B3%CD%9A%CC%BB%CC%AB%20%CC%B8%CD%81%CC%90%CC%95%CC%8C%CD%9B%CC%8A%CC%BA%CC%99%CC%A4%CC%A3m%CC%B4%CC%8A%CD%99%CC%96%CC%9D%CD%87%CC%A5%CD%94%CC%AE%CC%A6%CC%AF%CC%A0%CC%A1%CC%99%CC%9Eg%CC%B6%CC%8D%CC%93%CC%85%CC%84%CC%85%CD%82%CC%8D%CC%93%CC%AE%CD%96%CD%99%CC%9C%CC%A7%CC%A5%CD%88%CD%94%CD%88%CC%A0%CC%AD%CC%A0%CC%B0%CC%ABl%CC%B5%CD%9D%CC%8C%CC%90%CD%92%CD%86%CC%BE%CD%8A%CC%9B%CC%93%CC%8B%CC%BF%CC%84%CC%AC%CC%A0%CC%98%CD%87w%CC%B6%CC%81%CC%95%CC%BE%CD%99%E2%80%99 https://text.makeup/#P%CC%B4%CD%82%CC%96h%CC%B4%CC%84%CC%8E%... edit: in fact, due to all the combining marks it will only paste 14 chars of my text into the box. I originally typed: "Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn." into the Zalgo generator and tried to paste that output in. https://zalgo.org/ https://zalgo.org/
- kbelder 2y ago
  I just popped over there to see, and it looks like that sentence, Zalgo-fied, comes out at 1,979 bytes for me. I imagine you're brushing up against some 256 byte limit or something.
issung 2y ago
I never knew emoji variants and stuff worked like that.. Fantastic tool, intuitive interface.
Rendello 2y ago
Great website. I've been using a similar tool a lot lately for UTF-8 work: https://unicode.scarfboy.com/ https://unicode.scarfboy.com/
pavlov 2y ago
Really nice design. This GUI style has a bit of a Smalltalk-80 vibe, with the raster line shadows and old-style fonts. A tiny observation... The examples box that peeks from the left-hand edge works great, but it's slightly confusing that it's showing the X button initially (when there isn't anything to close yet). How about making this icon initially display as a disclosure triangle (something like a > shape), and then morph into the X when the box is actually open?
- lelandfe 2y ago
  Agreed, love the look and typography. You don't see too many serif fonts in interfaces these days.
  - PaulHoule 2y ago
    I did a lot of setting posters in serif type a year ago or so and came to the conclusion that most tools do a horrible job of kerning. It did not seem so bad to me at any point in the past (making posters for a college radio station in the early 1990s, making posters for the Green Party in the early 2000s, etc.) I don't know if I got pickier or if a patent war caused regressions in most text rendering systems. I figured out how to manually kern in Powerpoint (awkward but I can get great results) and also a bunch of options in Illustrator that improve things but still require a manual kerning to look right consistently. I look around and don't see a lot of people setting posters with Serifed fonts and I think it may be that people see they look awful and don't have the knowledge or time to do anything about kerning.
PaulHoule 2y ago
I like the explanations of complex emoji, such as https://emojipedia.org/artist-dark-skin-tone https://emojipedia.org/artist-dark-skin-tone who is composed out of four unicode characters. I wish it had unihan data for Chinese characters, say https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=%E5%89%A7 https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=%... not so much the cryptic codes but the readings.
- microflash 2y ago
  Feel free to add this request on the repo here: https://github.com/mwichary/text-makeup/issues/new https://github.com/mwichary/text-makeup/issues/new

98 points by microflash 2y ago

Just in case, from the command line I recommend uni: https://github.com/arp242/uni https://github.com/arp242/uni

https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html works well for me for this purpose. It shows all the names and code points.

lifthrasiir 2y ago

While numerous similar tools do already exist, I think an inline annotation is a neat interface and can be leveraged much more. Font requirements, segmentation boundaries, script detection and many others.

qingcharles 2y ago

It gets a little tiny bit out of whack with Zalgo text. e.g., https://text.makeup/#P%CC%B4%CD%82%CC%96h%CC%B4%CC%84%CC%8E%CC%8B%CD%8C%CC%BF%CC%83%CD%9B%CD%85%CD%87%CC%A2%E2%80%99%CC%B8%CC%8F%CD%8A%CC%90%CC%92%CC%BF%CD%98%CD%81%CC%BE%CD%9A%CC%A8%CD%89%CC%A9%CC%99%CD%8D%CD%85%CC%AEn%CC%B8%CC%84%CC%8A%CD%92%CC%88%CD%97%CC%B2%CC%AEg%CC%B8%CD%A0%CC%9B%CC%8E%CC%8B%CD%98%CC%95%CD%9B%CD%A0%CC%89%CC%8E%CC%83%CC%8A%CD%92%CC%96%CC%A0%CC%BC%CD%89%CC%AE%CC%A7%CD%94%CC%A1%CC%A5%CC%AE%CC%A7%CD%88%CC%BBl%CC%B7%CD%8A%CD%A0%CC%BD%CC%94%CD%86%CC%8A%CD%81%CD%A0%CC%8C%CD%97%CC%BF%CD%95%CC%AA%CC%A8%CC%A1%CC%BAu%CC%B4%CC%86%CC%91%CC%8E%CD%84%CD%84%CC%AB%CC%A6%CC%BA%CD%94%CC%AB%CC%A8%CD%94%CC%B1%CC%96%CD%99%CD%96i%CC%B4%CC%82%CD%91%CC%9B%CD%90%CD%94%CC%9C%CC%B1%CC%97%CD%95%CC%AE%CC%B3%CD%9A%CC%BB%CC%AB%20%CC%B8%CD%81%CC%90%CC%95%CC%8C%CD%9B%CC%8A%CC%BA%CC%99%CC%A4%CC%A3m%CC%B4%CC%8A%CD%99%CC%96%CC%9D%CD%87%CC%A5%CD%94%CC%AE%CC%A6%CC%AF%CC%A0%CC%A1%CC%99%CC%9Eg%CC%B6%CC%8D%CC%93%CC%85%CC%84%CC%85%CD%82%CC%8D%CC%93%CC%AE%CD%96%CD%99%CC%9C%CC%A7%CC%A5%CD%88%CD%94%CD%88%CC%A0%CC%AD%CC%A0%CC%B0%CC%ABl%CC%B5%CD%9D%CC%8C%CC%90%CD%92%CD%86%CC%BE%CD%8A%CC%9B%CC%93%CC%8B%CC%BF%CC%84%CC%AC%CC%A0%CC%98%CD%87w%CC%B6%CC%81%CC%95%CC%BE%CD%99%E2%80%99 https://text.makeup/#P%CC%B4%CD%82%CC%96h%CC%B4%CC%84%CC%8E%... edit: in fact, due to all the combining marks it will only paste 14 chars of my text into the box. I originally typed: "Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn." into the Zalgo generator and tried to paste that output in. https://zalgo.org/ https://zalgo.org/

kbelder 2y ago
I just popped over there to see, and it looks like that sentence, Zalgo-fied, comes out at 1,979 bytes for me. I imagine you're brushing up against some 256 byte limit or something.

issung 2y ago

I never knew emoji variants and stuff worked like that.. Fantastic tool, intuitive interface.

Rendello 2y ago

Great website. I've been using a similar tool a lot lately for UTF-8 work: https://unicode.scarfboy.com/ https://unicode.scarfboy.com/

pavlov 2y ago

Really nice design. This GUI style has a bit of a Smalltalk-80 vibe, with the raster line shadows and old-style fonts. A tiny observation... The examples box that peeks from the left-hand edge works great, but it's slightly confusing that it's showing the X button initially (when there isn't anything to close yet). How about making this icon initially display as a disclosure triangle (something like a > shape), and then morph into the X when the box is actually open?

lelandfe 2y ago
Agreed, love the look and typography. You don't see too many serif fonts in interfaces these days.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  I did a lot of setting posters in serif type a year ago or so and came to the conclusion that most tools do a horrible job of kerning. It did not seem so bad to me at any point in the past (making posters for a college radio station in the early 1990s, making posters for the Green Party in the early 2000s, etc.) I don't know if I got pickier or if a patent war caused regressions in most text rendering systems. I figured out how to manually kern in Powerpoint (awkward but I can get great results) and also a bunch of options in Illustrator that improve things but still require a manual kerning to look right consistently. I look around and don't see a lot of people setting posters with Serifed fonts and I think it may be that people see they look awful and don't have the knowledge or time to do anything about kerning.

PaulHoule 2y ago

I like the explanations of complex emoji, such as https://emojipedia.org/artist-dark-skin-tone https://emojipedia.org/artist-dark-skin-tone who is composed out of four unicode characters. I wish it had unihan data for Chinese characters, say https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=%E5%89%A7 https://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=%... not so much the cryptic codes but the readings.

microflash 2y ago
Feel free to add this request on the repo here: https://github.com/mwichary/text-makeup/issues/new https://github.com/mwichary/text-makeup/issues/new