Unicode character behavior

[Malkavian Grin]

This is more of a question than anything else. I'm curious why sometimes unicode characters are turned into "objects" after they get saved. By "object" I mean once you click on them they get that highlight and the box pops up in the top-left corner so you can drag-and-drop it (just like a fieldset).

Behold:

➤ • ○ ö ✔ ☑ stays as text

⚫ ⚪ does not stay as text

Example image added

The left one is highlighted. The right one is hovered over (screen capture doesn't grab your cursor).

While these still end up working, it is much more cumbersome editing sheets that use dots instead of numbers because you can't copy and paste "objects" easily and/or without it breaking your formatting (editor loves to add wrapping <p> tags).

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In this same vein, I use those second dots with colors to indicate their source (whether they were a base cost, or purchased with a type of experience points, etc.). However, I'm running into an issue where a user says all the dots are the same color. For me, they appear in color. I'm trying to see whether they view on mobile or not.

The post in question.

Edit: I just checked on my phone (android) and they in fact do not display properly. I'll see if I can manage a screenshot... Gosh I hate phones...

Examples

First is from PC. Second is from mobile (assuming I can get it to save).

 

[Eric]

Those are automatically mapped to the various Unicode emoji circles 🔴 🟠 🟡 🟢 etc.

[Malkavian Grin]

I understand that (and as a side note, I can only see that first symbol; the rest are nondescript rectangles).

My question was more why? They seem to work fine without the wrapper (which makes them more difficult to use). Also, said wrapper strips them of color for some users and I'm not sure why (both using windows chrome desktop).

[Eric]

This is simply how IPS works; it's purposefully translating font-specific Unicode implementations to the standard set of emoji fonts used across devices:

font-family: "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Noto Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Android Emoji", "EmojiSymbols";

 

[Malkavian Grin]

I see. I did a little side research and it seems like the issue is mainly due to my old OS. Oh well.

I may have to resort to just using images if the characters won't display uniformly. Shame.