The use of Unicode characters to highlight text in, for example, LinkedIn posts is non-inclusive and must not be used:
♿️ Accessibility: Unicode characters are difficult for screen readers and assistive technologies to interpret, making it difficult for users with visual impairments or other disabilities to understand your content.
🌐 Translatability: Unicode text cannot be machine translated. It only looks like German or English, but it is not.
📱 Compatibility: Different devices, browsers, or operating systems display Unicode characters differently, causing your highlighting to appear as a series of incomprehensible symbols or a cloze to some users. Or just looks stupid.
🔍 Searchability: The findability of your content on LinkedIn and other search engines is reduced because the indexer does not recognise or misinterpret Unicode characters.
In summary, while it is important to make our content eye-catching and appealing, we must also value accessibility and inclusion. It’s 2023, by not using Unicode characters to highlight text, we can create a more inclusive, barrier-free digital space for all to enjoy and use. Thank you.
Update 26 June 2023:
I was asked if I think we all should use ASCII only.
No, but everybody should use the correct characters in their language, including àccënted cháractêrs, ümläutß, Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Vietnamese, and whatever else exists.
When I want to write „Sven“ I must use the letters
- „Latin Capital Letter S“ (U+0053),
- „Latin Small Letter V“ (U+0076),
- „Latin Small Letter E“ (U+0065), and
- „Latin Small Letter N“ (U+006E).
And not any other look-alike Unicode character from a different character set:
𝐒𝐯𝐞𝐧 – Math bold
𝑺𝒗𝒆𝒏 – Math bold italic
𝓢𝓿𝓮𝓷- Math bold script
𝕊𝕧𝕖𝕟 – Math double-struck
𝚂𝚟𝚎𝚗 – Math monospace
𝖲𝗏𝖾𝗇 – Math sans
𝗦𝘃𝗲𝗻 – Math sans bold
𝙎𝙫𝙚𝙣 – Math sans bold italic
𝘚𝘷𝘦𝘯 – Math sans italic
🇸🇻🇪🇳 – Regional Indicator
The first one for example is
- „Mathematical Bold Capital S“ (U+1D412),
- „Mathematical Bold Small V“ (U+1D42F),
- „Mathematical Bold Small E“ (U+1D41E), and
- „Mathematical Bold Small N“ (U+1D427).
And so on.
The last one is the weirdest one. It is two „combined characters“ only:
- 🇸🇻 is the „El Salvador flag emoji“ consists of „Regional Indicator S“ (U+1F1F8) and „Regional Indicator V“ (U+1F1FB) in modern browsers you see a flag, in others „SV“, and
- 🇪🇳 consists of „Regional Indicator E“ (U+1F1EA) and „Regional Indicator N“ (U+1F1F3)