Dingbat
Encyclopedia
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
, sometimes more formally known as a "printer's ornament" or "printer's character".
The term continues to be used in the computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
industry to describe fonts
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
that have symbols and shapes in the positions designated for alphabetical or numeric characters.
Examples of characters included in Unicode (ITC Zapf dingbats series 100 and others):
| ✁ Scissors Scissors are hand-operated cutting instruments. They consist of a pair of metal blades pivoted so that the sharpened edges slide against each other when the handles opposite to the pivot are closed. Scissors are used for cutting various thin materials, such as paper, cardboard, metal foil, thin... |
✂ | ✃ | ✄ | ☎ | ✆ | ✇ | ✈ | ✉ | ☛ | ☞ | ✌ | ✍ | ✎ | ✏ | |
| ✐ | ✑ | ✒ | ✓ Tick (checkmark) A tick is a mark used to indicate the concept "yes", for example "yes; this has been verified", "yes; that is the correct answer" or "yes; this [item or option] applies to me"... |
✔ | ✕ X mark An x mark is a mark used to indicate the concept of negation as well as affirmation... |
✖ | ✗ | ✘ | ✙ | ✚ | ✛ | ✜ | ✝ Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity... |
✞ Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity... |
✟ Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity... |
| ✠ Cross pattée A cross pattée is a type of cross which has arms narrow at the centre, and broader at the perimeter. An early English example from the start of the age of heraldry proper A cross pattée (or "cross patty", known also as "cross formée/formy") is a type of cross which has arms narrow at the... |
✡ Star of David The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles... |
✢ | ✣ | ✤ | ✥ | ✦ | ✧ | ★ Star (glyph) In typography, a star is any of several glyphs with a number of points arrayed within an imaginary circle.-Four points:-Five points:See also Five-pointed starSee also:* mullet * pentagram- Six points :See also:... |
✩ | ✪ | ✫ | ✬ | ✭ | ✮ | ✯ |
| ✰ | ✱ | ✲ | ✳ | ✴ | ✵ | ✶ | ✷ | ✸ | ✹ | ✺ Starburst (symbol) A starburst is a symbol consisting of a star surrounded by rays emanating from it. In Unicode, the starburst character is U+273A.... |
✻ | ✼ | ✽ | ✾ | ✿ |
| ❀ | ❁ | ❂ | ❃ | ❄ | ❅ | ❆ | ❇ | ❈ | ❉ | ❊ | ❋ | ● | ❍ | ■ | ❏ |
| ☺ | ☻ | ♥ | ♦ | ♣ | ♠ | • | ◘ | ○ | ❐ | ❑ | ❒ | ▲ | ▼ | ◆ | ❖ |
| ◗ | ❘ | ❙ | ❚ | ❛ | ❜ | ❝ | ❞ |
The advent of Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
and the universal character set
Universal Character Set
The Universal Character Set , defined by the International Standard ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal multiple-octet coded character set , is a standard set of characters upon which many character encodings are based...
it provides allowed commonly-used dingbats to be given their own character codes
Code point
In character encoding terminology, a code point or code position is any of the numerical values that make up the code space . For example, ASCII comprises 128 code points in the range 0hex to 7Fhex, Extended ASCII comprises 256 code points in the range 0hex to FFhex, and Unicode comprises 1,114,112...
, from 2700 to 27BF. Although fonts claiming Unicode coverage will contain glyph
Glyph
A glyph is an element of writing: an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. A glyph is made up of one or more graphemes....
s for dingbats in addition to alphabetic characters, fonts that have dingbats in place of alphabetic characters continue to be popular, primarily for ease of input. Such fonts are also sometimes known as pi fonts.
Unicode Dingbats
Dingbats were added to the UnicodeUnicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
Standard in June, 1993 with the release of version 1.1.
The Unicode block for Dingbats is U+2700–U+27BF:
Typefaces
For more examples of dingbat typefaces, see WingdingsWingdings
Wingdings are a series of dingbat fonts which render letters as a variety of symbols. They were originally developed in 1990 by Microsoft by combining glyphs from Lucida Icons, Arrows, and Stars licensed from Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes...
and Webdings
Webdings
Webdings is a TrueType dingbat font developed in 1997 and included in all versions of Microsoft Windows since that time. Most of the glyphs have no Unicode character equivalents.-New York City:...
. Another famous dingbat typeface, Zapf Dingbats
Zapf Dingbats
Zapf Dingbats is one of the more common dingbat typefaces. It was designed by the typographer Hermann Zapf in 1978 and licensed by International Typeface Corporation....
, was designed by the typographer Hermann Zapf
Hermann Zapf
Hermann Zapf is a German typeface designer who lives in Darmstadt, Germany. He is married to calligrapher and typeface designer Gudrun Zapf von Hesse....
.