Unicode character replacement made my page uneditable

  • I’ve got a page with about 100 heavy check marks (https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2714/browsertest.htm) carrying different meanings coded by different colours. It seems an update replaced them by a link to some emoji image file.

    This resulted in…
    * the colours not being displayed, and thus the information carried by them not being available to the reader
    * the page taking much longer to load
    * even worse, the page being nearly impossible to edit, even in source mode!
    I had to be _very_ patient only to be able to copy the source code out, replace the heavy check marks my “normal” ones and paste it back in.

    If this was due to a WordPress update, please rethink it.
    I’m using unicode characters for a reason (I had images not long ago, and wanted them to be replaced by simple chars!), I want to be able to colour them to my liking, and I really, really do want to be able to edit my blog entries.
    And I want to be in control of what happens. It was more by chance that I found out what created this mess.

    PS: I read a bit about it and it seems WordPress wants to replace unavailable characters. While this is no good reason to make an editable page uneditable, it does not even apply in my case: My system does support the character, even in the WordPress editor’s font.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    If this was due to a WordPress update, please rethink it.

    I am 99.999% sure that’s not the case, but can you share a link to your site? There may be something going on that needs troubleshooting.

    Thread Starter Ein Eike

    (@ein-eike)

    It seems to be related to the emoji replacement stuff I read about in other threads, so I do think it is related to a recent WordPress change.

    You can have a look at the repaired page here:
    https://ein-eike.de/linux-game-demos-on-steam/

    Here’s the broken version:
    https://ein-eike.de/unicode-replacement-test-page/

    I did take a try to disable all plugins early, so they are proven innocent.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    Both pages appear to render the same for me in my Chrome browser on my Mac.

    It seems to be related to the emoji replacement stuff I read about in other threads, so I do think it is related to a recent WordPress change.

    If that’s the case, have you tried this plugin?

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/disable-emojis/

    If it is the emoji support then that plugin will remove that support. Using that as a test will confirm if that is the issue or not.

    If that does solve it then I suggest you leave that enabled. If not then there may be other things that can be tried to identify the issue.

    Thread Starter Ein Eike

    (@ein-eike)

    Both pages appear to render the same for me in my Chrome browser on my Mac.

    Including coloured check marks in the “Legend” paragraph, about one page down?

    If it is the emoji support then that plugin will remove that support. Using that as a test will confirm if that is the issue or not.

    This plugin resolves the issue. (I disabled it for the moment so you can recheck the check marks.) But…

    Could you please move this thread back to the feedback forum?

    My feedback is that this change broke my previously working page, that I struggled hard to even get the source of my page via WordPress source view, that all this happened for reasons (unicode replacement) very unobvious to me and additionally, that my system does support that character, so the replacement was unnecessary in the first place.

    I do not like this covert replacement in the first place, and something about it is broken. I want to add my voice to those who want this feature to be disabled by default.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    Could you please move this thread back to the feedback forum?

    Done. ??

    But please be aware: the emoji support has been discussed at great length already. See this link for the best explanation to date.

    https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/get-rid-of-emoji?replies=25&view=all#post-6872992

    The short of it is that emoji support can be improved but it is unlikely to be removed. At the moment that plugin (or one like it) is probably the best solution.

    Thread Starter Ein Eike

    (@ein-eike)

    Additionally to the replacement me and others do not like, I see two other problems here: Nearly destroying editing functionality and replacing something that is actually available. I would have never known something had been replaced if it wouldn’t have been broken.

    I’d happily give the code that has led to the problem to anybody who wants to take a look at it. My system is a Debian Jessie. I can verify if the same happens on Windows 7 on monday.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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