Unicode CLDR 33 alpha available for testing

The alpha version of Unicode CLDR 33 is available for testing. The alpha period lasts until the beta release on March 7, which will include updates to the LDML spec. The final release is expected on March 21.

CLDR 33 provides an update to the key building blocks for software supporting the world's languages. This data is used by all major software systems for their software internationalization and localization, adapting software to the conventions of different languages for such common software tasks.

CLDR 33 included a limited Survey Tool data collection phase focusing on emoji names/annotations and certain specific locales (Odia, Assamese). Other enhancements include a new typographic Names element, four new transforms, changes to properties data files for emoji, and other specific fixes. The draft release page at http://cldr.unicode.org/index/downloads/cldr-33 lists the major features, and has pointers to the newest data and charts. It will be fleshed out over the coming weeks with more details, migration issues, known problems, and so on. Particularly useful for review are:

• Delta Charts - the data that changed during the release
• By-Type Charts - a side-by-side comparison of data from different locales
• Annotation Charts - new emoji names and keywords

Please report any problems that you find using a CLDR ticket. We'd also appreciate it if programmatic users of CLDR data download the xml files and do a trial integration to see if any problems arise.

Unicode Emoji 11.0 characters now ready for adoption!

The 157 new Emoji are now available for adoption, to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages.

The main goal of the Unicode Consortium is to enable modern software and computing systems to support the widest range of human languages, present and past. There are approximately 7,000 living human languages, but fewer than 100 of these languages are well-supported on computers, mobile phones, and other devices. Adopt-a-character donations are used to improve Unicode support for digitally disadvantaged languages, and to help preserve the world’s linguistic heritage.

For more information on the program, and to adopt a character, see the Adopt-a-Character Page.

And by the way, we have updated charts for the new emoji, with some fixed glyphs (thanks to Emojipedia!).

Adopt-A-Character Grant to Support Three Historic Scripts

The Adopt-a-Character Program has awarded a grant to support development of proposals for encoding the following three historic scripts in the Unicode Standard:

• Book Pahlavi, an Aramaic-based script important to Zoroastrian and Parsi communities worldwide
• Persian Siyaq Numbers, a numerical system used in Iran from the 9th to 20th centuries for accounting and administration
• Uighur, a script used in the region spanning Uzbekistan to Mongolia from the 8th to 19th century.

The work will be done by Anshuman Pandey under the direction of Deborah Anderson (SEI, UC Berkeley) and Rick McGowan (Unicode Consortium).

Over 130,000 characters are available for adoption, to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages.

Unicode Emoji 11.0 characters now final for 2018

Emoji 11.0 data has been released, with 157 new emoji such as:

hot face	woozy face
woman, red haired: light skin tone	man, curly haired: dark skin tone
woman superhero	softball
mosquito	pirate flag
flats	lobster

The new Emoji 11.0 set is fixed and final, and includes the data needed for vendors to begin working on their emoji fonts and code ahead of the release of Unicode 11.0, scheduled for June 2018. The new emoji typically start showing up on mobile phones in August or September.

The man and woman emoji can now have various hair styles (red-haired, curly-haired, white-haired, and bald), and the new superhero and supervillain support genders and skin tones. The new leg and foot also support skin tones.

The new emoji are listed in Emoji Recently Added v11.0, with sample images. These images are just samples: vendors for mobile phones, PCs, and web platforms will typically use images that fit their overall emoji designs. In particular, the Emoji Ordering v11.0 chart shows how the new emoji sort compared to the others, with new emoji marked with rounded-rectangles. The other Emoji Charts for Version 11.0 have been updated to show the emoji.

The version number for this release of Unicode emoji is jumping from the previously-released Emoji 5.0 to Emoji 11.0 (instead of 6.0) — starting with this release, the version number for emoji is synchronized with the corresponding version number of the Unicode Standard.

To be considered for emoji 12.0, new emoji proposals must be submitted before the end of March 2018. This schedule is to align with the 2019 release of the Unicode Standard.

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The 157 new emoji will soon be available for adoption to help the Unicode Consortium’s work on digitally disadvantaged languages.