Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#1

Post by yarlinghe » Thu, Dec 25, 2025, 3:32 PM UTC

I’m building a Unicode reference where each symbol has its own dev-friendly page with all relevant encodings.

Example: [https://fontgenerator.design/symbol/almost-equal-to](https://fontgenerator.design/symbol/almost-equal-to)

Includes Unicode, HTML, CSS, JS, UTF-8/16 bytes, URL encoding, and usage examples.

The same structure is used across thousands of symbols (math, arrows, currency, tech/UI, punctuation).

Built because existing references are fragmented. Feedback welcome.

Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol
fontgenerator.design

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#2

Post by yarlinghe » Thu, Dec 25, 2025, 3:33 PM UTC

Planning to add more symbol-specific notes (confusables, common pitfalls, rendering quirks). Curious what details people usually look for but can’t find.

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#3

Post by LordGrey » Thu, Dec 25, 2025, 3:49 PM UTC

I really like this. I appreciate the many "copy" buttons that make it easy to grab various font values once I find a character. Good job!

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#4

Post by __patchbit__ » Thu, Dec 25, 2025, 5:18 PM UTC

yarlinghe wrote: post #2

Planning to add more symbol-specific notes (confusables, common pitfalls, rendering quirks). Curious what details people usually look for but can’t find.

I don't know how to find the ideal font for the missing glyph on my environment which is BSD.

Using the `unicode' command from plan9userspace, for example

   unicode 2ff0-2fff

the last three symbols are shown inside emacs as squares with the four hex values inside.

Typing in the search field `2fff' finds `no match found'.

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#5

Post by yarlinghe » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 3:27 AM UTC

__patchbit__ wrote: post #4

yarlinghe wrote: post #2

Planning to add more symbol-specific notes (confusables, common pitfalls, rendering quirks). Curious what details people usually look for but can’t find.

I don't know how to find the ideal font for the missing glyph on my environment which is BSD. Using the `unicode' command from plan9userspace, for example unicode 2ff0-2fff the last three symbols are shown inside emacs as squares with the four hex values inside. Typing in the search field `2fff' finds `no match found'.

Good catch — I just pushed an update based on this.

The symbols search now supports code-point lookup, so you can search by:

U+2FFF

0x2FFF

plain hex (2fff, 4–6 digits)

This makes it possible to jump straight to a symbol page even when the glyph doesn’t render locally and you only have the code point (like the Emacs/BSD case you described).

One limitation to note: some symbols aren’t covered by common or default system fonts, so they may still appear as tofu boxes depending on the font stack. That’s a font coverage issue rather than Unicode itself.

Appreciate you calling this out — this was exactly the kind of workflow gap I wanted to catch.

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#6

Post by yarlinghe » Fri, Dec 26, 2025, 3:29 AM UTC

LordGrey wrote: post #3

I really like this. I appreciate the many "copy" buttons that make it easy to grab various font values once I find a character. Good job!

Thanks — glad the copy buttons are useful. That was exactly the goal.

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#7

Post by Freak_NL » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 9:16 AM UTC

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No. Please just give me an option to reject all tracking cookies instead of just kicking me in the face with a done deal.

Whoever wrote this 'EU/UK users: this serves as our cookie notice' is ignorant of the actual law. Have a look at:

https://gdpr.eu/cookies/

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#8

Post by jdeisenberg » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 9:38 AM UTC

I’m looking at the currency block. Each box has a colored “drop shadow”. I spent a minute or so trying to figure out what the significance of the color is. Finally, I noticed that the color appears to cycle between cyan, magenta, and yellow. Is this a design element only, or do the colors actually have some meaning with respect to the symbol?

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#9

Post by spoiler » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 9:42 AM UTC

jdeisenberg wrote: post #8

I’m looking at the currency block. Each box has a colored “drop shadow”. I spent a minute or so trying to figure out what the significance of the color is. Finally, I noticed that the color appears to cycle between cyan, magenta, and yellow. Is this a design element only, or do the colors actually have some meaning with respect to the symbol?

Not the author, but it seems to be only stylistic

Re: Show HN: One clean, developer-focused page for every Unicode symbol

#10

Post by victrflow » Tue, Dec 30, 2025, 9:50 AM UTC

Ohh, this is great! I actually was looking for something like this the other day. Thanks for sharing and nice work!