@catsalad Both are not perfect. The first one looks like the Fediverse consits of unconnected networks. The second one looks centralised. I have not better solutions 😃 @FediverseSymbol
you also say this: "@ is the symbol for e-mail. # is the symbol for hashtags. ☮ is the symbol for peace. ♻ is the symbol for recycling. ⁂ can be the symbol for the fediverse."
These are not the symbols you should compare to. The most recent symbol that makes sense to compare to is the AI twinkles ✨.
I think it would be a good idea to show some recommended uses of the icon. How would you show that I can Fediverse-like an image on a Web page? How to show that I can join a group? Follow an author? In a list of links to my various profiles, which ones are Fediverse enabled?
but what if instead of trying to make a teeny weeny abstract diagram of the Fediverse, the focus were more personal -- about making a connection between two people, no matter where they are and what social networking service they use?
I think the strongest point of this symbol is that it looks like a special asterisk, and we're used to seeing those at the ends of words to show that there's something more about them.
@evan In UI on a social app that have both local interactions and outside interactions, it could mean the second one, something like “someone from another server” / “someone from the wider fediverse”.
Or if you write it yourself, it might be more like “⁂ @evan” as “this is my fediverse handle, no matter the platform”
Dear @evan, @FediverseSymbol, what other follows are there? However it doesn't have to stop there. A mutual follow is 2 one-way follows. Feedback is what comes after or on-top follow. At first there is the notification which I never have seen other than being one-way.
However feed subscriptions were anonymous and therefore e.g. not easily blockable.
Btw. w3.org/TR/websub/ allowed for expiring subscriptions. That would solve the mastodon account deletion avalanche issue. Imagine 3-monthly (automatically) renewing follows. We should do the math what that means for the amount of maintenance messages. The burden of maintaining a subscription would be on the subscriber side rather than the publisher which IMO would be a good thing.
WebSub provides a common mechanism for communication between publishers of any kind of Web content and their subscribers, based on HTTP web hooks. Subscription requests are relayed through hubs, which validate and verify the request.
@evan Love these hypothetical sentences. Thanks for the article, will have a look. No answer to the questions, but interested to think about it in the future.
@evan Yees totally! Those are good examples. Keeping note of this, we might do something at some point. We also decided to release it to see what people come up with. A few people have used ⁂ on their website already to link to their fediverse profile(s), no matter which software they run on, which is already nice to see in use. Don’t want to be too presumptuous that platforms will actually use the symbol in their software but would be interesting to think about how it could.
Yees, we actually had the share icon and the RSS icon as references when thinking about it! Link and attachments are good prior art too thanks. Edit: Oops, switched instance, but still @nclm answering.
@evan I’ve used @ like this in plenty of designs in the past haha, but fair enough, not the best comparison 😀 Those were just the first Unicode symbols that came to mind.
First of all, we is @liaizon and @raphael and me 😀 We put a link to a credit section of our readme, but maybe it’s too discreet indeed.
So we actually started this in 2022 but we haven’t been very studious with it 😅 Earlier this week we finally decided to publish our draft just so at least the idea is out there.
@Evan Prodromou we should be thankful for the well thought initiative...
if you care and have a visual sense too than it is kind of obvious that that what we call the Fediverse is badly in need of an good working iconography.
The nice pentagram does NOT work in every situation and at any scale ... and in black and withe it does also not do a good job...
I like the current one :fediverse: too, but this ⁂ symbol has some advantage over the current one being a proper Unicode character. Although it's true that this new proposed symbol is already being used to represent other things, at least I have had seen this symbol on ACs and frgos. But nonetheless I don't mind if this symbol gets adapted to symbolize the fediverse.
CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow:
in reply to Fediverse Symbol ⁂ • • •⁂ is a good one. ❉ is a nice one too, but it kind of resembles ActivityPub more than the Fediverse itself.
⁂ U+2042: ASTERISM
❉ U+2749: BALLOON-SPOKED ASTERISK
BenderRobot
in reply to CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow: • • •Andy Piper
in reply to CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow: • • •Christof Damian 💙💛
in reply to CatSalad🐈🥗 (D.Burch) :blobcatrainbow: • • •Both are not perfect.
The first one looks like the Fediverse consits of unconnected networks.
The second one looks centralised.
I have not better solutions 😃
@FediverseSymbol
Evan Prodromou
in reply to Fediverse Symbol ⁂ • • •this is unconvincing:
"We also don’t believe that a large corporation that is joining in as late should be the one defining the iconography for the fediverse."
Who are *you*, though? If your argument is ad hominem, show your names and your bona fides. Why should anyone care what you believe?
And if you're proposing a symbol after Threads, isn't that even later?
shadowwwind
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •fediverse-symbol/README.md at pages
Codeberg.orgEvan Prodromou
in reply to shadowwwind • • •shadowwwind
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •you also say this: "@ is the symbol for e-mail. # is the symbol for hashtags. ☮ is the symbol for peace. ♻ is the symbol for recycling. ⁂ can be the symbol for the fediverse."
These are not the symbols you should compare to. The most recent symbol that makes sense to compare to is the AI twinkles ✨.
qz.com/how-became-the-unoffici…
The asterism seems really close to it.
How ✨ became the unofficial AI emoji
Michelle Cheng (Quartz)Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •another symbol to compare to is the share icon:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_ic…
user interface icon intended to convey to the user a button for performing a share action
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •or the feed symbol.
blog.embed.ly/how-mozilla-chan…
Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •a couple more:
Attachments: 📎
Links: 🔗
Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •but what if instead of trying to make a teeny weeny abstract diagram of the Fediverse, the focus were more personal -- about making a connection between two people, no matter where they are and what social networking service they use?
"Follow me on any network."
"Follow me wherever you get your socials."
anildash.com/2024/02/06/wherev…
“Wherever you get your podcasts” is a radical statement. - Anil Dash
www.anildash.comEvan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •so that
Evan Prodromou ⁂
... means something.
But what?
Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Fediverse Symbol ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •@evan In UI on a social app that have both local interactions and outside interactions, it could mean the second one, something like “someone from another server” / “someone from the wider fediverse”.
Or if you write it yourself, it might be more like “⁂ @evan” as “this is my fediverse handle, no matter the platform”
Marcus Rohrmoser 🌻
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… still nails it, doesn't it?
Evan Prodromou
in reply to Marcus Rohrmoser 🌻 • • •Marcus Rohrmoser 🌻
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Dear @evan, @FediverseSymbol,
what other follows are there? However it doesn't have to stop there. A mutual follow is 2 one-way follows. Feedback is what comes after or on-top follow. At first there is the notification which I never have seen other than being one-way.
However feed subscriptions were anonymous and therefore e.g. not easily blockable.
Btw. w3.org/TR/websub/ allowed for expiring subscriptions. That would solve the mastodon account deletion avalanche issue. Imagine 3-monthly (automatically) renewing follows. We should do the math what that means for the amount of maintenance messages. The burden of maintaining a subscription would be on the subscriber side rather than the publisher which IMO would be a good thing.
WebSub
www.w3.orgEvan Prodromou
in reply to Marcus Rohrmoser 🌻 • • •Fediverse Symbol ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •nicolas ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •nicolas ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Fediverse Symbol ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •nicolas ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Evan Prodromou
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •Nobody puts an @ on a web page to show what to click to send email. They put an envelope ✉️.
The other thing they do is put an email address, like "username@domain.example". People recognize that format as a way to reach someone by email.
nicolas ⁂
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •@evan Hello thanks for the feedback!
First of all, we is @liaizon and @raphael and me 😀 We put a link to a credit section of our readme, but maybe it’s too discreet indeed.
So we actually started this in 2022 but we haven’t been very studious with it 😅 Earlier this week we finally decided to publish our draft just so at least the idea is out there.
(reply about Threads in next post)
Evan Prodromou
in reply to nicolas ⁂ • • •@nclm @liaizon @raphael you're welcome. I hope it's helpful.
@chrismessina may also have some ideas.
𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •@Evan Prodromou
They are obvious true fedi enthusiasts how care and work for what they believe in.
Evan Prodromou
in reply to 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼 • • •𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼
in reply to Evan Prodromou • • •@Evan Prodromou we should be thankful for the well thought initiative...
if you care and have a visual sense too than it is kind of obvious that that what we call the Fediverse is badly in need of an good working iconography.
The nice pentagram does NOT work in every situation and at any scale ... and in black and withe it does also not do a good job...
so we need ideas and thoughts like ⁂
Evan Prodromou
in reply to 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼 • • •Jonathan Lamothe
in reply to Fediverse Symbol ⁂ • •like this
⛤ Benjamin and Evan Prodromou like this.
Light🐧⁂
in reply to Fediverse Symbol ⁂ • • •