PRP - artifact #6 - HTML character codes compatibility

Part of the condensing process required to mobilize information and make it easier to consume entails cutting out unnecessary content.

One way in which I have tried to do so is through symbols. Rather than words, you can put across information through image.

Importantly however, the literary sources all emphasised the risk this poses, when realistically, sites can be viewed anywhere in the world.

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I wished to convey the information is a less space-demanding manner, but also, easier to understand format, on the match-maker page. Users here can find out who their horoscope says they should get on well with, and also who not.

I first considered using an image:

(obviously not as large!)

The problem with this is obviously it would be another component to download. Admittedly it could then be cached and repeated by the browser but still, this was something to bear in mind.
Also, the image would need shrinking, compressing and means the above picture might not be as good a choice as it might become unclear and thereby fail to deliver the message as well as possible.

Secondly I remembered that the ASCII code has smileys ☺, which would work. Happy for like, unhappy for dislike. Problem is, the graphic might not translate well and provide enough detail when being viewed on a mobile device held at arms length etc.

Fortunately, after looking through the following site, I found one also for a heart ♥.
http://www.mistywindow.com/reference/html-characters.htm

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This seemed a better choice - it wouldn't add to the page load and the clarity/contrast could be achieved by using a black symbol on the white background.

Equally there are numerous options for a negative symbol. I opted for a cross ✖.

On iPhone this worked, on Android it did not.

Eventually, after trying different ones, I found the ballot box like cross to work.

I am happy with this and hope to prove that symbols can be used, if done so in a cognitively sensible manner. Obviously my assertions over hearts and crosses are Western ideas, people in the East might well not, and translating software would not be able to commute the symbols either.

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