UPDATE: GitHub Pages now supports GitHub Flavored Markdown, so my workaround is no longer needed.
Emoji is becoming a de-facto standard of written communication. Because I use it so liberally in all my other forms of communication, I want to be able to use it on this site. Doing so would allow me to do really powerful stuff like adding a custom break in thoughts.
Whoa! How much deeper did that thought sink in with the forced break in cadence?
Here’s how I can insert an emoji into danott.co
<i>:sunglasses:</i>
This becomes :sunglasses: through some light use of React.
The text :sunglasses: becomes the alt attribute on the image tag for screen readers.
I’m definitely not an expert on accessibility. From the little I do know I think this is at least a step in the right direction.
Overriding all <i/> tags is a bit of a tradeoff.
It’s original intent was for italicizing content.
The more semantic <em/> tag has since replaced it.
<em/> is what all the kids authoring HTML5 are using.
Since I own all the content on danott.co I’m happy to give new life to this long abandoned tag.
:dizzy: :sunglasses: :tada:
Published: 2016-03-19