Can't use 👍 smiley with ":+1" anymore

[Tatone26]

• I have searched open and closed issues for duplicates

• I am using Signal-Desktop as provided by the Signal team, not a 3rd-party package.

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Bug Description

The ":+1" doesn't create 👍 anymore... because to use the :EMOJI:, the name of the emoji needs the to be at least 3 characters long, so same problem for 👎

Steps to Reproduce

1- just try it

Actual Result:

":+1" doesn't give any result.

Expected Result:

":+1" and then "enter" should (like before) create a 👍.

Screenshots

Platform Info

Signal Version:

5.24.0

Operating System:

Windows 11

Linked Device Version:

Link to Debug Log

https://debuglogs.org/f315daea12128213f5833f7ada085ab4af91efd846deb255992683cd0e4445f5.gz

[sandygk]

Hey @Tatone26, not sure if this is intended behavior, for me doing :+1: creates the 👍 emoji, please notice the last :. In the description you were saying :+1 instead of :+1: .

[Tatone26]

Oh sorry,
I just usually don't use :emoji: but just :emoji and use the suggested emojis ! I will have to change my habits then. Thanks !

[sandygk]

Makes sense, maybe it's a good suggestion to show the emoji autocompletion menu when the user types 2 characters after the : instead of 3 as it's now, or maybe just right after the :. What do you think?

[Tatone26]

I'm definitely for showing the emoji maybe juste after ":+", but if it is complicated it is not at all an important feature ! But it could be useful to just have to use " :+ " and return to get the emoji. (And all the other with a similar name)

[sandygk]

I don't work for Signal, but I am interested in making contributions to the codebase. I'll take a look to see if it's a simple change, it sounds to me like it probably is. I'll keep you posted.

[hiqua]

This is the context:

• Add support for ASCII emojis #1389
• 52ceb40

The problem so far was that we couldn't send ascii emojis starting with : without problems. Now it's a bit better, e.g. you can send :-). But with this issue, it looks like there should be some whitelist for which autocompletion triggers earlier than 3 characters (just my opinion).

[sandygk]

@hiqua thanks for sharing the context. I read the thread you shared Add support for ASCII emojis but not sure how it's related to the decision to change the number of characters after the : to 3 instead of 2. I am sure there is a reason, but not sure if the thread you shared is the correct one.

Unless I am missing something, the user can still type :-) if the autocompletion is set to 2 characters instead of 3, sure the menu will pop up, but the user can simply ignore it and keep typing, right? Github for instance shows the emoji suggestion menu right after the : and the user can still type :-) without issues

[hiqua]

Unless I am missing something, the user can still type :-) if the autocompletion is set to 2 characters instead of 3, sure the menu will pop up, but the user can simply ignore it and keep typing, right? Github for instance shows the emoji suggestion menu right after the : and the user can still type :-) without issues

I think the main problem was that users were typing :-) which would open the menu, then press enter thinking they'd sending the message, but instead selected some random emoji. These are small inconveniences for sure, but if you want to create a PR, take that into consideration. Maybe suggest a change and wait for the devs input. I personally think there could be some whitelist of emojis for which completion would happen earlier, e.g. :+1 and a few others would open the selection menu, but not other two-character prefixes.

[sandygk]

Oh I see what you mean, makes sense.

[sandygk]

I was looking into how Whatsapp does it, and they open the menu 2 characters after the :, but they also replace :-) to 🙂 as soon as it's typed, that way they avoid the issue when the user types :-), presses Enter, and gets a random emoji. For now, I suggest waiting until the dev/UX explain the approach they want to go with, specially since the PR #4942 has been open for a while now, still waiting on the dev's input.

Also I was thinking we should probably close this issue since, at this point, it's pretty much a feature requests, and I think features should be requested on the forums according to the reason why they closed #1837:

Sounds good?

[Tatone26]

You're are right, it is more a feature request ! Maybe you can create one on the forum ?