External Link Symbol

[Asmus Freytag]

On 4/11/2024 8:12 AM, Christoph Päper via Unicode wrote:
> James Kass via Unicode<unicode at corp.unicode.org>:
>> https://emojipedia.org/link
>>
>> "Two links of a silver chain<https://emojipedia.org/chains/>, positioned at a 45° angle. Used as an icon for a hyperlink<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink>  on computers and the internet. May also be used for metaphorical connections."
>>
>> Seems related.
> Only remotely. These emoji ⛓️🔗 resemble text editor GUI icons for inserting a hyperlink, but this thread is about a symbol that is used before or after the link text in web pages to indicate that its target is “off site” – whatever that means exactly.
>
There are several related questions that should not be mixed up:

  * Are two shapes visually similar (whether or not they express the
    same concept/semantics) ?
  * Are two concepts related (even if not the same, are they from the
    same field of application) ?

If the answer to the latter is YES, then there is an argument to be made 
for parallel treatment in encoding.

The question on visual similarity is more complicated, and conflates 
several distinct scenarios. The four main cases are:

 1. The shapes are accidentally similar, but the concept are distinct
 2. The shapes are similar and valid glyph alternatives for the same concept
 3. The shapes are distinct, but reflect different notations choice to
    represent the same concept
 4. The shapes and concepts are unrelated.

We agree that the diagonal chain link emoji is used in GUIs and other 
places to indicate a link or an action to add / edit a link. We also 
agree that link and external link are both related to URLs, but the 
concept of "external link" cannot be conflated with the generic "link".

Given that "link" is now available as encoded character, I don't feel 
the warm and fuzzies about a principled stand to restrict the "external 
link" to an external image. There's nothing inherent in the distinction 
that absolutely must be reflected in a disparate decision on encoding 
for these two.

In other words, it strikes me as silly. If it had been added when first 
proposed, we'd probably see widespread adoption by now. That said, it's 
easy enough to realize with a site-wide image.

A./
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