iOS Special Characters on Springboard?

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 23, 2013

Does anyone know what special characters are available for apps to display on springboard?

I'd like it if I could have a capital cursive E as part of my app's title. I've found Cambria Math has the exact character I want, but that font isn't on the iPhone.

Suggestions?

robbieduncan · Jan 23, 2013

I'm a little confused here. You talk about characters then talk about a specific font. Is there a Unicode character that represents what you want regardless of font? If not I suspect the answer is you can't do it as the font used cannot be changed and worse Apple could change it at any time...

PhoneyDeveloper · Jan 23, 2013

Your app icon is an image. You can put text in the icon if it makes sense.

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 23, 2013

robbieduncan said:
I'm a little confused here. You talk about characters then talk about a specific font. Is there a Unicode character that represents what you want regardless of font? If not I suspect the answer is you can't do it as the font used cannot be changed and worse Apple could change it at any time...

The Unicode character appears in the font I mentioned, but as far as I can see it appears as a non-printing block in any other font.

I'm just wondering if there are any limits on which glyphs I can use on springboard. What font does it use, anyways?

robbieduncan · Jan 23, 2013

ArtOfWarfare said:
The Unicode character appears in the font I mentioned, but as far as I can see it appears as a non-printing block in any other font.

I'm just wondering if there are any limits on which glyphs I can use on springboard. What font does it use, anyways?

You can use any Unicode character but obviously if it's not in the font used that won't display. What is the Unicode character code you are using? I think the font used is Helvetica.

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 23, 2013

robbieduncan said:
You can use any Unicode character but obviously if it's not in the font used that won't display. What is the Unicode character code you are using? I think the font used is Helvetica.

I was able to find glyphs similar to most of the ones I wanted in Helvetica except this one:
U+1D4F5 ("MATHEMATICAL BOLD SCRIPT SMALL L")

All I want is a cursive L (lowercase) that'll appear on springboard.

dejo · Jan 23, 2013

Why the need to display non-standard characters for your app's display name?

robbieduncan · Jan 23, 2013

dejo said:
Why the need to display non-standard characters for your app's display name?

Maybe it'll look cool?

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 23, 2013

robbieduncan said:
Maybe it'll look cool?

Exactly. I'm trying to make a game and I want to set a particular mood from the moment it's installed on device. I'm not planning on actually selling it on the app store with the name written the same way, as I suspect that:

1 - Apple would reject it
2 - Users wouldn't be able to find it through search.

As far as I can tell, Helvetica doesn't seem to have a single lowercase cursive variation on l... I just want a tall right-side up loop (loop on top, tails on bottom.) A lowercase theta looks pretty good but seems to be missing from Helvetica...

chown33 · Jan 23, 2013

ArtOfWarfare said:
Exactly. I'm trying to make a game and I want to set a particular mood from the moment it's installed on device. I'm not planning on actually selling it on the app store with the name written the same way, as I suspect that:

1 - Apple would reject it
2 - Users wouldn't be able to find it through search.

As far as I can tell, Helvetica doesn't seem to have a single lowercase cursive variation on l... I just want a tall right-side up loop (loop on top, tails on bottom.) A lowercase theta looks pretty good but seems to be missing from Helvetica...

I think you're trying too hard.

If potential customers can't find your app through search, any "mood" that might be set is never gonna happen, because they can't find it.

If your English-speaking customers don't know what to call your app when they tell friends, you're undermining your own potential sales. The likelihood that an average customer will recognize and correctly tell a potential customer to use "lowercase theta" is within epsilon-squared of zero.

I don't know anyone so easily manipulated that their mood is shattered, fractured, or even mildly attenuated simply because the textual name of the app doesn't contain cool math characters. Lowercase omega, capital tau, digamma.

xArtx · Jan 23, 2013

I think it's "Helvetica Neue Bold" or "Helvetica Neue".

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 23, 2013

chown33 said:
If your English-speaking customers don't know what to call your app when they tell friends, you're undermining your own potential sales. The likelihood that an average customer will recognize and correctly tell a potential customer to use "lowercase theta" is within epsilon-squared of zero.

I mentioned that I wouldn't use the stylized name in the store, just on springboard. On the store it'll be plain Latin text - on springboard it'll be whatever characters I find that springboard will display that must looks like the characters in the font used in the app.

I don't know anyone so easily manipulated that their mood is shattered, fractured, or even mildly attenuated simply because the textual name of the app doesn't contain cool math characters. Lowercase omega, capital tau, digamma.

The Greek profanity was uncalled for. It's more than just being cool and setting the atmosphere - the title of the game (it's a game I'm making - I don't think I mentioned that, yet) itself has a puzzle hidden in it for the player. There's no real need for the player to solve it other than so they can say, "Oh, that's neat" when they realize what I did.

robbieduncan · Jan 24, 2013

I actually think it's quite a nice idea. Even without the puzzle it's the sort of thing that will make a user go "wow, how did they do that" when the install the app.

dejo · Jan 24, 2013

Having non-standard characters in the app name on springboard is certainly do-able (to a certain extent, I'm guessing). For example, VH1's I Love The 80's Trivia app uses the expected heart-symbol in place of the word Love, as seen in the screenshot attached. This adds a nice touch to app icon.

xArtx · Jan 28, 2013

It would be nice to work out the exact
width of the title string for each device
before it truncates the title on the springboard.

Then a little program could be written to tell
you whether a title will fit or not.

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 28, 2013

xArtx said:
It would be nice to work out the exact
width of the title string for each device
before it truncates the title on the springboard.

Then a little program could be written to tell
you whether a title will fit or not.

I didn't realize it differed from device to device... It's probably not an issue with my app as the name is only four characters long.

dejo · Jan 28, 2013

xArtx said:
It would be nice to work out the exact
width of the title string for each device
before it truncates the title on the springboard.

Then a little program could be written to tell
you whether a title will fit or not.

Depends on the string, too, because the font is using proportional spacing.

xArtx · Jan 28, 2013

Length of the string once printed... should be found with this:

Code:

    CGContextShowTextAtPoint(context, 0, 0, string, stringlength);
    pointwidth =CGContextGetTextPosition(context);

The iPad retina prints wider than the iPhone 5.
"Replenishment" fits on the iPad, but not he iPhone 5.

iOS Special Characters on Springboard?

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