๐๐ฟ๐๐พ๐๐ฝ๐๐ผ๐๐ป
To install, just follow the appropriate link:
- ๐๐ฟ Emoji Pack (Dark Skin Tone)
- ๐๐พ Emoji Pack (Medium-Dark Skin Tone)
- ๐๐ฝ Emoji Pack (Medium Skin Tone)
- ๐๐ผ Emoji Pack (Medium-Light Skin Tone)
- ๐๐ป Emoji Pack (Light Skin Tone)
- ๐ The Original Emoji Pack
Then be sure to uncheck โStrip snippets of โauto expandโ flag!โ
๐๐ฟ๐๐พ๐๐ฝ๐๐ผ๐๐ป
The why
Iโve been a regular macOS user for over a decade now, and I love the Spotlight model of launching applications. Itโs basically baked into my brain that every app I open will be launched by typing its name, no matter the context.
Since Iโve already built up this muscle memory, Iโm really enjoying my recent exploration of Alfred. Though itโs taken some time to retrain some habits to redirect them to that Alfred motif, itโs so great to be able to interact with even more parts of the tools that I use with this same process.
Alfred doesnโt just provide a Spotlight replacement; it also provides other productivity tools, like text replacement when you type certain keys. For example, hereโs a UUID I created by typing :uuid:
:
BEFE04B5-2B41-4FF3-BAF2-54632CBFF8AF
I also use emoji a lot when I communicate. Especially recently, with most of my communication with coworkers happening over Slack, itโs important to be able to convey my personality and come across as having a positive demeanor. Iโve optimized my use of emoji so that I just automatically type the universally-accepted shortcode for each emoji, like :+1: for ๐๐ป.
Joel Califa created a pack of snippets to automatically replace those shortcodes in all contexts, so that right now, in my text editor, I could just type :bee: and get the ๐ emoji. However, these use the unmodified human emoji, which I donโt use โ as youโll see above, Iโve decided to use emoji with the Fitzpatrick modifier the represents me.
Instead of attempting to describe why this snippet pack is so cool, Iโm just going to point at Joelโs blog post above โ it does a much better job of describing all the use you can get out of it and the problems it solves than I ever could!
The how
So: how does this work?
Big thanks to Joel, who responded for my request to make derivative work from his original emoji pack within 10 minutes of my sending the message to him! Iโm really appreciative the he both extended this permission but was also excited about the project.
You can find the code that generates these emoji packs in this Github repository: https://github.com/tjwds/alfred-emoji-fitzpatrick
As for the implementation, itโs fairly straight-forward: we iterate over the list of shortcodes provided by Joel, replacing any appropriate emoji, and and assigning new GUIDs. This creates five directories, which I can then import into Alfred to create an exportable snippet pack.
The future
I think there are a few more things that I could do to improve these packs:
First of all, the process for distributing these files is a little onerous. The snippet packs are just zipped directories filled with json files with a manifest; theoretically, this should be something that I can automate. So, next time I update the emoji in the pack, Iโll probably tackle that first.
Also, itโd be nice to add more emoji! This will involve adding another source other than Joelโs files somehow, but that shouldnโt be too difficult.
If thereโs any emoji you find are missing, or if you see any problems with the implementation, please either drop me a line at joewoods@fastmail.com or leave an issue on the Github repository.
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