Element-web: Possibility to define our own emoji

[floviolleau]

I would like to have the possibility to add my own emojis.

Could you please add this feature?

Kind regards

[ara4n]

this is also related to being able to send custom stickers

[ara4n]

see also #1692

[Gregoor]

I could work on this, store stickers only locally for now?

[ara4n]

That would be great! Could send stickers as data URLs, or upload them to your homeserver and refer to them via mxc:// URLs.

[Gregoor]

Since there is no method of listing uploaded media (and thereby retrieving stickers on the server), I'd just go with data URLs for now, as it's simpler.

[turt2live]

For those interested: I've started a proposal on this area (including stickers). Feel free to leave comments and suggest alternative ways to do this. The MSC (matrix spec change) can be found here: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/issues/1256

[BloodyIron]

One of the challenges I see with custom emoji is that not all phones/mobile devices/etc will necessarily be able to display them inherently, as that would go outside of unicode. So, this would be uniquely tied to Riot.

Mind you, I don't want to shoot this idea down, I just want to point out that emoji are primarily made possible due to unicode standardisation of them.

[CPCer]

2 years have gone...

[apiontek]

Work is being done per MSC1951 -- I'm not involved, just passing along the info.

[aaronraimist]

This doesn't need an old-composer label

[beardedlinuxgeek]

Nothing to add other than this is the main feature my users are requesting. I think stickers are not so valuable, but custom emojis dominate discord. They are used for polls, calendars, sign ups, and more. A very important feature.

[JimmyCushnie]

There are many custom emotes that have become part of my daily vernacular on Discord, and it's often jarring when I can't use them in Matrix. For instance, there are often moments in conversation where it is appropriate to dab. On Discord, I select one out of a dozen or so custom dab emotes and react to a message with it. In Matrix, all I can do is send a message with the text dab. This works, but it has a very different feel and effect on the flow of conversation.

In my circles, at least, custom emotes have become an integral part of the way online communication happens. Language is constantly evolving, and I think it's important for any chat app to stay on top of that evolution; to enable, not hinder, the way its users communicate.

[apiraino]

fwiw I kind of circumvented this limitation by posting a tiny PNG (~100x100) on a test room, get the JSON source of that message, grab the media URL and script a bot with a "bang shortcut" (example !hey) to post that media item again. Invite the bot and tell it to post that PNG for you.

pros: done in 2 hours. fine for a very limited set of custom emoji.
cons: ugly. a lot of messages from a bot. separate messages to express the emoji, renders bad on mobile element.io android client

[chr-1x]

This is the number 1 thing keeping Element feeling like a second-class chat client for me. Custom emoji are a big part of community culture on places like Discord, Slack, and Mastodon, and missing them makes it feel less like a place where friends hang out and more like a last-ditch communication channel.

It's especially disheartening to not see this anywhere on the roadmap considering how long it's been open. I realize FTUE is a huge deal, and stuff like that and the community redesign are probably taking priority, but it would be nice to see this somewhere on the roadmap. Attracting users and communities will only go so far if you can't retain them, and I feel like this would go a long way towards improving the element community experience that will keep people using the platform.