Official Bitcoin Unicode Character? - page 6.

ryepdx

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Quote from: fetokun on March 30, 2011, 05:48:03 AM

I think a circled ฿ would be perfect. Maybe we could adopt the circled B for now while we wait for the new circled ฿ to be inserted into the Unicode standard.

Meh. I personally don't even want to incorporate the baht symbol. I feel like it would cause confusion, even circled.

Quote from: woah on March 30, 2011, 04:58:37 AM

Hello !

How about this :

I like Ⓑ a lot, but I thought it could be great to add the "currency-like" bars. It makes it closer to the logo, too.

I like it. The only downsides are that it could be hard to recognize or even write at small sizes due to the level of detail. Plus it seems like it would take a while to write even at normal sizes compared to other currency symbols.

fetokun

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Quote from: woah on March 30, 2011, 04:58:37 AM

Hello !

How about this :

I like Ⓑ a lot, but I thought it could be great to add the "currency-like" bars. It makes it closer to the logo, too.

I think a circled ฿ would be perfect. Maybe we could adopt the circled B for now while we wait for the new circled ฿ to be inserted into the Unicode standard.

woah

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Hello !

How about this : http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/4756/btc1.png

I like Ⓑ a lot, but I thought it could be great to add the "currency-like" bars. It makes it closer to the logo, too.

fetokun

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Quote from: BitCoinX on December 18, 2010, 07:45:50 PM

Dont believe it is in use by another currency and is already in the charset

x2

I really like Ƀ too. ฿ would be my first choice, but since it's already used as a currency symbol for me it's completely off the table.

It also gives a certain sense of a currency and I really prefer capital letters. I don't know, but I think uppercases give the impression of a more valued currency.

1Ƀ2
Ƀ100
Ƀ1.5
19.99Ƀ

All of these look good to me

epii

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Here's yet another idea. It's very abstract, but kinda captures the "techiness" and the whole "bit" concept of Bitcoin, scales well, and of course is already in Unicode: ◑
U+25D1 CIRCLE WITH RIGHT HALF BLACK

(Also, kind of like a C and a B.)

I was inspired by this icon on britcoin.co.uk:

ryepdx

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Quote from: TiagoTiago on March 26, 2011, 06:34:26 PM

Custom fonts can be used in web pages without the users having to install them on their machine, as long as they got an up-to-date webbrowser.

Hmm... not a bad idea. Less compatible than the image idea and a bit harder to implement, but it would at least make for cleaner HTML.

Then, of course, there is the first path mentioned.

TiagoTiago

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Firstbits.com/1fg4i :)

Custom fonts can be used in web pages without the users having to install them on their machine, as long as they got an up-to-date webbrowser.

ryepdx

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Okay, I just finished reading all 10 pages of this discussion. It seems to me we are divided into two camps:

1. Those who want a symbol we can start using right away.
2. Those who want a unique symbol that we won't really be able to use online until we manage to get a character into the unicode set (which could be a few years considering it took the Thai government about a year of lobbying to get their country's currency symbol into that set, a task easier than the one we would face as a mere confederacy of nerds.)

I think we ought to decide which approach would be better for us as a community.

There is, of course, a middle path: we could create a custom symbol and then host it as an image somewhere for the whole community to use as if it were a character.

If we decide path 1 is best, then my votes are for β, Ƀ, or Ⓑ (in order of preference.)
If we decide path 2 or the middle path is best, well, you've seen my suggestions.

What are your thoughts?

ryepdx

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Thanks for the feedback! I came up with two other ideas too. Here they are, along with another rendering of the first one I posted:

These are crude renderings, but they should prove a good basis for any typographers who may come along later. I derived the two new ideas from the symbol for the yen, the currency of Satoshi's ostensible homeland.

Fiyasko

legendary

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Okey Dokey Lokey

I agree! it's easy to write (although not when using cursive) and would look Great when placed next to cash values

on another note:
I Fucking hate that pilcrow sign, first time i did i typing test i was all like WHERE THE FAWK IS THAT AND WHAT IS IT!
then i learned that it was the Enter key, and smashed my keyboard.

epii

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I have to admit, it looks good! In a Unicode context, it could be thought of as either a "b" with a vertical line through it, or this upside-down: http://en.decodeunicode.org/en/u+204b

ryepdx

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What you said about it potentially being confused with the @ symbol got me thinking. You're right, that would look rather odd. I came up with another symbol which I've written down on a scrap of paper and photographed. You can see it below. It avoids the problem of looking like any other currency symbol or symbol it is likely to be used in conjunction with and it is easy to write.

What do you think?

epii

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Only two minor concerns with Gokhan's "b'at" symbol:
- Because the @ symbol already has many uses, we must make sure our symbol is sufficiently visually distinctive. The @ in @37.50, for example, already denotes the concept of "unit price". However, I think might not be a problem, as nobody complains that $ is not visually distinctive from S.
- Since the circle shape is very "fat" compared to most currency symbols, we'd want to be sure to design it in such a way that the typographic layout would be appealing when it is written with digits next to it. (IMO @37.50 does not look as "good" and "money-like" as $37.50, 37.50 ฿, etc.)

Other than that, I think the symbol is unique, eye-catching, and very good at communicating "bitcoin".

ryepdx

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My girlfriend and I like myrkul/Gokhan's idea. We tried it out a few times and it's rather easy to write. Plus we think its reminiscent of the @ symbol, quite apropos for a digi-currency.

Fiyasko

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Okey Dokey Lokey

for anyone who's about to post "how hard Gokhan's smybol is to handwrite" write it first, cause i found it fliud and enjoyable when using a pen

gohan

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Based on the idea of TiagoTiago:

Available as SVG. (Needs some more work.)

I like the one on the left but maybe it looks more like a logo than a currency symbol. What do you think?

EDIT: Also, Ⓑ is pretty convenient IMO.
EDIT: Uploaded background transparent versions. I'll work on the SVG on demand.

Fiyasko

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Okey Dokey Lokey

i was fiddling around and i found Alt+0223 to = ß
However i like the lowercase b with the @ symbol loop, almost looks like a c and makes me automatically go "bitcoin" in my head where as $ goes "money"

epii

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Quote from: epii on March 24, 2011, 03:57:24 AM

币

A couple other thoughts on this. First of all, I forgot to mention this character is pronounced "bi" (almost identical to the letter B); it seems natural that "B" could become a spoken shorthand for "Bitcoin" the same way "buck" is short for "dollar". ("A small coffee, two packs of cigarettes, and a cruise missile. That'll be 37 B.")

If I know anything about the Chinese blogosphere, if Bitcoin weren't to push an official Chinese version of their name, a fairly likely Chinese name to spring up spontaneously would be 网民币 - Wangminbi, "The Netizen's Currency", a pun on Renminbi, "The People's Currency".

Previously discussed formats for comparison:

币2
币1200
币37.50

2币
1200币
37.50币

37币50

HostFat

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I support freedom of choice

Quote from: TiagoTiago on February 20, 2011, 05:14:56 AM

Ok, kinda like this:

Perfect

da2ce7

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Live and Let Live

Quote from: epii on March 24, 2011, 03:57:24 AM

Okay, here's a completely random idea for a thread that's already flooded with ideas. What about using the Chinese character 币 or some stylized variant thereof?

币

It means "currency", and if you look, the right-hand side looks like a "b", the center part like a "T", and the bottom half like a turned "C". I'm under the impression that a substantial portion of Bitcoin's early adopters are Chinese.

(This being said, my first instinct would be to try to get a double-stroked B identical to the logo into Unicode. By typography-geek standards, it's sufficiently distinct from the Baht symbol.)

What a great idea I love 币

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