Recently I have seen many proposals for encoding graphical symbols. UTC and WG2 have a criterion that says that not just any old graphical symbol will be encoded. The symbol must be in common use in running text, and must be used in text to represent an abstract concept on its own, not just to show the glyph.
The canonical example in the WG2 policy statement is that a mathematical symbol, such as the square root or integral sign, would likely be used in plain text to convey the concepts with which they are associated, whereas a stop sign would not. Of course, it's always possible to find a typeset sentence like "Watch for the X sign" where X represents an octagonal stop-sign glyph, but that is not the preferred use of the sign, and under those conditions the stop sign would not be separately encoded. Despite this, there have been several proposals to encode "stop sign"-like symbols, and many have been accepted or seem on their way to acceptance. The recycling symbols, the DO NOT LITTER guy, and the VCR front-panel icons come to mind. Generally the only plain text in the proposals that contain these symbols are of the form "Press the X button" where X represents a double-arrow fast-forward button, or "Always separate trash displaying the X symbol" where X is a recycling symbol. This is plain text which describes and illustrates the symbol itself. I thought these cases were more like the stop sign than the square root sign, but I guess I didn't understand the policy correctly. Anyway, as long as such characters are deemed appropriate for Unicode, I was wondering recently about the "lock" and "unlock" symbols, represented by a closed and open padlock respectively. These are often used, sometimes in text and sometimes on Web sites, to refer to secured or unsecured resources. (Check the "For Members" category on the Unicode home page, for example.) These two symbols (especially "lock") are in quite common use, comparable if not equal to the recycling and VCR icons. They do not seem to be part of any active proposal. Is it worth putting one together? -Doug Ewell Fullerton, California
