Übersmiley

around 2009

Introduction

Today we have different kinds of text-based smileys on the Internet: Japanese [ ^_^ ], typical [ :) ], Russian [ ))))) ], etc... But neither of those are perfect. It's either too many symbols or you have to turn your head 90 degrees in order to read it.

What happened

Recently, I received a request from one very big and very powerful association of Internet users to invent something new, something simple, yet beautiful at the same time. Something that would consist of only one symbol, but at the same time be capable of representing a human emotion. I had to think long and hard. "What kind of symbol could do that?" -- I asked myself.

[ I'm going to finish this part some other time... ]

Solution

And there it was: Ümlauts! Eureka! The biggest smile ever that you could give on the Internet is this guy right here: Ü

Or in case if you feel surprised just use this symbol: Ö

I couldn't find any use for this one yet: Ä, but I'm pretty sure that something stands behind it... pretty sure.

And that's it: you no longer need to angle your head or type in numerious combnations of symbols!

Input

If you don't have a Deutsch keyboard layout and you're one of those poor creatures who got stuck with Windows, then simply hold the Alt key, and enter this code on your NumPad: 0252 (or 129 for this little guy: ü).

It's R-Alt + Y on Colemak.