Dingbat

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This article is about the typesetter's ornament. For other uses, see Dingbat (disambiguation).

Poem typeset with generous use of decorative dingbats, 1880s

A dingbat is an ornament, character or spacer used in typesetting, sometimes more formally known as a "printer's ornament" or "printer's character".

The term continued to be used in the computer industry to describe fonts that had symbols and shapes in the positions designated for alphabetical or numeric characters.

An example (something like ITC Zapf dingbats series 100):

✁

✂

✃

✄

☎

✆

✇

✈

✉

☛

☞

✌

✍

✎

✏

✐

✑

✒

✓

✔

✕

✖

✗

✘

✙

✚

✛

✜

✝

✞

✟

✠

✡

✢

✣

✤

✥

✦

✧

★

✩

✪

✫

✬

✭

✮

✯

✰

✱

✲

✳

✴

✵

✶

✷

✸

✹

✺

✻

✼

✽

✾

✿

❀

❁

❂

❃

❄

❅

❆

❇

❈

❉

❊

❋

●

❍

■

❏

❐

❑

❒

▲

▼

◆

❖

◗

❘

❙

❚

❛

❜

❝

❞

The advent of Unicode and the universal character set it provides allowed commonly-used dingbats to be given their own character codes, from 2700 to 27BF. Although fonts claiming Unicode coverage will contain glyphs for dingbats in addition to alphabetic characters, fonts that have dingbats in place of alphabetic characters continue to be popular, primarily for ease of input.

[edit] Unicode dingbats

Main article: Unicode symbols

Unicode Dingbat Range (2700–27BF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
2700	✀	✁	✂	✃	✄	✅	✆	✇	✈	✉	✊	✋	✌	✍	✎	✏
2710	✐	✑	✒	✓	✔	✕	✖	✗	✘	✙	✚	✛	✜	✝	✞	✟
2720	✠	✡	✢	✣	✤	✥	✦	✧	✨	✩	✪	✫	✬	✭	✮	✯
2730	✰	✱	✲	✳	✴	✵	✶	✷	✸	✹	✺	✻	✼	✽	✾	✿
2740	❀	❁	❂	❃	❄	❅	❆	❇	❈	❉	❊	❋	❌	❍	❎	❏
2750	❐	❑	❒	❓	❔	❕	❖	❗	❘	❙	❚	❛	❜	❝	❞	❟
2760	❠	❡	❢	❣	❤	❥	❦	❧	❨	❩	❪	❫	❬	❭	❮	❯
2770	❰	❱	❲	❳	❴	❵	❶	❷	❸	❹	❺	❻	❼	❽	❾	❿
2780	➀	➁	➂	➃	➄	➅	➆	➇	➈	➉	➊	➋	➌	➍	➎	➏
2790	➐	➑	➒	➓	➔	➕	➖	➗	➘	➙	➚	➛	➜	➝	➞	➟
27A0	➠	➡	➢	➣	➤	➥	➦	➧	➨	➩	➪	➫	➬	➭	➮	➯
27B0	➰	➱	➲	➳	➴	➵	➶	➷	➸	➹	➺	➻	➼	➽	➾	➿

[edit] Typefaces

For more examples of dingbat typefaces, see Wingdings and Webdings. Another famous dingbat typeface, Zapf Dingbats, was designed by the typographer Hermann Zapf.