Welcome back. The Planet Jekyll Plugin of the Month series presents a new addon for your (static) web pages every month.

What’s the jemoji gem?

Let’s thank Ben Balter, Parker Moore and friends who have created the jemoji gem that lets you add 500+ emojis, that is, simileys, thumbs ups (+1s) and much more to your pages using shortcodes.

To spice up your plain text use “shortcodes” that will get (auto-)converted to mini inline pictures. Example:

I give the jemoji plugin two :+1:!

resulting in:

I give the jemoji plugin two !

How are you feeling today?

To add a “classic” similey use any of the 20+ shortcodes. Example:

:smile: :laughing: :blush: :smiley: :relaxed: :smirk: :heart_eyes: :kissing_heart: :kissing_closed_eyes: :flushed: :relieved: :satisfied: :grin: :wink: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: :grinning: :kissing: :kissing_smiling_eyes: :stuck_out_tongue: :sleeping: :worried: :frowning: :anguished: :open_mouth: :grimacing: :confused: :hushed: :expressionless: :unamused: :sweat_smile: :sweat: :disappointed_relieved: :weary: :pensive: :disappointed: :confounded: :fearful: :cold_sweat: :persevere: :cry: :sob: :joy: :astonished: :scream: :tired_face: :angry: :rage: :triumph: :sleepy: :yum: :mask: :sunglasses: :dizzy_face: :imp: :smiling_imp: :neutral_face: :innocent: :alien:

Cats, Cats, Cats

Or add some cats:

:smiley_cat: :smile_cat: :heart_eyes_cat: :kissing_cat: :smirk_cat: :scream_cat: :crying_cat_face: :joy_cat: :pouting_cat:

Or add some roses or tulips or on and on and on. See the Emoji Cheet Sheet for more than 500+ shortcodes.

How does it work?

The emoji plugin runs your text through a filter (that is, HTML::Pipeline::EmojiFilter ) and replaces all known :shortcodes: with images (served from GitHub.com). Example:

:+1:

becomes (in HTML):

<img class="emoji" title=":+1:" alt=":+1:" src="https://assets-cdn.github.com/images/icons/emoji/unicode/1f44d.png" height="20" width="20" align="absmiddle">

resulting in:

Yes, Works with GitHub Pages

Last but not least - the good news - the jemoji gem is an official white-listed GitHub Pages plugin. To use it add the following to your site’s _config.yml file:

gems: - jemoji

That’s it. Happy Publishing with Jekyll.

Bonus: Can You Crack the Emoji Code?

Easy -

Hard -

What does it mean?!

Learn More