Custom Fields: using a single emoji as an icon by omitting the colon
In the previous version of Custom Fields, when you used a single emoji as the name of a field (I didn't try using multiple emojis), the colon after the field name was omitted, so that the emoji looked like an icon.
This is what my board looks like now:
Some context:
- I'm using Custom Fields to track the emotional progression of a beat 😐
and the conflict in a beat ⚡, in a Trello board I use to plan out a screenplay. - I'm using a custom Power-Up and the API to automatically show the estimated page numbers of each beat, so that they are updated whenever I drag the beat cards around. Which is often!
What's suboptimal:
- Before this update, the colons after the emojis weren't shown, so the Custom Fields appeared more "native". Their style corresponded to the Due Date which shows a clock icon followed by the due date with no colon, or the Attachments which shows a paperclip icon followed by the number of attachments with no colon.
- I'm using a middle-dot character to make sure that beats that I haven't filled out yet stand out, but the extra colon makes it look cluttered.
- Tangentially, I only want cards in the lists that represent each act in the screenplay to always show the 😐 and ⚡ fields, so I duplicate a template card that includes them. Other lists in the same board track ideas, or sample dialogue, or characters, etc. With the new Custom Fields API, I might extend my Power-Up to make sure that cards in my act lists always have those fields, to further streamline my workflow and avoid the tedium of copying from a template. It will definitely be an improvement!
Obviously, this is a small detail. But small details are what make software delightful to use! Omitting the colon when the field name is a single emoji like it did previously would positively affect many other people's workflows, too.
Hope I've made a good case for bringing back emojis as icons in Custom Field names!