Webdings vs Wingdings: Why Microsoft Made a Second Picture Font
Webdings is not a newer Wingdings. It was built in 1997 for the early web, by a different team, for a different job. Here is how the two compare.
Webdings is often mistaken for a newer version of Wingdings. It is actually a separate font with a different purpose, built by a different team seven years later. Where Wingdings is a collection of office symbols for word processing, Webdings was designed for the early World Wide Web, as a way to put pictures on a page without downloading images.
The problem Webdings solved
In the late 1990s most people browsed the web over dial up modems. Every image on a page was a separate download, and even small icons slowed pages down. A font, by contrast, is a single small file that can draw hundreds of pictures at any size. If a web page could use a picture font, designers could show arrows, buttons and icons almost for free.
Microsoft’s answer was Webdings, a TrueType font full of pictographs, released in 1997 and first distributed with Internet Explorer 4.0.
Who designed it
Webdings was designed at Microsoft by Vincent Connare, Sue Lightfoot, Ian Patterson and Geraldine Wade. Connare, who had already designed Comic Sans, was asked to make the font creative, friendly and hand drawn, so that it would suit the informal new medium of the web.
Webdings vs Wingdings at a glance
| Wingdings | Webdings | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 1990 (with Windows 3.1 in 1992) | 1997 (with Internet Explorer 4.0) |
| Made by | Microsoft, from Lucida symbol fonts by Bigelow & Holmes | Microsoft team including Vincent Connare |
| Purpose | Symbols for documents and word processing | Pictures for web pages without image files |
| Typical symbols | Hands, mail, office objects, zodiac, religious signs | Buildings, vehicles, media buttons, weather, animals |
| “Hello” looks like | ☟︎♏︎●︎●︎□︎ | 🏠︎📦︎🟈︎🟈︎🛥︎ |
| “NYC” looks like | 🕱︎✡︎👍︎ | 👁︎🎔︎🏙︎ |
The NYC easter egg
Webdings contains one of the best known jokes in type design. In 1992, users had found that NYC in Wingdings showed a skull, a Star of David and a thumbs up, which caused a small scandal (read the full story in the NYC in Wingdings controversy). When Connare designed Webdings, he deliberately placed an eye on N, a heart on Y and a city skyline on C. Typed together, the letters read “I love New York”: 👁︎🎔︎🏙︎.
What is inside Webdings
Webdings is more literal than Wingdings. Its keys follow loose themes:
- Capital letters: mostly places and buildings, from a house 🏠︎ to a stadium 🏟︎.
- Small letters: vehicles and everyday objects, such as a bicycle 🚲︎ and an ambulance 🚑︎.
- Numbers and punctuation: window controls, media player buttons and speech bubbles, for example ⏪︎⏩︎⏮︎⏸︎⏹︎.
- Extended codes: people, sports, office equipment, weather, food and animals, listed on the Webdings Alt codes page.
Did Webdings work on the web?
Only partly. A picture font only displays correctly if the visitor has it installed, and Webdings was mainly available on Windows machines with Microsoft software. Visitors on other systems often saw plain letters instead of icons. Web designers eventually moved to image sprites, then to icon fonts loaded from the server, and finally to SVG icons and emoji.
Webdings in Unicode
The story has a tidy ending. In June 2014, Unicode 7.0 added every Webdings pictograph that was not already part of the standard. Many of Webdings’ pictures now exist as ordinary Unicode characters, and some became emoji. That is why the Webdings translator can turn your text into Webdings symbols that paste anywhere, without the font.
Which one should you use?
Use Wingdings for secret messages, Undertale style text and classic check marks. Use Webdings when you want small recognisable pictures, for example in escape room picture clues. Both are available in the translator, along with Wingdings 2 and Wingdings 3.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Webdings and Wingdings?
Wingdings (1990) is a set of office and document symbols. Webdings (1997) is a picture font made for web pages, with buildings, vehicles, media buttons and animals.
Who designed Webdings?
Vincent Connare, Sue Lightfoot, Ian Patterson and Geraldine Wade at Microsoft. It first shipped with Internet Explorer 4.0.
Is Webdings in Unicode?
Yes. Unicode 7.0 added every Webdings pictograph that was not already in the standard in June 2014.