I started using Telegram as my primary messenger in 2019 after discovering the app’s privacy and cloud features. Still, what ultimately kept me on the platform were the customization options. The ability to format my text, stickers, bots, and more set Telegram apart as a tool for serious message customization. Similarly, the opportunity to use Unicode-specified alternate text rendering appears to be a popular way to make personal messages, group chats, and channel posts more eye-catching and unique.
Telegram’s Native Text Styling Options
The Telegram app itself provides basic text formatting options.
These allow you to make text bold, italic, monospace, strikethrough, and underline. However, Telegram also allows you to use alternate Unicode-specified character sets to provide extra visual styling. Any message containing such Unicode-formatted text will retain this visual styling for other Telegram users. This includes personal messages, group chats, and channel posts. You can use this feature to your advantage to draw attention to your messages containing alternate text rendering.
Personal Message Styling
Private messages provide you with the most creative freedom since you are chatting with someone who knows you personally. Using this guide, I will show you how to apply Unicode text formatting in your private messages to get the most expressive results.
Using styled greetings allows you to provide a warmer and more expressive feeling for your conversation. Your friends will also instantly recognize this as a personal message since very few spammers use such stylized text rendering in their messages.
Messages for special occasions can also be visualized better with Unicode-formatted text. You can use this guide to create unique visual renditions of your birthday and anniversary wishes, congrats messages, and other special occasion texts.
Emphasis is an important part of any message, and using text styling can be a great way to provide it. For instance, you may want to highlight some specific parts of your messages that contain additional information. Emphasized text can also be used to request some action from the recipient of your message.
Group Chat Styling
Telegram groups are a popular way for large social communities to organize themselves and broadcast their content. As such, it is common for group members to overlook messages lost in the endless chat scroll. You can use alternate text rendering to make your messages more prominent and increase the chances of other users reading them. You can also use this method to request or deny membership applications and reply to questions directed at the group admin.
Announcements and questions are two common types of group messages that benefit exceedingly from alternate text rendering. As mentioned above, important messages need to stand out somehow, so using visual styling is a great way to achieve that. Additionally, questions need to be answered, and emphasizing them will help group admins and members find and respond to them faster.
However, using Unicode-specified text rendering in groups can become tiresome for both you and your friends. It is best to use the described group message styling techniques as little and as rarely as possible. Group members will begin to expect some level of visual styling in every message, and missing it will annoy them. It is best to only emphasize important messages using this method and allow simple messages to appear as they do by default.
Channel Publishing Styling
Many Telegram users utilize the platform’s channel functionality to share content with their large audiences. Your channel subscribers will see all your messages in their chat lists, which means you need to make your content as attractive as possible to get more views and clicks. One easy way to do that is to use Unicode text formatting in your channel messages’ headlines. This way, your channel subscribers will have a more prominent and attractive call-to-action when interacting with your channel content.
Other ways of using alternate text rendering in your Telegram channel include following a consistent visual theme across your channel’s headlines and subheadings and distinguishing individual pieces of information visually. The last method is useful if you have larger chunks of text to write, such as entire articles to publish. By stylizing your text in a readable and consistent manner, you will be able to provide a better viewing experience for your channel’s subscribers.
If you use bots in your Telegram channels or groups, you may want to stylize the messages sent by them as well. This will provide a better viewing experience for users reading messages from your bots. It will also signal to your subscribers that your bot is legitimate and attentive to its channel and group messages. Bots that actively use alternate text rendering will have more trustworthy appearances compared to bots that do not use any special styling.
Finally, you will want to make sure that all messages originating from your bot are consistently styled. This way, your channel subscribers and group members will be able to distinguish your bot’s messages from regular channel and user messages. You can also use this method to build a unique visual identity for your bot.
Applying Alternate Glyphs in Different Situations
You have now learned the basics of alternate text rendering in Telegram. However, it is also important to understand how to apply these methods in different situations.
As a rule of thumb, you should avoid using overly decorative text rendering in professional group chats. This includes work-related Telegram groups and channels. In such communities, it is best to only stylize emphasized text. Avoid using cursive or overly decorative text rendering in such groups since it will appear unprofessional.
On the other hand, social groups and channels are the places where you can actively use alternate text rendering to stylize your messages. Since the participants know each other, extra visual styling will not be out of place in such chats.
Similarly, using alternate text rendering in help groups and channels is best suited for emphasizing important pieces of information. Avoid using overly complex visual glyphs when asking for or providing help.
Finally, creative groups and channels will appreciate your attention to detail and skillful application of alternate text rendering. You may want to avoid using overly complicated rendering in such groups, but you should definitely try to stylize your creative content more heavily than average messages.
Use Cases
Emphasis rendering is used to make important messages stand out from the others. You can apply this method in group chats and channels by stylizing urgent messages, warnings, and any other text you want to emphasize. You can also use this method to highlight specific words and phrases in your messages.
Cursive rendering is used to add warm and friendly feel to your messages. You can apply this technique in your private messages and group chat announcements to make the text more personable. This is a great way to build relationships with your friends and channel subscribers.
Decorated rendering provides a nice visual appeal to your Telegram messages. You should use this alternate text rendering method in your channel headlines and announcements to grab the attention of your channel subscribers. It will be especially useful for emphasizing special offers and other limited-time promotions.
Small caps rendering lets you use small uppercase glyphs to write your messages. You can use this rendering technique to stylize your headlines, subheadings, and any other text you want to draw attention to.
Announcement-Friendly Message Styling
All types of announcements benefit greatly from being formatted in such a way that they stand out from the rest of the chat’s messages. This way, the channel subscribers and group members will be more likely to read your important messages. You can achieve this goal by using alternate text rendering in your announcement messages. It will help you draw the attention of your followers and group members to your important posts.
Your announcement message should also follow the basic rules of visual formatting. As a rule of thumb, you should divide your post into levels of information, starting with the post’s brief description. Then, describe the post’s accompanying media and add any additional information. Such formatting will allow your channel followers and group members to quickly scan through your announcement and find the information they need.
Finally, you will want to make sure that your announcement message contains a call-to-action element. This can be a styled request to take any action related to your announcement. Such a request can range from answering questions to buying a product, depending on your announcement’s context. By stylizing it, you will increase the likelihood of your channel viewers and group members actually following your call-to-action.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Alternate text rendering can be a great tool for emphasizing your messages. However, it is important to avoid using this method incorrectly. Below are some of the common mistakes of using alternate text rendering in Telegram.
Using too much formatting is a mistake many people make when trying to stylize their text. As a rule of thumb, you should always use alternate text rendering sparsely. This way, your channel viewers and group members will know that the emphasized text is actually important and should not be skipped.
Never use different text stylization in the same message. Doing so will make your text appear messy and unorganized. Instead, use one stylized element per message to achieve the best results. You can, however, use multiple stylization techniques if they are stylistically similar.
Never use hard-to-read alternate text rendering. This refers to using hard-to-read glyphs, such as those unavailable on mobile keyboards. Always make sure that your alternate text rendering will be easy to read on both desktop and mobile views.
Never use stylized text in professional channels and groups. As mentioned earlier, alternate text rendering should only be used to emphasize important pieces of information in professional environments.
Message Identity Creation Tips
Alternate text rendering can also be used to build your Telegram message identity. Using the same visual elements in your messages will allow you to develop a consistent appearance across your message posts. It will also help you build a unique identity that your channel viewers and group members will come to recognize. Here are some tips that will help you build a consistent visual appearance for your Telegram messages.
Consider using a combination of special text rendering to develop unique visual elements for your messages. For instance, you can combine a couple of different rendering types to develop a unique visual appearance for your headlines and subheadings. You can then use a different set of visual stylization techniques to emphasize important pieces of information in your messages.
You should also try to keep your visual elements consistent across similar message types. If you have a social group and a professional channel, the message appearance for each of them should be slightly different but still consistent. You can also keep applying the same visual elements for similar message types within the same channel or group.
Finally, you should track and document the visual elements you use for your messages. This will help you quickly reference them in the future and ensure that you are using them consistently across your posts. The same goes for maintaining a consistent message visual identity if you have multiple channels and groups to maintain.
Getting Started
Now that you are familiar with the basics of alternate text rendering in Telegram, it is time to put your knowledge to practice. Begin exploring this interesting feature by applying alternate text rendering to your personal message conversations. This way, you will be able to experiment with different visual elements without annoying your friends. You can also look at how other users apply alternate text rendering in their private message conversations to get inspiration for your own visual stylization techniques.
Explore the groups you are a part of to find out how others are using alternate text rendering there. Most group admins employ a specific visual identity for their group messages so you should be able to identify it easily. You can also follow the recommendations provided in this guide to develop your own visual appearance for your group messages.
Create a collection of stylized message elements that you can use as visual references. You can stylize common message types, such as greetings and questions. This way you will always have a set of visual elements you can apply in your message conversations.
Remember that the content of your messages is significantly more important than their visual appearance. Alternate text rendering is only a tool that can help you get your point across more efficiently.
Ready to style your Telegram messages?
Try Our Font Generator