If you're using a keyboard and accessing Mastodon through your server's website, you can type emoji without having to use the picker.
Just type a colon : and without any spaces start typing a keyword. It will then present you with five emoji that match the keyword, and you can choose the one you want with the arrow keys.
For example if you type :sun you will see five different emoji for "sun".
If the one you want isn't suggested, click on the 🙂 picker icon instead.
@FediTips 
I get this one when I search for sun ?
@FediTips Not all Mastodon instances include custom emoji like :sun or :heart, so the autocomplete suggestions can vary depending on where your account is hosted
@FediTips Fantastic, thank you.
@FediTips 🌞 yes it works 👍 😄 🏋️
Wait, ... oh, "dart frog toxin" not "fart dog toxin.
I am a terrible person
@FediTips
That method doesn't allow me to choose non-white human emojis. For that I use the Awesome Emoji #Firefox add-on.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/awesome-emoji-picker
Hey, I was just looking through the Mastodon issues on this topic and found there was one from 2024 that you raised where it was rendering the wrong shade for the emoji you used (https://mstdn.social/@TimMaddog/113556259856198325).
Is Mastodon rendering the emoji shade correctly now when the post is published? Does Awesome help? If not either way, I'll follow it up again.
@FediTips
Awesome Emoji Picker did the trick for me! 👍🏽
Great!
If you use the standard built-in picker, is it still rendering the wrong shades on your system?
@FediTips
Looking closer, the Mastodon picker gives me yellow and the Awesome Emoji Picker gives me Medium Skin Tone, as per my settings. Check my timeline for more tests that I didn't do as Replies. 👀
@FediTips
Hmm… Looks like I was wrong
Test (1): Twemojify OFF
Test 2: Twemojify ON
If there's anything that needs fixing in Mastodon please do say and I'll try to follow it up with the developers. I've just posted in the issue about the typing method not working to remind them to fix it.
@FediTips
Arg! Looks like I broke it again. Could be the Twemojify extension I just installed. Will see if turning it off gets things right again.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/twemojify/
@FediTips 👍 Couldn't be easier. 😄
@FediTips What a great tip. Thanks!
@FediTips Works with Moshidon also!
