diff --git a/wled00/FX.h b/wled00/FX.h
index ad1fd292..42897cb4 100644
--- a/wled00/FX.h
+++ b/wled00/FX.h
@@ -823,8 +823,12 @@ typedef struct Segment {
     inline void drawLine(uint16_t x0, uint16_t y0, uint16_t x1, uint16_t y1, CRGB c, bool soft = false, uint8_t depth = UINT8_MAX) { drawLine(x0, y0, x1, y1, uint32_t(c) & 0x00FFFFFF, soft, depth); } // automatic inline
     void drawArc(unsigned x0, unsigned y0, int radius, uint32_t color, uint32_t fillColor = 0);
     inline void drawArc(unsigned x0, unsigned y0, int radius, CRGB color, CRGB fillColor = BLACK) { drawArc(x0, y0, radius, uint32_t(color) & 0x00FFFFFF, uint32_t(fillColor) & 0x00FFFFFF); } // automatic inline
+
     void drawCharacter(unsigned char chr, int16_t x, int16_t y, uint8_t w, uint8_t h, uint32_t color, uint32_t col2 = 0, bool drawShadow = false);
     inline void drawCharacter(unsigned char chr, int16_t x, int16_t y, uint8_t w, uint8_t h, CRGB c, CRGB c2) { drawCharacter(chr, x, y, w, h, uint32_t(c) & 0x00FFFFFF, uint32_t(c2) & 0x00FFFFFF); } // automatic inline
+    // unicode-aware wrapper for drawCharacter(), to be called from  mode_2Dscrollingtext()
+    void drawText(const unsigned char* Text, int16_t x, int16_t y, uint8_t w, uint8_t h, uint32_t color, uint32_t col2 = 0, bool drawShadow = false);
+
     void wu_pixel(uint32_t x, uint32_t y, CRGB c);
     //void blur1d(fract8 blur_amount); // blur all rows in 1 dimension
     void blur2d(fract8 blur_amount) { blur(blur_amount); }
diff --git a/wled00/src/font/unicodetool.cpp b/wled00/src/font/unicodetool.cpp
index 9388247b..05b86e47 100644
--- a/wled00/src/font/unicodetool.cpp
+++ b/wled00/src/font/unicodetool.cpp
@@ -5,13 +5,20 @@
 
 // translates the next unicode UTF-8 item to 2-byte "code points" (reduced UTF-16)
 uint16_t unicodeToWchar16(const char* utf8, size_t maxLen) {
-  // to be implemented
+  // TODO: implement proper UTF‑8 → reduced UTF‑16 decoding
+  (void)utf8;
+  (void)maxLen;
+  return 0;  // sentinel: "no character"
 }
 
 // returns a pointer to the next unicode item - can be used to "advance" conversion after unicodeToWchar16()
 // return nullptr at end of input
 const char* nextUnicode(const char* utf8, size_t maxLen) {
-  // to be implemented
+  (void)maxLen;
+  if (!utf8) return nullptr;
+  if (strlen(utf8)>0) return utf8+1;
+  else return  nullptr; // last code read
+  // TODO: implement proper UTF‑8 iteration
 }
 
 #endif