# Forum smileys (AKA emoticons)



## Greg Who Cooks (May 14, 2012)

Most forums have common emoticons:    :P etc.

Most forum softwares allow mapping of multiple emoticons into smiley images.

Examples:

 = *:*smile*:* = 
 = *:*wink*:* = 
 = *:*biggrin*:* = 

etc.

Why don't you map the common forum emoticons into your commonly used emoticons? I'm pretty sure vBulletin can handle multiple smiley mappings.

Why do you make the forum members type out the long nammes for your emmoticons when there are common abbreviations for the most often used of them?

I see people using  and  all the time and there's no emoticon support in the forum.


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## Zhizara (May 15, 2012)

I don't know what you mean, Greg.  If you click the "Go Advanced" button at the bottom of the Quick Reply, there are quite a few emoticons available, especially if you click on the "More" button at the bottom of the list.

There is a place (I'm not sure where) that you can check to not show them.  Perhaps that is your problem.  Also, some people just choose to use the typed version rather than go through all the motions to find and use the actual smiley.


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## vitauta (May 15, 2012)

from my experience emoticons on this site seem to only appear at certain times throughout the day.  when i see them displayed i usually use them, but no big deal when they are not.  i tend not to question the many vagaries of a computer world to which i am only tenuously connected.  otherwise i get too often and too easily lost....


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 15, 2012)

The problem is that some people click them off a list while others like me type them directly, particularly people who are fast at touch typing. It breaks up the rhythm to have to reach for the mouse. You get what I mean? 

Instead of hitting colon then right parenthesis I have to hit colon then 5 letters then another colon, a lot more typing to get the same thing. Plus, almost every other forum on the whole Internet accepts colon right-parenthesis as "smile" so you have to keep remembering that CD isn't like the rest of them.

The point is that it would take an administrator about 5 minutes to fix the problem. Second point is that there's no down side for anybody. Once fixed the smileys work both ways.


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## FrankZ (May 15, 2012)

The way these were done is a legacy issue that would involve a lot more work to fix than the benefit.

Every smilie as a shortcut code... like  : smile : (no spaces)


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## Kayelle (May 15, 2012)

I enjoy and appreciate using what's available here.  I just wish we had more that are related to food.....like drooling for example. 

http://www.sherv.net/food-icons.html


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## Zhizara (May 15, 2012)

I did see one that represented drooling, but it was kind of disgusting.  I just *drool* which expresses my feelings without having to look anything up.


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## CharlieD (May 15, 2012)

I am not sure, I see smilies on the right bottom all the time. But the quality and selection that is definetelly is not so good.


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## Zhizara (May 15, 2012)

CharlieD, if you look below the Smiles list. it says [More].  Click that for a bigger selection.

It also shows the typed colon bracket shortcut.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 15, 2012)

FrankZ said:


> The way these were done is a legacy issue that would involve a lot more work to fix than the benefit.
> 
> Every smilie as a shortcut code... like  : smile : (no spaces)



I guess it depends on how your forum software is written. Other forum softwares have it this way:

shortcut code -> image
shortcut code -> image
shortcut code -> image

More than one shortcut code can refer to the same image.

If vBulletin does it like this:

image -> shortcut code
image -> shortcut code
image -> shortcut code

Then you can just include the same images but with different names (actually they're copies of images.)

for example:

smile.gif ->* :*smile*:* 
smile2.gif -> 

or if it's mapped the other way:

*:*smile*:* -> smile.gif
 -> smile2.gif

Where smile2.gif is just a copy of smile.gif ...

I guarantee I could make it work if I was an administrator here, not that I want to be an administrator, not that you'd want me to be an administrator. (Believe me, nobody wants that!)

I've been an administrator on several sites. I've owned my own sites as forum administrator. I've written code for forums although not vBulletin. I guarantee there's a way to make this work but only if you want it to work, and a little cleverness might be required.

And also, I know it can work because I've been a member on other vBulletin sites where they made it work there.

I often see DC newbies and those who infrequently visit the site use  and  because they expect that to work, or they forgot it doesn't. I'm sure that could be fixed.


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## Zhizara (May 15, 2012)

I don't understand why you're making a big deal about it.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 15, 2012)

Zhizara said:


> I don't understand why you're making a big deal about it.



Other members made a big deal about whether eggs are hard boiled or hard cooked.

I'm tired of typing *:*smile*:* when I could more easily type  and I'm tried of having to make emoticons one way on DC and a different way on every other forum on the Internet. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Obviously it's no big deal for people who aren't good touch typists. How is your typing?

Also, what's the big deal about changing it? Would take an admin about 5 minutes to fix the issue. It wouldn't hurt a thing, no negative effects. Old smiley abbreviation would work just the same as it always has. Another likely benefit, even all the old posts that used  and  would be updated with smiley images. Total cost: 5 minutes of one administrator's time, probably almost there in time spent reading this topic.


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## Andy M. (May 15, 2012)

FrankZ said:


> The way these were done is a legacy issue that would involve a lot more work to fix than the benefit...




This tells me it's not a "five minute" fix.  

Smilies help disambiguate what emotions you are putting out there.  We have dozens available at a click of the mouse.  I use a handful and I think most people understand what I'm saying.  As I type this, there are 21 different smilies to the left of the text window.  Is it harder to click a smilie that to type it?  Maybe the solution is to use fewer smilies.


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## CharlieD (May 15, 2012)

Zhizara said:


> CharlieD, if you look below the Smiles list. it says [More]. Click that for a bigger selection.
> 
> ...


 
I know, still the quality and selection is really, hmmm, how should I say that, old, poor, there are much better smilies out there.


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## Janet H (May 15, 2012)

Greg - thanks for the suggestion.  It is a legacy issue as mentioned earlier.  Changing the short cuts for existing images, breaks those images.  It might be worth adding the same images as duplicates with the  and  as shortcuts so they could be used either way.

Let me give this some thought....


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 15, 2012)

Janet, you're not changing the shortcuts for existing images. You're adding new shortcuts for new images.

I know you understand what I mean. (You're giving it further thought.) The PHP processor and forum code have no way of understanding that the new shortcuts to new images are the same images as the old images. You just create a copy of any particular smiley and give it a new name. Perhaps you copy smile.gif and name the copy smile1.gif. You copy wink.gif and name the copy wink1.gif. You copy biggrin.gif and rename the copy biggrin1.gif. And then you add new shortcuts and point them towards the new images.

And I'm not asking you to do them all. That would be totally unreasonable and lots of work to do a whole bunch of them. Just a few of the most popular ones. Perhaps just these three:


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## Cerise (May 15, 2012)

I don't even know what these stand for.

What's Woot & Ninja mean?


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## Zhizara (May 15, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> Other members made a big deal about whether eggs are hard boiled or hard cooked.
> 
> I'm tired of typing *:*smile*:* when I could more easily type  and I'm tried of having to make emoticons one way on DC and a different way on every other forum on the Internet. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
> 
> ...



At the height of my typing skills, I typed over 100 wpm.  

Anyway, again, if you "Go Advanced" when you post,  you can click on the most popular smilies to enter them without having to type anything out.


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## Skittle68 (May 15, 2012)

Hmm I always see colon parentheses as smiley faces. Perhaps because I use an iPhone?


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## Merlot (May 15, 2012)

Cerise said:


> I don't even know what these stand for.
> 
> What's Woot & Ninja mean?


 
you know woot!  Like yay!  and ninja in this respect means sneaky/ hiding   (in my eyes anyway!)  

In regards to OP:

I think I am just not understanding because I dont type out smile, the emoticon is right beside me, along with about 82 altogether if you click more.  

Are you wanting to be able to just click  and the proper emoticon comes up?


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## Zhizara (May 15, 2012)

It's never made any difference to me which way it's shown; the message gets across whether it's  or .


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 15, 2012)

There seems to be a basic disconnect in understanding here.

I type at perhaps 80-100 wpm when typing text. But that's only when my fingers are in home position. If I have to reach over and mouse click something my speed drops drastically because one hand is not on the keyboard, it's on the mouse. Then I have to find home position again. I'm not sure that people who type slowly or hunt and peck understand this, at least not from the replies I'm reading.

But this isn't just about me. If it was all about me I would have never posted the OP. I see many new members and infrequent posters using  and . They assume these work because they work on all the other forums they've been on.

DC is the only forum I've ever seen where  and  don't work, and I've been on a lot of forums over the years. I see this as a minor job for some administrator that would take only a few minutes, and I think many would appreciate the fix even if they don't realize it could be fixed.

Most people don't even proof read their own posts. Many of them probably don't even realize the  and  don't work.

So just to be clear, I don't want to click on anything. I want to type it and it would be nice if DC followed the smiley conventions used on almost all other forums.


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## forty_caliber (May 15, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> There seems to be a basic disconnect in understanding here.
> 
> I type at perhaps 80-100 wpm when typing text. But that's only when my fingers are in home position. If I have to reach over and mouse click something my speed drops drastically because one hand is not on the keyboard, it's on the mouse. Then I have to find home position again. I'm not sure that people who type slowly or hunt and peck understand this, at least not from the replies I'm reading.
> 
> ...



I find the classic emotions enable a wider range of expression.  I like the choice of a more subtle  or  instead of  or  cartoon.  To each his own.

.40


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 15, 2012)

That is a valid point 40. To eat, his own!


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## Alix (May 16, 2012)

I too type about 80-100 wpm. So the theory about hunt and peck doesn't apply to me either. 

I'm not a big smiley user. I will use them occasionally to reinforce that I'm joking or being a smart ass, but that's about it. 

I'm content with the status quo (if you're taking votes) as I don't feel the need to be racing with my posts here at DC. 

I suspect those who use the mobile apps see smileys when  is typed anyway so there is really no issue on their end either. 

Thanks for being so on top of all the little software issues that crop up Janet. Much appreciated.


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## Skittle68 (May 16, 2012)

Alix said:
			
		

> I too type about 80-100 wpm. So the theory about hunt and peck doesn't apply to me either.
> 
> I'm not a big smiley user. I will use them occasionally to reinforce that I'm joking or being a smart ass, but that's about it.
> 
> ...



This is true- I didn't even know that  didn't show up as a smiley to other people! I actually was curious why so many people on this site wrote it out, but never thought to ask. Now I know lol


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## taxlady (May 16, 2012)

forty_caliber said:


> I find the classic emotions enable a wider range of expression.  I like the choice of a more subtle  or  instead of  or  cartoon.  To each his own.
> 
> .40


+1


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## Steve Kroll (May 16, 2012)

> I see this as a minor job for some administrator that would take only a few minutes


I'm a sysadmin on another forum that runs vBulletin (version 4.1.8, a little newer version than DC). FrankZ is absolutely correct about this being a legacy issue. vBulletin only allows only ONE text variation for each smiley. So you can either have ": smile :" (no spaces) or "". You can't have both.

I think what Frank is saying is that ": smile :" has been used for years on DC. If you were to suddenly change it to , it would break all of the previous posts.

Gourmet Greg, if you can type 80-100 words a minute, then what exactly is the issue? You should be able to type ": smile :" in 3/4 of a second or less... right?


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## Addie (May 16, 2012)

If you use the orange "post reply" at the bottom, smileys will show at the right side with the option of [more} at the bottom. If you use the "post a quick reply" in grey at the bottom, you don't have that options. 

I too am a speed typist, and I have no problem taking my hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. After all, what am I in such a hurry about that I am to fret over taking my hands off the keyboard and using the mouse. When I am typing in Word I use shortucts provided by Windows for many of the commands. I never use the mouse to use the bold, italic, underline, etc. I know all the commands that I learned when computers first came out and I was doing data entry. But that option is not available in this format. No big deal. I reach for the mouse. Sure a drool smiley would be nice. But I am happy with what has been provided to us. But "yum" says the same thing.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 16, 2012)

Steve Kroll said:


> I'm a sysadmin on another forum that runs vBulletin (version 4.1.8, a little newer version than DC). FrankZ is absolutely correct about this being a legacy issue. vBulletin only allows only ONE text variation for each smiley. So you can either have ": smile :" (no spaces) or "". You can't have both.
> 
> I think what Frank is saying is that ": smile :" has been used for years on DC. If you were to suddenly change it to , it would break all of the previous posts.
> 
> Gourmet Greg, if you can type 80-100 words a minute, then what exactly is the issue? You should be able to type ": smile :" in 3/4 of a second or less... right?



I still say you can have two different smiles with two different codes, except they just happen to lead to different .gif images which are identical images.

I never suggested changing the old code to a new code. My suggestion would not affect any existing codes. It would just add three new codes and three new images, except the three new images would be copies of some old smileys. There is no way the forum software would know the images are the same. You just put the copied images in the same directory as the existing images.

I'm sorry I ever started this topic.


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## Back Rhodes (May 16, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> I'm sorry I ever started this topic.


 
I have no idea why this is such an issue...emoticons are mere shorttcuts for REAL words...and IF you're able to expound such a topic as this with with all the words I've seen so far, then can't you express yourself withOUT emoticons...???

How ever did you communicate before the use of emoticons...???

If you really want a certain emoticon, then go to a web site that has a sh*t load of them, right click on the ones you want, Save As...then, when typing in a msg, Insert Image with your icon of choice. But you'll have to stick the icons someplace that uses a URL, such as PhotoBucket...

That's a lot of work just for a emoticon...so try using real words if you're such a good typist...I'm a hunt and peck typer, and I seem to be able to express myself without using graphic crutches...

Happy Happy Joy Joy


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## taxlady (May 16, 2012)

Back Rhodes said:


> I have no idea why this is such an issue...emoticons are mere shorttcuts for REAL words...and IF you're able to expound such a topic as this with with all the words I've seen so far, then can't you express yourself withOUT emoticons...???
> 
> How ever did you communicate before the use of emoticons...???
> 
> ...


We don't use emoticons when talking face to face. They are an aid to expressing those things we express with our faces as opposed to with words.

The OP wanted to be able to *type* a shortcut, not have to use his mouse.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 16, 2012)

Normal everyday interactions in real life involve not only what is said but also tone of voice, facial expressions, body language and other non-vocal cues. When communicating on the Internet those cues are absent, and that has led to misunderstandings and all too often to flames. Emoticons are one way of providing additional cues with textual communications to add nonverbal cues back.

I appreciate that TL and a few others understand that not everybody wants to go grab a mouse, and the reasons why some folks prefer text entry.

And I'm still sorry I started this topic. It's already caused more hard feelings that any benefit was worth.


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## Zhizara (May 16, 2012)

Alix said:


> I too type about 80-100 wpm. So the theory about hunt and peck doesn't apply to me either.
> 
> I'm not a big smiley user. I will use them occasionally to reinforce that I'm joking or being a smart ass, but that's about it.
> 
> ...



Exactly, Alix.  I used to fume about having to stop and use the mouse, but that was back when I first started using a computer for personal reasons.  I got over it a long time ago.  Now it's just second nature, or an extra hand if you want to look at it that way.

It wasn't until I got involved here with DC that I started using smileys.  I'm in no rush and I like that they are available to punctuate my meaning or mood.  The written word can so easily be misunderstood.


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## Skittle68 (May 16, 2012)

Back Rhodes said:
			
		

> I have no idea why this is such an issue...emoticons are mere shorttcuts for REAL words...and IF you're able to expound such a topic as this with with all the words I've seen so far, then can't you express yourself withOUT emoticons...???
> 
> How ever did you communicate before the use of emoticons...???
> 
> ...



I think it was just a suggestion, not that he was making a big deal out of it, or that he wants more emoticons. I understand what he's getting at, and I'm sure he gave the administrators something to consider. Nuff said


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 16, 2012)

Next time I'll just feed you folks some darned recipes!   :P

There is one emoticon I like that isn't on the forum. I have my own copy and I use it rarely. I like it better that it isn't on the list because when I use it my post is distinctive. Anybody who wants their own emoticons can add them anytime they like. All they have to do is find a place to host their images.

And no this isn't it:


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