Forum smileys (AKA emoticons)

[Greg Who Cooks]

Most forums have common emoticons: :) ;) :D :P etc.

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

Examples:

:) = :smile: =
;) = :wink: =
:D = :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.

[Zhizara]

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.

[vitauta]

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....

[Greg Who Cooks]

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.

[FrankZ]

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)

[Kayelle]

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

[Zhizara]

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.

[CharlieD]

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.

[Zhizara]

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.

[Greg Who Cooks]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

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.

[Zhizara]

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

[Greg Who Cooks]

Originally Posted by Zhizara

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.

[Andy M.]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

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.

[CharlieD]

Originally Posted by Zhizara

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.

[Janet H]

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....

[Greg Who Cooks]

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:

:)
;)
:D

[Cerise]

I don't even know what these stand for.

What's Woot & Ninja mean?

[Zhizara]

Originally Posted by Gourmet Greg

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.

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.

[Skittle68]

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

[Merlot]

Originally Posted by Cerise

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?