Smilies: Difference between revisions

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This is a very important step as the new smilies will NOT show if the forum is not aware of them!
This is a very important step as the new smilies will NOT show if the forum is not aware of them!
===I WANT TO USE DIFFERENT SMILIES- CAN I?===
===I WANT TO USE DIFFERENT SMILIES- CAN I?===
Yes you can use any smilies you want. You can do this 2 different ways
Yes you can use any smilies you want. You can do this 2 different ways:
 
1) Simply replace the existing smilies with your own; uploading the new smilies and overwriting the existing. You would need to go into Administration Panel/Smilies and
1) Simply replace the existing smilies with your own; uploading the new smilies and overwriting the existing. You would need to go into Administration Panel/Smilies and
adjust the difference in file names if they exist.
adjust the difference in file names if they exist.

Revision as of 17:02, 26 December 2017

You will find that there are more smilies in your forum/images/smilies folder than are displayed in the post/reply/poll boxes after you install. What you have to do to utilize these is to add the additional smilies one by one from the Admin Panel / Smilies section.

Go to Administration Panel / Smilies. You will see 2 sections to the Add Smilies table: "Smilies" and "Post Icons"

Both sections work the same way in that new smilies/post icons are added one at a time.

Adding New Smilies

At the bottom of the existing smilies list you will see "New Smilie" and 2 blank fields to the right. The first of the blank fields is "Code" - this is where you will put the bbcode for the new smilie. The second of the blank fields is "File" - this will be the actual file name of the new smilie.

What is "Code"?

Short for BBCode; the "Code" is the BBCode equivalent of the image. It's the text association of the image and tells the forum software what image to display. For example:

:) is usually used to display the "smiling" smilie;

;) is usually used to display the "winking" smilie.

This is not accidental or coincidental - those are the codes that have been associated with those smilie images in the "Code" section for that filename. You can use whatever code formula you want to. A common practice is to use the filename enclosed in colons ( :filename: ) - like :w00t: or :thumbsup: The smilie can be inserted into the post by entering the associated code as well as clicking on the smilie image.

What is "Filename"?

The file name is the actual name of the smilie. Examples would be: smile.gif, winking.gif, tougue.gif, etc.... The file names need to be entered into the "File" field exactly as they are named in respect to "lowercase/uppercase" letters.

NOTE: It is standard practice on the web to use all lowercase letters and NO spaces in the file names.

INSTALLING THE NEW SMILIES

In the New Smilie section enter your code and then enter your filename for the new smilie.
Scroll down to the "Submit Changes" and click it.
Repeat for each new smilie you want to add.

Once you have added all the additional smilies you want - count the number of smilies you now have.
Then go to Administration Panel/Settings and scroll down to "Total Visible Clickable Smilies:" and "No. Clickable Smilies Rows".
In the "Total Visible Clickable Smilies:" enter the new total of smilies
In the "No. Clickable Smilies Rows" enter the number of rows you would like the smilies to use as they are displayed in the "post/reply/poll" boxes.

This is a very important step as the new smilies will NOT show if the forum is not aware of them!

I WANT TO USE DIFFERENT SMILIES- CAN I?

Yes you can use any smilies you want. You can do this 2 different ways:

1) Simply replace the existing smilies with your own; uploading the new smilies and overwriting the existing. You would need to go into Administration Panel/Smilies and adjust the difference in file names if they exist.

2) If you want to keep the "stock" smilies but add some different ones and be able to go back and forth between the 2 sets you would do this:
Create a new folder in your forums/images/ directory - name this new smilie folder something like "smilies2".
Upload the new smilies into this folder.
Now the tricky part is that the new smilies (in the second folder) need to have the same file names as the smilies in the original smilie folder.

The reason for this is because we don't want to have to change the "Code/File" settings in Administration Panel/Smilies when we switch between the 2 sets. So you may have to "rename" some of the smilies in the 2nd set. This is usually done by "right clicking" on the file name (from Windows Explorer) and entering the new name - don't forget the file extension (.gif, .jpg, etc...). Once you have the 2 sets sorted and in their respective folders you would switch them by entering the Administration Panel/Themes - "Details" and using the: "Smilie Directory:" field to specify which smilie folder to use.

So I can have separate sets of smilies for each theme?

Yes using the method above, with the possible exception of naming the new smilies folders using the theme name, you can have different smilies per theme. Again though - the file names need to be identical from smilie folder to smilie folder; or you will need to adjust the filenames in Administration Panel/Smilies everytime you switch smilie folders. It's just easier to make sure the smilie file names are consistent between folders.

Where to get smilies

Here are a few sources of smilies available on the web. Most can be saved to your hard drive by "right" clicking and choosing "save image as".

http://www.beatlelinks.net/ubb/smilies.html http://www.tag-board.com/smilies/smilies.htm http://www.mysmilies.com/ http://www.clicksmilies.com/ http://www.mazeguy.net/smilies.html http://www.smilies.nl/ http://www.smiliemania.de/ http://www.kurts-smilies.de/ http://www.jms101.btinternet.co.uk/ http://1-2-3-gaestebuch.de/smilies/ http://www.emoticones.com/ http://www.tnfj.com/Downloads/smilies.html http://www.my-smileys.de/

This is a short list - do a search with your favorite search engine for more!