The importance of a smiley manager

[Peggy]

IPB already has this, and it IS a wonderful and very useful feature

Whilst I haven't tested it out.. will do so now, the fact that the smilie folder is within the style folder here on XF probably means you can do the same thing on XF... will test and get back to you!

I'll be waiting! lol

 

[Paul B]

Unfortunately you can't use a style related URL for the smiley image path, e.g. @imagePath/xenforo/smilies/smile.png

 

[Shelley]

LOL, Here is what I could read from the above...

I will however choose to give you the benefit of the doubt and think that maybe you are just a touch emotional yourself, and have jumped in boots and all for some reason, or perhaps you deal with people like this all the time, I dunno.

I'll let you in on a "little secret" - Your opinion is also YOUR opinion, and in this reality, means no more than anyone else's. Regardless of your real life job, your opinion is no more important than mine, and me bringing this up doesn't make me closed minded... I think my original comments are valid, you did, I concede, make the statement.... "I do use smilies, they are a great way to convey body language. However, I do find them distracting but again they do have their place." - which my interpretation of is that whilst you purport to like them.. you also find them distracting, and that at best they merely "have their place". Which is not exactly a glowing recommendation of their use, hence my comment that you see no purpose or value in them, if I overstated your position, I apologise for that, however prefacing a comment with the statement "you girls make me laugh" when referring to their opinions is bound to make any female see red and over react.

Regardless, no one, least of all me wants to bog this conversation down in this crud... I am sure you are a wonderful chap in real life, and the reality is I am not offended lol, it takes a lot more than that to offend me, just astounded at the "you girls make me laugh" comment... so no matter what you are talking about, may I suggest that you about don't go around calling women you don't know "girls" nor "laughing" at them for their viewpoints, it comes across as at best patronizing, at worst out and out sexist

I think this was an acceptable response.

I think it's just a blokes way of saying kim they can't move forward and understand that a smiley manager (notice I inserted manager after smiley) system is needed, not just on xenforo but in all software. If they can envision moving forward to the future instead of stuck in the dark ages using silly poppup and dropdown menus then we are truly making progress. I'm not being emotional, just practical, using a little common sense because i suspect once a major product makes the move and brings out an innovative smiley manager (backend/frontend) then we'll see more products adopting and embracing this thus becoming a new standard. Emotional? no because it's a feature like everything else and like with other features we thrive on evolving that feature and making it better, more practical. So yeah, I blame man, primarily just throwing some fuel on this thread so we get some kind of smiley vs female vs male death match started.

 

[Peggy]

Unfortunately you can't use a style related URL for the smiley image path, e.g. @imagePath/xenforo/smilies/smile.png

And that sucks.

 

[Kim]

Damn... just tested and no unfortunately the smilies don't yet work on a "per style" basis.

That is something that would be ideal that is for sure.

 

[Shelley]

And that sucks.

Replacement variables, it's one of the options I do miss that would have allowed this.

 

[Kim]

I blame man, primarily just throwing some fuel on this thread so we get some kind of smiley vs female vs male death match started.

LOL did you like my Die Pig one...

Made that about 9 years ago, in response to this....

 

[Onimua]

Unfortunately you can't use a style related URL for the smiley image path, e.g. @imagePath/xenforo/smilies/smile.png

Just to point this out as I think it's related: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/smilies-per-style.11132/

 

[Peggy]

Just to point this out as I think it's related: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/smilies-per-style.11132/

I would make a very nice donation to whomever came up with an add-on that would let me have a separate set of smilies for a second style. Seriously.

The animated smilies I'm using on my light style look really crappy on my dark style.

 

[tmb]

I would love to be able to make them hidden from the dropdowns like you can on other software. For some of the really big ones we use it looks terrible having them visible plus you can sneak some in there as easter eggs.

 

[Jethro]

Like Trip said, it depends on the scope of the site.

Smilies (and especially the way they are used by many) do have the potential to harm the professional look and feeling of a site. I know quite a few forums where no graphical emoticons are allowed and it perfectly fits the environment. Nobody ever complained or brought up a thread begging for a "cry" smiley.
.

And equally people who left for more graphic friendly sites probably didn't mention why either, or of course guests (who thought to themselves how boring is this place) probably didn't mention why they didn't join.

You ignore smilies at your own peril.

 

[Kim]

I would love to be able to make them hidden from the dropdowns like you can on other software. For some of the really big ones we use it looks terrible having them visible plus you can sneak some in there as easter eggs.

Yes that would be very worthwhile, like other software there should be the option to display on a per smilie basis, but I think Shelley's idea for the smilie manager is a lot bigger than that, I think it encompasses categories in tabs etc.

Hey Shelley, it might be worthwhile outlining exactly what you have in mind, so we don't all double suggest, and then we can work on additional ideas etc.

 

[Jethro]

Yes that would be very worthwhile, like other software there should be the option to display on a per smilie basis, but I think Shelley's idea for the smilie manager is a lot bigger than that, I think it encompasses categories in tabs etc.

Hey Shelley, it might be worthwhile outlining exactly what you have in mind, so we don't all double suggest, and then we can work on additional ideas etc.

I'm slowly coming around to the category idea, would be nice to have movie smilies, bookish smilies, etc, all sorted into their own homes.

 

[Peggy]

I would love to be able to make them hidden from the dropdowns like you can on other software. For some of the really big ones we use it looks terrible having them visible plus you can sneak some in there as easter eggs.

Categories would eliminate this issue.

 

[tmb]

Categories would eliminate this issue.

My apologies for not following this thread too well but what do you mean by categories?

 

[Peggy]

My apologies for not following this thread too well but what do you mean by categories?

in "that other forum software", we could categorize the smilies.
EX: standard smilies, party smilies, sports, love, flirty, etc.

You could move each smiley into the category of choice. Then within that category, you could sort them by number. This would control what order they appeared in. For instance if you had 3 smile smilies, such as

, then you could order them by 1, 2, and 3, and they would appear in that order in that smiley category.

 

[SilverCircle]

And equally people who left for more graphic friendly sites probably didn't mention why either, or of course guests (who thought to themselves how boring is this place) probably didn't mention why they didn't join.

Can't imagine someone ignoring a site like stackoverflow just because it doesn't offer smilies. And if he does, he isn't part of the target audience anyway and would most likely be not missed there.

 

[Forsaken]

Can't imagine someone ignoring a site like stackoverflow just because it doesn't offer smilies. And if he does, he isn't part of the target audience anyway and would most likely be not missed there.

You also used a horrible example.

StackOverflow is a Q&A site for professionals; its not a place that will have general discussions, or actually any use for smilies. Its a forum in the simplest sense, and not as most administrators would define it.

 

[SilverCircle]

StackOverflow is a Q&A site for professionals; its not a place that will have general discussions, or actually any use for smilies.

I've seen more than enough funny/ironic/whatever comments on SO or one of its sister sites where the use of smilies would have been appropriate and people are using emoticons occasionally. The only difference is that they are not replaced with some tiny image. The meaning remains the same.

 

[Forsaken]

I've seen more than enough funny/ironic/whatever comments on SO or one of its sister sites where the use of smilies would have been appropriate and people are using emoticons occasionally. The only difference is that they are not replaced with some tiny image. The meaning remains the same.

Wouldn't that mean if they did have image smilies they might possibly be used more than they already are (non-image variant)?

Sites like StackOverflow have a lesser need for smilies because they're not meant for a wide variety of discussions (Outside of troubleshooting for programming). While smilies won't make or break a site like that they do allow people to add personality and emotion to their posts. Smilies open up possibilities in how you can portray your post without having to explain your meaning as the common smiley has been ingrained into people over extended use.

While some communities (and sites like StackOverflow) do not require them, the vast majority of forum communities would suffer from lack of them as people like to portray their personality when they post.