Time for an update?

[Ensign Steve]

When was the last time the 21 basic smilies were reviewed? Individually they are beautiful and they make up a core element of the hoard, but as a group I find them irrelevant and outdated. They're all still wearing last season's bold black outline and little to no shading. I don't feel that they represent a good cross-section of the hoard as a whole, and they don't entice me to click the "more" link and discover the treasure trove behind them. I would like to see some new faces in there to give the compose-post window an updated look and a better sample of the hoard.

The current 21 smilies are:
:yup: :glare: :cool:
:P :fuming: :wink:
:D :blush: :(
:eek: :yawn: :bow:
:popcorn: :doh: :innocent:
:sadcheer: :lecher: :chin:
:whup: :wave: :giggle:

Who would you nominate for a new and improved Basics group?

I nominate: :shakefist: :aww: :squee: :funface: :larry: :=D :bliss: :hellyes: :nope: :nod: :sadno: :blank: :8D

[livius drusus]

Awesome idea, Ensign! I'm very curious to see the suggestions.

Also, keep in mind I can change the number of columns and rows as well as the number of total smilies in The Basics, so we're flexible.

[Ensign Steve]

Really? Hmm. How are you fixed for individual smilie size, though. I'd love to see a glomp or a flomp on there, but I was worried they'd be too wide.

[livius drusus]

Hmmm... If I put a row of wider ones on the bottom it would keep the spacing even. I think it's doable, although I wouldn't want one of the seriously oversized ones like :powerglomp: or even :pounceglomp:.

[Shelli]

Excellent idea, Ensign. I agree. I'm not sure what I'd suggest as smilies for the basics. :girlthink:

[Pinecone]

I second: :shakefist: :bliss: :nod: :sadno:

and nominate!!: :squeezle: :nojustno: :excited: :larrybounce: :ptht:

and want to keep: :glare: :giggle:

[Crumb]

:glare: must be kept! :glare:

I would replace :giggle: with :giggles:, but that may be my Foolish bias. :wink:

I think that :cool: :P :fuming: :blush: :doh: :innocent: :lecher: :wave: and :giggle: have got to go!

[Uthgar the Brazen]

Nooooo, not :giggle:!

:tear:

[viscousmemories]

I think changing up the defaults is a fine idea, and I like some of the suggestions. I would personally never get rid of :giggle:, though, but I'll stop just short of recommending that anyone who suggests it be put to death.

[SharonDee]

I would replace :giggle: with :giggles:, but that may be my Foolish bias. :wink:We share the same bias, Crumb. (I thought I was alone!) Brother! :squeezle:

[Shelli]

My vote's with :giggle: (and not just because I'm afraid of vm either).

[Crumb]

I with ES on these: :shakefist: :aww: :squee: :funface: :larry: :=D :bliss: :hellyes: :nope: :nod: :sadno: :blank: :8D

I would add: :giggles: :thumbdown: :thumbup: :glare: :blame: :mad: :pout: :tremble:

[Shelli]

Ooo! Definitely the :tremble: smilie.

[Ymir's blood]

Why not just eliminate the 'basics' and incorporate the random smilie function there instead?

[livius drusus]

That's nothing that I can do, needless to say. Oh, Jooooooe? :control:

[Crumb]

Why not just eliminate the 'basics' and incorporate the random smilie function there instead?
If we were to do this I would submit that we should not include the flags in the pool for random smilies.

[livius drusus]

Actually, yeah, it would be disturbing on other levels as well. Everything would be all raggedy and uneven in size and distribution.

A better use of my :control: powers would be persuading Joe to meld his smiley search hack with a user favorites smilies hack. Then members could each create their own basics. That would prevent the great :giggle:/:giggles: schism as well.

[Shelli]

Ooo! That would be coolness! :hellyes:

[JoeP]

Hi all. Liv brought this thread to my attention. And I have to say I agree with Pineconekeep: :glare: :giggle:
Crumb is simply wrong on this one.

[ceptimus]

The random smiley page could be set up to group different sized smilies neatly:

A row of small non-animated smiles (perhaps 10)

A similar row of animiated small-size smilies (also maybe 10 or 8 of them)

A couple of rows of 4 larger smilies (or occasionally one row of two giant-size ones)

The choices between how many rows of each size would be weighted so that, in the long run, all smilies appear equally often.


This is just a simple matter of programming!
:geek:

[Ymir's blood]

Actually, yeah, it would be disturbing on other levels as well. Everything would be all raggedy and uneven in size and distribution.

A better use of my :control: powers would be persuading Joe to meld his smiley search hack with a user favorites smilies hack. Then members could each create their own basics. That would prevent the great :giggle:/:giggles: schism as well.
Well I was all set to start screaming about oppression and crying for anarchy when the idea was shot down. However, liv's idea seems pretty cool too.

[Ensign Steve]

You know, I had :tremble: in my original list of nominees, but I pared it down before I posted the OP.

You could restrict the random smilies to be those that only fit within a certain confine, like 20 x 20 pixels or something. I'm sure it'd be a simple matter of programming.

[Leesifer]

I with ES on these: :shakefist: :aww: :squee: :funface: :larry: :=D :bliss: :hellyes: :nope: :nod: :sadno: :blank: :8D

I would add: :giggles: :thumbdown: :thumbup: :glare: :blame: :mad: :pout: :tremble:

I'm with you both on these! :thumbup:

[JoeP]

:oohshinything:

[Pinecone]

A better use of my :control: powers would be persuading Joe to meld his smiley search hack with a user favorites smilies hack. Then members could each create their own basics.

:mememe:

[JoeP]

Cool! Pinecone's going to do the programming!

vm will send you all the current code.

[Stormlight]

I'm fine with Crumb's suggestions. However ... :giggle: has got to stay!
Oh, and no fiddling with "random smilies" on my watch! :glare:

[Pinecone]

Cool! Pinecone's going to do the programming!

vm will send you all the current code.

:ohno:

Ok, ok...here's what you do everybody.

Open your desks and get out some lined paper and your colored pencils. Look for the smilies you like the very best and draw one on each line. No peeking at the others choices! Next to the little drawing put those colon identifier things in.

Example:

:ohno: : ohno :


Now get out your scissors (those of you who need to use the rounded ones instead of the sharp ones ... and you know who you are! :glare:) need to ask permission first or get someone else to cut for you. Make a nice thin strip of all your smilies and their identifiers and scotchtape them to the side of your screen. Now whenever you want one of your favorite smiley characters you just type in those identifiers!!! You're Welcome!!!