the bottom
| emotions | |
positive | playful | negative | unhealthy | other emotions | |
legend at the bottom |
| icons | animals & creatures | objects, seasonal items | food & drink | symbols & signs | misc. icons | |||
| other | home | contributors | colophon | the top few! |
I wrote this list or quick-reference (site) because I was having a hard time remembering less-common graphical emoticons while using instant messaging (IM). There are no standards! This was complicated by the fact that I use a particular IM client (the excellent Trillian by cerulean studios) on my home computer which offers a large set of emoticons. It also supports multiple platforms, including MSN, AIM/AOL, etc.
Emoticons are often entered into an IM client by typing a special keyboard symbol sequence. Some IM environments (e.g. Trillian, AIM, Meebo) let you also choose emoticons from a visual menu. Many of the key sequences are based on old email "smileys" (e.g. ;-) or the semi-colon, hyphen, and open-parenthesis to mean "wink"). Other emoticons are generated by essentially typing a word between parenthesis (e.g. (drums) to show a little tin drum and drumsticks—and perhaps play a drum roll sound effect!).
This site shows moods, emotions, effects, and other symbols in a procedural arrangement. So, simply look for the thing you want to emote or communicate, then read across for the keyboard shortcut. I tried to describe each emoticon with synonyms. If you're in a hurry, do a word search using your browser's Find command. Have fun!
Watch out for "faux amis" or false-friends. There are a handful of emoticons that mean different things in different IM clients. You could be sending the wrong message! Also note that some smileys are case-sensitive! Graphical emoticons do not seem to show in AOL Express... Note that all my Trillian test were done using the default skins.
A final word: there are only a dozen common emoticons...
Cheers,
Blake
| 24 Nov 2006 | - | added emoticons for the current version of Meebo (1.0 Release 21) |
| 12 Feb 2005 | - | updated link to AOL/AIM smiley help page |
| 12 Feb 2005 | - | removed email addresses from contributors page to prevent spam email harvesting |
| 10 Feb 2005 | - | updates for Trillian Pro 3.0 (with hints from Chris Hayes) |
| 1 Nov 2004 | - | fixed typo on "top few" page |
| 1 Nov 2004 | - | added Jules' keyboard shortcut |
| 1 Nov 2004 | - | added notes that I test Trillian with the default skins (which broadly support emoticons) |
| 15 Jan 2004 | - | built a new page with the top 10 or so common emoticons; figured a mystery Trillian Pro icon |
| 14 Jan 2004 | - | added ICQ Lite emoticons |
| 11 Jan 2004 | - | minor corrections; noted the Trill Pro duck emoticon has a sound effect; duplicate headings at table bottom |
| 9 Jan 2004 | - | switched to an external cascading style sheet (CSS) file |
| 8 Jan 2004 | - | added Tafadzwa's icons; minor touch-ups; update Wacky B link; add legend jump link; add favICON to site |
| 2 Nov 2003 | - | added new MSN 6 icons |
Amazingly there are only about 10 to 20 emoticons that are common to the major IM clients!
If you don't want to memorize a lot of emoticons, just concentrate on the top 10 or so.
| an emoticon that is... | approx. number |
|---|---|
| very common to IM clients, the "standard" ones... | 5 |
| similar on most IM clients, but may not work on some | 15 |
| uncommon among IM clients or specific or unique to one | over 200 |
| a watch-out! means different things in different IM clients | there are a few |
This legend is included at the bottom of every page within this site.
| copyright © 2002-2008 Blake Nancarrow | - end of file - |