the ability to insert emoticons in entries

[one_step_will_take_me]

Title:
the ability to insert emoticons in entries

Area:
entries

Summary:
Sometimes it's easier to express things with emoticons and smiles than with words

Description:
sometimes it's easier to express things with emoticons and smiles than with words, so you could make it possible for us to have insert emoticons button in the rich text bar within the others possibilities we have to post an entry such as font colour, font size, images, media, links... I usually insert emoticons using the insert images button, but since there'a lots of it in all sizes sometimes it doesn't look beautiful to see in the blog, with a small font and a big emoticon.

Poll #13976 the ability to insert emoticons in entries

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 53

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
6 (11.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
4 (7.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
30 (56.6%)

(I have no opinion)
11 (20.8%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (3.8%)

Comments

[deborah]

If we do this, we should make sure we add good alt text to the emoticons. What "good alt text" constitutes might be worth leaving up to a poll for our screen reader users -- should it just be the ASCII equivalent (e.g. :-)), leaving it up to the screen reader user to have their screen reader configured to read that as anything more than punctuation, or should it be the name of the expression spelled out (e.g. "smile")?

[zing_och]

+1

[metawidget]

+1

[pauamma]

Not a screen reader user, but I'd want the text equivalent (alt text, description, whatever) to show up in the normal text flow instead of a graphical emoticon. I hate those with a passion, in those applications that display them by default instead of the equivalent text emoticons.

[cirque]

+1, emoticon images make me cringe... I'd like for there to be an option to type ':-)' (or whatever) and have it show up as text, not default to an emoticon.

[fujicori]

+1
They don't make me cringe, but I know on some sites I visit with emoticon graphics, there tends to be a problem where text gets converted into an emoticon with no way to opt out (and often no list of what gets turned into a graphic). Like 8) will become an emoticon some places when a user was just trying to make a 1) 2) 3) etc list.

[sharpest_asp]

Can this be made opt-in? I don't usually WANT emoticons on my journal, but can see their use in light-hearted posts.

[kyrielle]

All I ask is that if it is implemented, no one implements an auto-detect to translate :) - for example - to its graphical equivalent. I don't often put that sort of thing in a post or comment, but I expect it to stay the way I typed it when I do. :)

[fyreharper]

I rather dislike the image versions of emoticons. At the very least I would want the things I type to display they way I typed them, rather than translating themselves into images - but I'd prefer not to have to deal with the images at all.

[kaberett]

Yes -- if this gets implemented, I would want "never show me emoticons" as an option, and I would also want "never render anything I type as emoticons". (Sorry for being so negative, OP!)

[montuos]

I usually insert emoticons using the insert images button, but since there'a lots of it in all sizes sometimes it doesn't look beautiful to see in the blog, with a small font and a big emoticon.

This, actually, is my standard experience with graphical emoticons: they are almost invariably larger than the font, so inserting them makes the leading uneven, which drives me nuts. So if this suggestion does get implemented, I'd really hope that the emoticons used would be SVG, and carefully calibrated not to exceed the space used by the font.

That being said, I don't see any good reason to deny graphics lovers the opportunity to use graphics as long as there is accommodation for screenreaders, and for those who simply want to be able to turn the images off.

In the meantime, one_step_will_take_me, did you know you can control the display size of your images by specifying the height and width?

[trixieleitz]

I have no real objection to this feature being available for those who want it, but would it be possible to opt-in on the display side? So if people would rather see text emoticons everywhere, no matter what the author of the content has put in, they can do so. Rather like style=mine for journals.

And if this isn't possible, could we please keep the emoticon graphics small, as montuos suggests, and not animated. I sometimes hang out in discussion boards where animated emoticons are available and they are really irritating. Yes, there are browser-side solutions, but still⁰....

0: pun not intended :P

[misskat]

Seconding small and not animated.

[liv]

Emoticons are really divisive; some people love them and some people hate them. This means that if we did add emoticons to DW, it would either really annoy some people, or it would lead to proliferating options.

[cesy]

Can you clarify whether you're actually asking for any change in the display of things posted by the HTML editor, or if you're just asking for a button in the RTE to do what can already be done by hand?

[numisma]

My "with changes" is to have it be opt-in and to NOT auto-detect and change, so that those who want it to stay the plain old original text can have it stay that way.

[ladyasul]

I'm one of those people who always turns graphical emoticons off wherever possible as well. It's one of the very, very first things I always do when I install (or re-install) an IM or chat client. Not being able to turn them off altogether is one surefire way to make me want to stop using the program. I don't want to see them on Dreamwidth, and I certainly don't want what I type to automatically turn into them.

As it is, one of the things I love about Dreamwidth is that the post and comment length limits are so high, that one can spare the extra words to indicate when they're not being serious, and don't need to resort to yellow smiley faces instead. And the lack of graphical smileys means less clashes with the nice layouts, less fruggery with picture-height being bigger than the text's line-height, and much faster, less troublesome display on simpler/older mobile devices.

I would suggest people look up something called emoji if they find the traditional text-based smileys to be too limiting. :) If emoji won't display on your screen, installing Japanese-language fonts/display tools on your system should solve that problem for you quite neatly.