Categories of Smilies

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ChrisGreaves
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Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

I think that by now I have enjoyed my use of all the smilies avaialable through Eileen's Lounge (and miss the rich set when I am on other phpBBs).
That said, I still have to scan twice through the panes to find the smiley that I know is there. And I cannot understand the way the smilies are grouped.
(1) Is it possible re-arrange the installed Smilies on this rendition of a phpBB?
(2) If so, might we have the icons grouped in categories?
Smilies.png
If the answer to both questions is YES, then I would propose groupings of
(a) Full head/face of Biped :razz: :salute: :sarcasm: :scold: :shocked: :shrug:
(b) Biped body :shootfoot: :threadhead: :heavy:
(c) Domestic objects (arranged alphabetically using :australia: spelling) :jollyroger: :time: :toilet: :trophy:
(d) Other animals :wolfman: :snail: :mice: :pinkelephant: :pup:
(e) Computer hardware :overclocking: :hiding: :pcvmac:
I know that some icons will fall into two or more categories - :phonecall: as an example, but this can be resolved by giving priority to the lower-numbered category of icon.
Thanks, Chris
PS: I note that :phonecall: works, but :PhoneCall: does not. Smilies are case-sensitive? C
PPS: I note too that the smilies are currently ranged in alphabetic sequence; the problem with that is that as smilies are a graphic item, I tend to remember the graphic of the smiley I require, rather than the literal (alphabetic) identifier. C
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HansV
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by HansV »

(1) No. There are just two categories:
(a) Smilies that are displayed to the right of the area where you compose a post/reply.
(b) Smilies that are only displayed when you click "View more smilies".
(2) See (1)
PS: Yes, the smiley codes are case sensitive.
PPS: We don't have a "Sort by graphic" algorithm.
Best wishes,
Hans

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John Gray
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by John Gray »

All that effort spent hunting makes Chris a non-smily person... :sad:
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
01 Dec 2022, 14:47
PPS: We don't have a "Sort by graphic" algorithm.
I wasn't thinking as far ahead as an algorithm; I was thinking that perhaps our under-worked :evilgrin: admin team could drag-and-drop the icons into a physical sequence.
But given that the panes present icons in alphabetic order, I now suppose that the panes are generated from a checked-On list of all available smilies.
Thanks anyway
Chris
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
01 Dec 2022, 17:53
All that effort spent hunting makes Chris a non-smily person... :sad:
There is no such thing as a non-smily person; only a Gray John. :grin:
Cheers, Chris
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by kdock »

Dear Chris: Really? :disappointed: After the first 20, they're all alphabetical. Yeah, you sometimes have to remember that this :cheers: is "cheers" and this :bravo: is "bravo" or this :confused: is "confused" and this :confused3: is "confused3"...

And I would have named this :hailpraise: "notworthy" but it's "hailpraise" so why not enjoy the chaos?

I'm also shocked to find that you don't already have a printed/digital illustrated chart of all the smilies that you could arrange any way you like and insert by typing the correct code. But test them all, because sometimes the name you see whilst hovering is capitalized whilst the code itself is not. (I'm looking at you, "Disappointed" and doubly at you "EvilGrin"!!)

Happy Holidays! :xgrin: Kim
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

kdock wrote:
02 Dec 2022, 19:07
Dear Chris: Really? :disappointed: After the first 20, they're all alphabetical. Yeah, you sometimes have to remember that this :cheers: is "cheers" ...
:hello: Kim.
I don't have a problem remembering that cheers is :cheers:.
My so-called problem :evilgrin: is that when I can't remember which of the five panes houses a smiley, I have to click back and forth between panes until I find it. And that's a pain.

There is little wrong with my brain (but please see John Gray's upcoming riposte below this post) especially when it comes to pattern-matching and images. I know the image of the smiley, but where is it in those five panels?

That is why I suggested that we group smilies into broad categories.

I suspect that you, like me, can remember that a particular smiley is basically a face, or a whole body, or is a manufactured artifact, so I reason that if all the (say) faces appear in a contiguous group, it would be easier to locate that group of smileys, at which time the super-fast pattern-matching aspects of our brains could do what they do best.
I'm also shocked to find that you don't already have a printed/digital illustrated chart of all the smilies ...
I am aggrieved that you are shocked when I might have been concerned that you would be disappointed; but that's life. You have to accept the critics that in all honesty envy you, I guess,
I haven't had a printer since 2011, and now that Peggy has gone to work in Catalina, all the fun has gone out of collecting printouts from what used to be the Bell Store. Not that they ever had a colour printer.

I know! Since I enjoy automating word processing tasks, how would it be if I dashed off a bit of VBA to translate any text into the closest approximation of a smiley-stream?
At least that would reduce the volume of critical appraisals ...

Categorically yours, Chris
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by John Gray »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
02 Dec 2022, 19:54
There is little wrong with my brain (but please see John Gray's upcoming riposte below this post)
You are one step ahead of me...! :clapping: :laugh:
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 11:00
ChrisGreaves wrote:
02 Dec 2022, 19:54
There is little wrong with my brain (but please see John Gray's upcoming riposte below this post)
You are one step ahead of me...! :clapping: :laugh:
Pacem! :surrender:
Cheers, Chris
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
01 Dec 2022, 14:47
PPS: We don't have a "Sort by graphic" algorithm.
After cogitating for a day ... the smilies in the 'immediate' pane, and the pane :groan: of my life - the six-pane catalogue - are always in alphabetic sequence. is that correct?

if so then a suitable algorithm already exists - phpBB's alphabetic sort.
We just have to assign the correct labels.

I propose that all the full-face smilies such as :cheers: :clapping: :evilgrin: :hairout: :groan: :laugh: :smile: and so on be re-identified as as :1cheers: :1clapping: :1evilgrin: :1hairout: :1groan: :1laugh: :1smile: and so on, where the :new: leading character "1" signifies "Category 1 - full facials".

Those of us who insert smilies by typing in their literal label, as a string of characters, have just one extra character to type - the category preface.(1)

Eagerly awaiting your latest objection :evilgrin:
i remain your cheerful subscriber
Chris
PS: I had already considered non-visible characters as category types - X'01', X'02', X'03' and so on, but I suspect that some of these would trip up dear old phpBB C

(1)Can we map multiple labels to a single graphic? Thanks, Chris
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HansV
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by HansV »

Changing the labels would mess up all existing posts - updating the labels won't update the posts and private messages that contain smilies.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 11:50
Changing the labels would mess up all existing posts ...
And, well, won't that be a delightful Christmas Surprise for us all! :yadda: :woof: :witch: :weep: :warts: :wartgun:
C'mon Hans; where's your sense of humour?
What if we rotated the labels at the start of each week? That should inject a bit more life into some of the moribund topics ...
Cheers, Chris
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HansV
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by HansV »

I'll rotate your avatar for you...

95.jpg
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 14:54
I'll rotate your avatar for you...
I can already hear people whispering behind my back "There's Old FacePlant ...".
Cheers,
Chris
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by BobArch2 »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 17:24
HansV wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 14:54
I'll rotate your avatar for you...
I can already hear people whispering behind my back "There's Old FacePlant ...".
Cheers,
Chris
Not Old FacePlant but an Australian striker practicing heading the ball for today's match against Argentina :fanfare: :hairout: :cheers:

Game starts in 45 minutes :thumbup:
Regards,
Bob

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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobArch2 wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 18:15
... an Australian striker practicing heading the ball for today's match against Argentina
There is another international sport besides Test Cricket being played NOT at the WACA, as it used to be when we used 80-column punched cards, but out where Perth's second airport used to be on the Maylands spit?
Also at Adelaide Oval in North Adelaide.
Cheers, Chris
PS test Cricket is like baseball, except you get five days free admission for the cost of one ticket! C :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Last edited by ChrisGreaves on 03 Dec 2022, 19:44, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by BobH »

Knowing that it is nigh on to impossible, my suggestion for smilies would be to allow each user to assign his own names for them and be able to sort them as he prefers. This could be done with index files, perhaps; but is more trouble than it's worth.

Chris, I suggest that you learn how to code for PHPbb (or is it phpBB?) and create the code to allow my suggestion to be implemented. You could then submit it to the owners who might find a way to incorporate it or make it available as an add-on.
Last edited by BobH on 03 Dec 2022, 23:37, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by kdock »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
02 Dec 2022, 19:54
I am aggrieved that you are shocked when I might have been concerned that you would be disappointed; but that's life.
I'm shocked and disappointed while you are aggrieved and concerned. We both multitask beautifully.
K :bananas:
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Re: Categories of Smilies

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BobH wrote:
03 Dec 2022, 18:39
... You could then submit it to the owners who might find a way to incorporate it or make it available as an add-on.
Bob, I like :clapping: the idea of an extra tab in User Profile where we map smiley graphics to personal identifiers.
FWIW I spent about a month waiting for a response to A Call for Positive Discussion on Advanced Search from the phpBB support forum. 570 views to date and not a peep!

As well I participated in a topic about an SQL-search gateway, all to no avail.

The phpBB forum seems to be populated by a bunch of youngsters whose guiding philosophy is "We've always done it this way".
In particular I found the claim that "In 16+ years of running forums with thousands of members, no one has ever asked me a single thing about improving or changing the search options" to be a challenge to my ideas about probability.
Sadly, :sad:
Chris
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