Emoticon theme specification Version 0.1

[Olivier Goffart]

(i'm sorry if you get this mail twice, it seems my first mail has not ben 
sent)

Le Mardi 11 Janvier 2005 13:26, Jakub Steiner a écrit :
> On Mon, 2005-01-10 at 16:52 +0100, Olivier Goffart wrote:
> > Le Lundi 10 Janvier 2005 02:52, Frans Englich a écrit :

> > Anyway, i still think emoticon should be provided alone.
> > The idea is that it's important to share the same emoticons theme between
> > different person so they can see both two the same emoticons.
> >
> > So for instance in Kopete, we already thought about setting different
> > emoticon themes per protocol, or even per contacts.)
>
> I don't agree that the two people chatting have to see the same emoticon
> graphic. The same metaphor needs to be preserved in all themes, yes. But
> in an IM conversation, the parties aren't required to have the same
> font, so I don't see a reason to force one into sharing the same
> aesthetic sense with emoticons either. I think it's more important to
> keep the particular desktop visually consistent.

That's ok if the emoticon theme is limited to basic emoticons like :-) or :-(
But when we have emoticons like msn ones which itself mean nothing
(l) a heart  (bah) a sheep , and more.

In that case, not having the same emoticons may be a problem.

> Seeing multiple emoticon themes in gaim depending on the protocol made
> me think of it as immature similarly as looking at XP having 30% of its
> icons from the 95 era.


> > Also in MSN Messenger, the user is allowed to use different emoticons,
> > and theses emoticons are even transmitted to the other side.
> > We planed to export the emoticon theme as well.
>
> As I described above, I think that's a bad plan.

But it's a feature. In Kopete, that's optional.

Even if personally i do not care so much, it's a feature that teenagers like a 
lot.
I have to admit that custom emoticons add some Fun into MSN chat.