Emoticons

Dear ATS,

I love the updates to ATS, this site does run smoother and search function, at least on my end is fixed. Thank you. However, not that I don't appreciate the plethora of emoticon faces. Follow me here,

reply to post by sulaw


Around the change-over time, a group of members volunteered to find emoticons that better suited everyone. Perhaps one of them could give us a progress update?

en.wikipedia.org...

Mr. Yuck.
These emoticons are the same design as a sticker designed to scare children away from poisons.

Charming

reply to post by aboutface


I heard the same thing, maybe I'm being premature with my question. Then the green hats came and I thought it was the update and I was like...

reply to post by sulaw


And the worst part of it all?
We still didn't get a Ninja emoticon!
Why are the ATS Chat emoticons so much cooler than these?

reply to post by littled16


Ninja Emoticon... LEGENDARY!!! When is that update coming

The old emoticons leave too many open http calls, decreasing the efficiency of the site, according to Skeptic. The new emoticons must be able to be part of a font, and not animated. There is a thread around here somewhere with explanation by Skeptic...

Here it is. www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Klassified


Thank you Klassified, I figured it had something to do with the http's or html's but didn't search for related forum's that graciously provided. Thank you!

reply to post by sulaw

I hope they come up with something soon. I've sworn off using emoticons until we have something that actually emotes.

Using IE, you get the green china hats. Using firefox, you just get the emoticon without a hat.

Why is it taking so long to get our new emoticons?

reply to post by Night Star


I didn't know there was a difference in emoticons whilst using a different explorer... Good to know!

Honestly, they might be running into a issue with the new http's that the site was updated to... Best guess... *confused emoticon face =P

Wondering if someone is busy coding some emoticons that don't make me mortified to use them (I feel like a five year old if I do... and there is no irony-snarky-coolgoofy-sarcastic-droll in the current set at all which are the emotions I generally have on this forum) or if there is something members could do. Um, aside from, you know, prayer, or bugging someone who might just be annoyed by it...

I'm known for being direct... I asked for a facepalm icon .. and it would suit how I feel about the new
green faces that far to similar to each other!
Come on Higher beings... Give us what we want...


Or are they just for halloween?

reply to post by Night Star


No ... I use linux and Firefox and I get teh hats.........

reply to post by rigel4


I'm begining to think these emoticons "ARE" the conspiracy...

aboutface
reply to post by sulaw

 

Around the change-over time, a group of members volunteered to find emoticons that better suited everyone. Perhaps one of them could give us a progress update?

The current emoticons ARE the user created ones -- they replaced a very short lived "neon light" kind of emoticon that everyone complained about (not me, I thought they were okay.)

There needs to be a "sarcasm" emoticon. I really miss the old dancing jester and that oh so classy one that puked green liquid.

aboutface
reply to post by sulaw

 

Around the change-over time, a group of members volunteered to find emoticons that better suited everyone. Perhaps one of them could give us a progress update?

edit on 4-10-2013 by aboutface because: (no reason given)

Progress update:

I had committed to delivering the "beta" final to SO this past Saturday. I failed in my committment. I have them all laid out and ready to go. I just need to spend a couple of hours getting it all rendered and output into the font format.

The font format will allow sccalability without loss, just like you would any other font. Except the fonts will be smilies.

Once I get through that process, i will start making a few sets just to release to the public.

I paid the $100 to buy a font generator that had the features I want, with the most sensible GUI. But I am going to use that program extensively in other areas, so the investment was for my needs....ATS just benefits from it.

So my hurdles, if you care for lame excuses:

- until i determine the stability of the software, i haven't installed it on my work PC. So my time is limited, since I am always working.
- an ancillary issue with a bad sector caused me to be out of commission until I finished with the repairs last night. The CHKdisk took about 19 hours to complete....didn't expect that.
- my job. I thought once i got my own stuff caught up i would be a little more free. Turns out a couple incompetant morons need a bailout.

In short, this is going to happen. Now, if SO uses the file or not is up to him. But the project I started will be completed, despite how excruciatingly slow it has been.

For a sneak peek at (almost) the entire set:



There are something like 36 total, any of which can be mapped into an emote function on ATS (with a positive impact to page loads times)

sulaw
reply to post by Night Star

 

I didn't know there was a difference in emoticons whilst using a different explorer... Good to know!

Honestly, they might be running into a issue with the new http's that the site was updated to... Best guess... *confused emoticon face =P

The current ones are, I believe, css sprites. I believe he layered a 3d-ish in the back, with the emotes in the front (for contrast, since that was a problem before).

They aren't bad....just not mapped to the emote calls very well. He took what he had and patched it in the hopes we would get his solution in place in collaboration.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


I like them! I hope SO appreciates the time and effort you have put into what appears to be a superior set of emoticons- they are much, much better than what we have right now!