Right now there are a variety of methods which allow deviants to post emotes around dA. I seem to get people asking me about this on a regular basis, and although I really don’t mind helping people out, I feel it would be better to write a clear tutorial on it all to ensure all the info gets passed along clearly each time.
There are a number of different systems which allow for emotes to be around dA. I aim to cover all the basic ones here in this tutorial
The Emoticon Legend
The emoticon legend is a list of official emotes which can be used anywhere around the site in any comment, journal, chatroom or forum post. All of the emotes on the legend have been made by deviants from the dA community, although some may no longer be active in the community.
The full list of emotes on the emote legend can be found here and also includes the :llama: emote and a few other unlisted emotes.
To post any of the emotes from the list, simply type the :code: next to each emote (including the semicolons if stated) and the emote should appear. Be careful of capital letters as :hug: will produce the emote but :HUG: or :Hug: wont.
Examples include:
Plz Accounts
A plz account is a regular deviantART account which is made purely for the use of the avatar. By placing an emote or image as the avatar (icon) you can use it around the site wherever a normal icon can be produced. They are called Plz Accounts due to the mass majority of them ending in the 3 letters ‘PLZ’ to not only ensure a usable dA name is not taken, but to also identify their purpose
You can find out more information about creating and using plz accounts by checking out this tutorial
Examples include:
Thumbcodes
Every deviation posted to dA is assigned a thumbcode. This is a code in the form :thumb*******: which when used causes a thumbnail of the image to appear. As emotes are generally small enough to appear normal even when thumbnailed, these thumbnails can be used to allow emotes to be used even if they aren’t on the official emote legend. They can be used by simply copying and pasting the :thumbcode: for the deviation (found to the lower right of the image at the time of writing this) into the desired place to use it.
Thumbnails only work in a few places around the site. However subscribers are given additional locations to use thumbs. These locations include:
For all dA users - dAmn (dA chatrooms) ** - The dA Forums - News articles - Notes
** Note: Chat admins have the ability to turn thumbnails, avatars (plz accounts) and emoticons off within a dA chatroom
For Subscribers, Seniors + Site admins - Journals - Custom boxes - Artist comments - Polls - The Subscribers ThumbShare Forum
Examples include:
Chatroom Scripts
As chatrooms support the use of thumbcodes for all users, there have been a couple of scripts produced which allow you to use easily use emotes on dAmn. Emotes are assigned a :code: similar to the codes used on the emoticon legend, which can be used by all member with the script installed.
For information on which scripts are currently available check out this page
You can find all of my other tutorials on this page: [link]