Suggestion to the emoticons in SMF 2.0x

[jsx]

Hi, I have a suggestion to the emoticons, currently emoticons isn't look good in dark colour of template

Screen:

i48.tinypic.com/b657j7.png

Maybe the graphics designers from SMF 2.0x you would improve the appearance emoticons so that they look good on the dark template. Maybe this alternation would be in some update of script.

[Kindred]

since the default template is light colored................

If you want a dark theme, why not get a different set of your own and install them?

[jsx]

Because the basic emoticons are good to me, that's why I would like so that they are fitted to the dark template. But if it isn't possible it's fine, I just want to start this topic.

[emanuele]

That is most likely due to the fact that are gif.
Would they be png the effect would be much better on any background.
I don't think we have around any source file to convert all the gif to png, unless someone has the files and is willing to do the work, only the Fugue set in 2.1 *could* be distributed in png format.

Unrelated:

i48.tinypic.com/b657j7.png

Why don't you post the link with the entire http:// part so that it becomes a link when posted?
http://i48.tinypic.com/b657j7.png

[MrPhil]

Any image editor (GIMP, Photoshop, etc.) can load a .gif file and save it as a .png file. Note that GIF only supports fully transparent/fully opaque pixels, while PNG has "alpha channel" translucency. Therefore, what's transparent on a GIF will end up fully transparent on a PNG. If the objective is to get translucency, I don't think a simple conversion is going to do any good.

What could be done with an image editor is to "brighten" the images so they show up better against a dark background. This would not require a conversion to PNG. You'd have to play with the brightness curves for red, green, and blue, boosting all of them to some degree.

[emanuele]

That's exactly why I said wrote:

I don't think we have around any source file to convert all the gif to png

do a gif => png conversion is obviously useless, but if you have the "source" files (psd/xcf/svg) that's another story and you *could* (it's not sure you can do it either of course) re-create the images in png.

tl;dr
In 2.1 at the moment are still gif and only the Fugue set could be converted to png because there are both sources and pngs available.

[jsx]

Because emanuele I didn't know that here can post a link as a active link, that why I removed the http but I already know that it is possible.

So I don't know, you should thinking about these emoticons one time that in other version of script they will look good in dark background.

[Akyhne]

I have yet to see the perfect smiley set where the edge blends nicely to any background color,being png or gif. I'd say it isn't possible, I've tried many times.

The only solution to me, is to use the SVG format. But it is not supported by all browsers.

[Antechinus]

We should be able to do the Fugue smileys in png. In fact they should never have been converted to gif in the first place. I'd call that a bug. We should switch them back to png before we go beta. Srsly.

[Antechinus]

Any image editor (GIMP, Photoshop, etc.) can load a .gif file and save it as a .png file. Note that GIF only supports fully transparent/fully opaque pixels, while PNG has "alpha channel" translucency. Therefore, what's transparent on a GIF will end up fully transparent on a PNG. If the objective is to get translucency, I don't think a simple conversion is going to do any good.

What could be done with an image editor is to "brighten" the images so they show up better against a dark background. This would not require a conversion to PNG. You'd have to play with the brightness curves for red, green, and blue, boosting all of them to some degree.

You're missing the point. The problem is that gif smileys have a matte around them, which of course is coloured to match a light default. This means you get a jaggy light border around them on a dark theme. It looks crap. Using .png for any non-animated (ie: all default) smileys is the way to go. We shouldn't be shipping gifs.

[Akyhne]

SVG rocks!

http://themes.e-debatten.dk/images/svg/smiley.html

[Antechinus]

And has limited support at the moment.

[Akyhne]

It's less than 10% (w3.org browser stats) of all users that can't see svg (without a plugin). Of those 10%, 80% are using IE8.
Of those 8%, probably half are running Vista or W7, which means they kan use IE9.

That leaves 5-6% left that are either using IE 7 and down, or using some smaller, unknown browser.

Concidering that IE browsers from IE4 (as I recall) and to IE8 can view SVG via a plugin from Adobe (there's other plugins out there), that leaves ~2% of all internet users that can't see SVGs.

EDIT:
And since it's a user setting what smileyset the user wants to use, SVG images should be an alternative to the standard smiley set, as long as the default set is still in .png or .gif

[Arantor]

I'm not changing them to SVG; requiring plugins to see smileys on the base browser we support for 2.1 (IE8 is minimum target IE) is not acceptable.

I'd actually like to see a new smiley set in 2.1 actually, that isn't the Fugue set, and is drawn in PNG with alpha so it looks decent on light and dark.

[Kindred]

http://free.clipartof.com/details/11-Free-Vector-Series-Of-Forum-Smileys-And-Icons

[Arantor]

No, I meant a completely new set - unique to SMF. SMF 2.0 shipped with 3 smiley sets that were unique to SMF, I'd love to see SMF 2.1 shipping with one more set (or even just the one set potentially) that's unique to SMF.

[Kindred]

ah yeah...   it would be nice - if we had someone who can do graphics (that leaves me out, completely) Every time I touch a graphic, I have a better than average chance of making it look 10x worse.

[kat]

Just for lolz...

The "set" at the top of this page look OK in any coloured theme. (Even yellow)

http://www.katzy.dsl.pipex.com/C.htm

(Site seems a bit slow, at the moment, for some reason)

[IchBin™]

You guys are welcome to use these if you'd like. I made these a couple of years ago. I think I still have the PSD still lying around too.