How to Install Custom Emoticons in DeviantArt

Emoticons are an easy way to add emotional cues to Internet chats.

Founded in 2000, deviantART, through which users can exhibit and discuss their artwork, is one of the oldest social networks around, according to Jennifer Wang in "Entrepreneur" magazine, and the first to offer several convenient user options. Each user subdomain page boasts a profile page, blog section and space where users can post artwork and photos, and chat with other artists. Custom emoticons are available to enhance the chat option; they add the emotional cues inherent in everyday conversation. New deviantART users can access and install these custom emoticons by following a few simple steps.

Instructions

1. Download and install the Firefox Web browser, if you don't have it, following the directions provided by the program. Open a window in the Firefox Web browser. Do a search for a program called Greasemonkey and install it.

2. Close all browser windows and then restart them. You should see a small monkey icon on the lower right-hand side of the browser window. The icon should be brown when you want to use custom emoticons. There will be two scripts to choose from: "dAx" or "Custom Emotes."

3. Choose "dAx" scripts if you want features that include message time stamps, text-formatting buttons, topic and title display, thumbnail shadow removal, and emoticons that aren't provided on the deviantART emoticon legend. This script is preferred by many advanced users because they can go into the source code of the script and alter the list of emoticons to make a personalized list and add their own custom emoticons.

4. Choose "Custom Emotes" scripts if you aren't interested in the features in Step 3, but want to access an emoticon database containing more than 7,000 custom thumbnails and codes. This script is easy to install and use, so newer users or users who aren't familiar with JavaScript coding tend to prefer it.

5. Wait for the chosen scripts to load, which will generally happen within a minute. Then, choose a selection of preferred emoticons and use them in your chats.

Tips & Warnings

• Greasepot is a Firefox plug-in, so you must use the Firefox Web browser to successfully install custom emoticons. The plug-in will not work correctly with other browsers, so make sure you have it to avoid any problems installing and using custom emoticons.

• If you have any difficulties installing or using the emoticons, be sure to check out the deviantART forums and help page.

References

• "Entrepreneur"; Innovator: DeviantART's Angelo Sotira; Jennifer Wang; February 2011
• DeviantART; How to . . . Use Custom Emoticons on dAmn; October 2009
• Educause Quarterly; The Importance of Nonverbal Elements in Online Chat; Joan Gajadhar and John Green; 2005