view pixmaps/smileys/THEMES-HOWTO @ 9502:578986136bac

[gaim-migrate @ 10329] Make gaim_request_file support saving files as well as opening files. Changed silc appropriately, and made the Save dialog in the debug window use this. I changed request.c so that, when closing a request window, it also tries to change any requests or notifies that were created using the ui_handle as the handle. It's similar to using "gc" as the first parameter of a gaim_request_bleh or gaim_notify_bleh function. committer: Tailor Script <[e-mail]>

Gaim Smiley Themes Documentation
Sean M. Egan
5 Jan 2003

Version 0.60 of Gaim brings up all themable smileys.  In the preferences dialog, a user can choose from a selection of looks his smileys will take.  This guide is to serve as a reference to those interested in creating third-party smiley themes.  

(SME: I'm doing this at 6:30AM; I'm tired, but I can't sleep.  Someone make sure I fix this up to make sure it all makes sense when I'm not tired anymore.  Right now it's mostly just unassembled thoughts)

Your theme should be contained in a single directory.  This directory will be installed in the Gaim smiley theme directory (SME: There should probably be a $HOME/.gaim/smileys/ that the theme could go in too.).  This directory will contain a file called `theme' that specifies the theme and image (SME: And possibly sound) files that are used by the theme.  The format of the `theme' file is as follows.

The beginning of the file contains some metainformation about the theme in the format

Key=Value

Valid keys include:
Name - Name of the theme
Description - Description of the theme
Icon - An image used to represent the theme in the theme selector UI
Author - The author's name

Following this meta-information are "sml" groups.  A "sml" group is a group of smileys that will be shown together.  For example, each protocol has its own "sml" group (MSN, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu, etc.).  The name of the group is surrounded in square brackets, and each line beneath it (until the next sml group or the end of the file) defines a smiley.
Each line of the group starts with a filename of the icon (SME: Or sound?) followed by a space-delimited list of the characters that represent it. 

Example:
[AIM/ICQ]
smiley.png  :) :-)

In the smiley selector UI, each icon will only be shown once, and the first string representing it will be used.  To keep a smiley out of the selector altogether, make the first two characters of the line "! " followed by the filename and emoticons.