Smileys, also known as "emoticons," are glyphs used to convey emotions in your writing. They are a great way to brighten up posts.

Text smileys are created by typing two or more punctuation marks. Some examples are:

;-) is equivalent to
:-) is equivalent to
:-( is equivalent to
:-? is equivalent to

To learn more about emoticons and their history, see the Wikipedia entry on Emoticons.

How Does WordPress Handle Smileys?

By default, WordPress automatically converts text smileys to graphic images. When you type ;-) in your post you see when you preview or publish your post.

To Turn off Graphic Smileys

If you turn off graphic smileys, whatever you type in plain text will remain, and be displayed, as plain text.

1. Go to your Admin Panel
2. Select Settings -> Writing
3. In the Formatting section, uncheck the box for "Convert emoticons like :-) and :-P to graphics on display"

Turning off emoticons means that when you type ;-) in a post you will see ;-) when you preview or publish your post. So it doesn't stop you from using emoticons as plain text.

What Text Do I Type to Make Smileys?

Smiley images and the text used to produce them*:

icon	text	text	full text	icon	full text
	:)	:-)	:smile:		:lol:
	:D	:-D	:grin:		:oops:
	:(	:-(	:sad:		:cry:
	:o	:-o	:eek:		:evil:
	8O	8-O	:shock:		:twisted:
	:?	:-?	:???:		:roll:
	8)	8-)	:cool:		:!:
	:x	:-x	:mad:		:?:
	:P	:-P	:razz:		:idea:
	:|	:-|	:neutral:		:arrow:
	;)	;-)	:wink:		:mrgreen:

* In some instances, multiple text options are available to display the same smiley.

Troubleshooting Smileys

Why Doesn't it Work?

Smileys may have been disabled by your Wordpress admin. Another possibility is the smiley image files have been deleted from /wp-includes/images/smilies.

Why Doesn't it Work for Me?

If smileys work for others at your site but not for you:

Type a space before and after your smiley text. That prevents the smiley being accidentally included in the text around it.

Make sure not to use quotes or other punctuation marks before and after the smiley text.

Where Are My Smiley Images Kept?

The smiley or emoticon image graphics are found in the /wp-includes/images/smilies directory.

Note that smileys is spelled 'eys' in this documentation and the directory name for the smiley images is 'smilies, spelled 'ies'.

How Can I Have Different Smiley Images Appear?

Simplest way:

1. Find your smiley image files in the /wp-includes/images/smilies directory and back them up to another directory
2. Note the names of each smiley file. Your files must match these names and should be in the same 'gif' image format.
3. For predictable behavior, the image sizes should be similar.
4. Upload your new files to the /wp-includes/images/smilies directory with an FTP program.

If you're up to hacking the code:

If you really must change the file names of the images, edit the file that refers to these images, 'vars.php' (in WordPress 2.2, they're located in 'functions.php'), situated in the /wp-includes/ directory. Follow all precautions when "hacking code".

You can read a tutorial explaining all this in more detail, as well as how to avoid hacking WP code, at Ars Aranea.

There are also WordPress Plugins which allow you to customize your smilies in WordPress.

Why are my Smiley Images Blank?

If you recently uploaded the images, it could be that the images have been uploaded in ASCII format by your FTP program. Re-upload the smileys ensuring that they are transferred in BINARY format.

Some FTP programs have an auto-detect setting which will upload files in the correct format without user intervention. If you have such a setting, turn it on.

Smiley CSS

The smiley images in WordPress are automatically given a CSS class of wp-smiley when they are displayed in a post. You can use this class to style your smileys differently from other post images.

For example, it's not uncommon to set up images in a post to appear on the left-hand side of the content with text flowing around the image. The CSS for that might look like this:

.post img {
    float: left;
}

This would typically affect all images in a post, including your smiley images. To override this so that smileys stay inline, you could add this to your CSS:

img.wp-smiley {
    float: none;
}

For more on CSS in WordPress, you might want to start here.