Many people find e-mail useful but slightly impersonal. Sometimes, particularly with international correspondents, it lends itself to misunderstandings. To ease that issue, people have developed so-called "emoticons", small faces made up of certain characters found on all keyboards around the world. The most known example shows a smiling face laid on its side: :-) or :) and the "winking" face ;-) or ;)
With The Bat! you are able to convert these abstract scribbles into small images. Various users have contributed a great many of these PCWSmileys.
While other e-mail clients use HTML to send images with a message, The Bat! relies solely on the recipient, who has to have installed the images on his side. This way the message itself is not converted, not reformatted, not blown up in size and still readable even if the recipient's e-mailer does not support PCWSmileys.
The Roguemoticons work similarly, the recipient has to use The Bat! and has to have installed the image library. There is only two differences, PCWSmileys are shown in the body of the message where they have been typed in, Rogeumoticons show up in the header pane. And, PCWSmileys' handles have to be typed in the body, while Roguemoticons do have their own X-Header, which you have to define.
Roguemoticon
Defining the RFC message header
| 1. | Go to Options->Preferences->Message Headers |
| 2. | Click into the Header fields list |
| 3. | Hit Add |
| 4. | Enter X-Rogue into both name fields |
| 5. | Check Display this field ... |
| 6. | Check Allow to edit ... (optional) |
| 7. | This field is an address list should be unchecked |
Defining the RFC header contents
| 1. | Open your message templates (New, Reply, Forward) |
Note: See Templates for more information.
| 2. | Put in the following line |
%SetHeader("X-Rogue",":handle:")%-
Note: Instead of "handle" put in the actual handle of your Roguemoticon.
Making your Roguemoticon available
| 1. | Go to http://www.pcwize.com/thebat |
| 2. | Register and follow the instructions on how to create your Roguemoticon |
PCWSmileys
To see PCWSmileys
| 2. | Download the ZIP file |
| 3. | Unpack the images following the instructions on the Web site |
Typing a PCWSmiley
The most common emoticons are typed in as usual, i.e.
;-) gives 
.
The Bat! recognises them automatically. For the new and special ones, like national flags, you have to type in the file name, without extension, enclosed in colons; :Chisinau_coat_of_arms: will result in
Note: PCWSmileys do not show in the Message Editor window. They only display in Message View windows.
Note: Roguemoticons and PCWSmileys - using the same technology as many instant messenger applications - are not sent with messages, hence do not add to the message size.
Note: Roguemoticons and PCWSmileys are currently only visible to users of the The Bat!.