Talking together
Pictures and reactions in chat
Use Pixl emoticons, attach a drawing and react to a chat line.
Chat can contain more than text. A node-room conversation lets you insert small Pixl emoticons or drop in a drawing. You can also react to a line without sending another message.
Open a shared node's Current room to use its picture composer. The plain composer in a direct message or group chat has a different set of controls; it does not include this room's emoticon picker or drawing drop target.
Insert an emoticon
Use Emoticons beside the message field. The panel contains Yours, followed by From everyone for public emoticons. Search public emoticons filters the public names. Select a picture to insert its name into the draft, then send the line normally.
You can also type a name between colons, such as :name:. Suggestions appear as you type. Use the up and down arrows to select a suggestion, then Tab or Enter to complete it. Escape dismisses the suggestions. When Enter accepts a suggestion, it completes the name rather than sending that keypress as a message.
The name has to match an emoticon you may use. An ordinary colon-wrapped word is not a way to attach an arbitrary picture.
Draw an emoticon
Use Draw a new emoticon in the picker and choose Small · 16×16 or Large · 32×32. Draw in Pixl and save the drawing. The naming dialog then lets you turn it into an emoticon.
- Enter a Name of 2 to 24 lower-case letters, numbers or underscores.
- Decide whether to tick Free for the public to use.
- Choose Save emoticon.
A public emoticon is discoverable and usable by other people. The dialog warns that this choice cannot be taken back once enabled. Leaving it unticked keeps use restricted to you; it is not the same as making the emoticon public.
Not now skips making the emoticon; it does not discard the drawing you just saved.
You can make up to 100 emoticons. Each drawing can have one emoticon name. If a name is already taken, choose another. A drawing of the wrong size, a drawing you do not own, or a drawing that cannot be shared produces a specific refusal. Check the message before trying again.
Post a Pixl drawing
Drag a drawing from your Pixl collection onto the node-room chat. Your own unshared drawing is shared as part of preparing it for chat. The message is posted only if that preparation and the chat send succeed.
An unavailable or unusable drawing produces That image isn't available. or a more specific message. Choosing a picture does not bypass its sharing or safety requirements. If a shared picture becomes unavailable, the conversation can show a placeholder in its place. A drawing shown as an image line can be dragged from Chat onto your canvas.
React to a line
Use Add reaction on a line. The choices are a heart, thumbs up, laughing face, party, surprised face and fire. The heart acts as Like.
Reactions appear beneath the message with counts. A reaction you hold is marked as yours. Select it again to take yours back, or select an existing reaction to add yours. You can hold each reaction once on the same line.
Reactions fade with the line. They are not separate permanent messages. If the app says Couldn't add that reaction. Try again., the change was not confirmed.
On a computer, right-click the message for the same reaction choices and Copy text. On a phone, use the tools beneath the line. For a lasting node made from a node-room line, see Keeping chat.