The Ultimate ChatGuide!
Updated: 03/05/97

The purpose of this page is to optimize the clarity within chatrooms. Many users are not yet familiar with certain abbreviations or symbols used within chatrooms. This page contains most of the commonly used ones, divided into several sections.

Please use this information, and do not abuse it! In case you do, the GeoCities Chat Monitors will see to it that you are booted!

Please bear in mind that I did not made these things up myself. If you are easily offended you may even not want to know what certain abbreviations mean. In no way do I feel responsible for the contents of the tables below.

There are quite a few symbols used in the chatrooms. Some are pretty obvious, and some are not. That's why I included most of them in the table below, along with how to type them.

:-)	A smile ( sideways ). Used to express amusement
;-)	A wink. Used when something's not meant to be taken seriously
:-(	An unhappy face, used to express disappointment or sadness
;-(	Another unhappy face, but with a wink....so it aint too bad
[_]>	A cup of coffee, very useful in the mornings!
τΏτ	See you! ( alt+147, alt+680, alt+147 )

Abbreviations are very often used in chatrooms. Sometimes it takes quite a lot of creativity to figure out what they mean. Below are the ones that are most commenly used. Note that abbreviations are often placed between asterikses '*', which indicate an 'action'.

*LOL*	Laughs Out Loud, Laughing Out Loud
*ROTFLHAO*	Rolls On The Floor Laughing His/Her @$$ Off
*FOCLHAO*	Falls Off Chair, Laughing His/Her @$$ Off
*g* / *grin*	Comparable with ;-)
*s* / *smile*	Comparable with :-)
BTW	By The Way
RTFM	Read The F@cking Manual!!
PITA	Pain In The @$$, speaks for itself
(SP?)	Use this when you're not sure how to spell something
BRB	( I'll ) Be Right Back
BBL	( I'll ) Be Back Later
C U	See you
10X	Pronounced as 'thanks'
M8	Pronounced as 'mate'
PICS	Stands for 'Pictures'
ILBCNU	I'll Be Seeying You!
TTFN	Ta Ta For Now
AMF	Adios, MotherF@cker!

Tags are common HTML-codes which basically enable you to make your letters bigger, or in italics or many things more. Important is not to forget to close your tags! Another important thing is not to use these codes to bug others. Do not change the color of other peoples messages, and do not make eveything real small or anything like that. There always are people ( Chat Monitors ) around that can boot you if you do, and believe me, you don't want that to happen! Put your text instead of the '...' and don't forget to close the tag!

<h?>...</h?>	Used to manipulate the size of the fonts, ? being a number. 1 is real big and 6 real small, the rest is just in between
<center>...</center>	Used to center the text, obviously
<i>...</i>	Used to make the text in italics
<b>...</b>	Used to make the text bold
<imgfont color="color">...</font>	Used to change the color of the text. 'color' being the name of the color, e.g. gold or white. No Hexadecimals!
<img src="//URL" width=x height=x>	Used to post pictures in the chatroom. The width/height is only necessary with large pics. e.g. x=150
<a href="http://URL">...</a>	Used to make links. URL being the location opf the place that's being linked. Don't forget to close with </a>!!!!

This sections is meant to list things that do not fit any other description. It states the various codes that enable you to type a non-active sign like '<'. Use these codes to show people how to do the various things listed under 'Tags', without difficult explanations. It would be better, though, to direct them to this page, so that they can see it first-hand. It will save you a lot of trouble and time!

&lt;	Displays the <
&gt;	Displays the >
&quot;	Displays the "
&copy	Displays the ©
&reg;	Displays the ®
&sect;	Displays the §
&cent;	Displays the ¢
&pound;	Displays the £
&yen;	Displays the ¥