Emoticon API should be extended to allow for pluggable packs.

I don't think this is mission critical but its a common UI feature that people notice right away that diminishes user acceptance.

An idea on this – it should be possible for an emoticon pack to register to receive events when their emoticon is first displayed. That would make it possible to easily implement specialized emoticons like:

• Emoticons that play sounds

• Emoticons that buzz the window, etc.

The API would be pretty simple, it would basically be a listener that is invoked the first time an emoticon is received. As part of the event, you'd get the emoticon text entered.