Ever since the invention of the smiley, people have attempted to express themselves in as few characters as possible. And with the advent of Twitter, that won`t change any time soon. We've gathered resources to help you communicate effectively whether you`re texting, instant messaging or tweeting. You'll find cheat sheets for advertising terms, chat abbreviations and useful emoticons -- both standard English and Japanese versions -- as well as text-friendly ASCII art. Do you have a favorite cheat sheet for messaging abbreviations? Let us know!
Need more information before you get started? See our definitions for texting, SMS (Short Message Service) and Twitter. For a little extra-geeky interest, see also: leet speak.
- Chat Abbreviations -- Our long list of common messaging abbreviations will ensure that you don't come up 404 (without a clue).
- Emoticons -- Our collection includes a wide variety of smilies, frownies and emoticons expressing just about any emotion known to man. Also vampires, cows and other useful character-built creatures.
- Japanese Emoticons -- The Japanese have developed emoticons specific to their culture -- although some seem pretty global (see: hangover, cold sweat). Add a little international flair to your messages.
- Blog Glossary -- Blogs and messaging go hand in hand, so you'll want to be up on your blogging terminology before you hit Twitter.
- Advertising Terminology on the Internet -- Adspeak has its own particular lingo and our glossary defines the terms for you.
- Mathematical Symbols -- Our cheat sheet of includes the most commonly used mathematical symbols and their meanings, with links to some related definitions.
- One-line ASCII art -- Want to get creative? See this one-page cheat sheet for ASCII art you can use to enliven your tweets, texts and instant messages. Includes ASCII animals, objects and people.
- Top Twitter Acronyms -- Digiphile Alex Howard has collected his list of the top 50 Twitter acronyms. You'll also find more in the comments.
We've got lots more!
Check out the full collection of Our Favorite Cheat Sheets for fast help on a wide range of subjects. You'll find cheat sheets for a wide range of content, including subjects like management, programming, blogging, browser shortcuts, and search engine optimization.
10 Feb 2010