Newbie?
What is AIM?

Tips & Tricks

Get the most out of AOL Instant Messenger

• AIM Smiley Codes
• Free AIM Expressions
• Send hidden messages using the 'F2' trick
• Create your own AIM Expressions
• A.I.M. Frame
• Learn about AIM Expressions Skin AIM 5.x with AIMutation

Are you an AIM fanatic? We want your tips & tricks! Write for BigBlueBall

Show your support for BigBlueBall... with our buddy icons. Just click one to set as your buddy icon.

  

Note: You must be running AIM first!

Also check out...

Vote for BigBlueBall

Instant Messaging: AIM Center

AIM Expression Tutorial

by Brady Vercher of CrazyVercherFilms.com

Brady Vercher is a college student who likes girls, basketball and computers. In his spare time, he's a big part of CrazyVercherFilms.com

Ever wanted to create your own AIM Expression? This tutorial describes the basic process. I won't really go over any design aspects as to how to make the Expression look good, that'll be left up to you to figure out. This tutorial will only work if you keep all the files in one folder.

Requirements

• First and foremost, a properly functioning brain

• Windows - this won't help you if you're using anything else

• A basic understanding of HTML - I'll help a little

• WinZip - for unzipping and rezipping the arf

• Notepad - can be found on any windows based computer

• A program and the ability to create or edit images

Buddylist Side Image
This image needs to be 60 pixels wide by how ever many pixels high you want it.
view example

IM Side Image
This image needs to be 125 pixels wide by how ever many pixels high you want it.
view example

HTML Files
Anything that shows up in the side images is basically a webpage, so you'll have to include the images in a webpage. This means that anything you can do with a webpage, you can include in the side bars on AIM. Below is the most basic code to use if you have no HTML knowledge, otherwise you can fiddle around and do whatever you want.

• Buddy List HTML

• IM Window HTML

Just paste the above code into Notepad and save as two separate files with a .html extension.

The Arf
Download an arf to use here and save it to the same folder as your images and HTML files. The arf is just a zip file with the .zip extension renamed to .arf, so to view and edit the files, you'll need to change the extension to .zip and unzip the folder.

To change the extension, go to Tools > Folder Options

The click on the View tab, and uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types box, and click OK

Now there should be a .arf extension, just change that to .zip and use WinZip to unzip it.

Inside the folder, you should find eight files:

1. blbkgnd.bmp - Edit this file to whatever you want, but make sure to save it as a BITMAP. It's best if you put opacity at around 20% so you can see text over it.
    

2. blimage.gif - Don't worry about editing this file, since it won't show up anyways, unless you're using the a beta version of AIM 5.something. Remember to save as a GIF.
    

3. blskin.xml - In this file, you will find a URL. Change this URL to the location on the internet of the HTML file that contains your buddy list side image. If you don't get the location right, your image will not show up. There is also a hex color that indicates the color on top and bottom of your buddy list.
    

4. icon.gif - This is your buddy icon, put whatever you want here, but it has to be under 7 KB for it to work, and save as a GIF. The icon size is the only one that matters. It should be 50 pixels X 50 pixels.
    

5. imbkgnd.gif - This is the image that appears behind the text when you're in an IM. Change it to white if you don't want anything, or make the opacity around 20% so you're able to read what is being typed. If you put text in this image, it'll make it harder to read your IMs. Save as a GIF.
    

6. imskin.xml - This file is just like the blskin.xml, but you need to change the URL to point to the HTML that contains your IM side image.
    

7. manifest.xml - This one is a little more tricky, click on the link and I'll tell you how to edit it.
    

8. miicon.gif - I have no idea what this thing does. Don't mess with it and it won't give you any trouble.

Once you have all these files edited like you want them, then zip them all up and change the extension back to .arf.

Uploading
The next step is to upload the Arf, the two HTML files, and the two side images into the directory on your web space that you used in the blskin.xml and imskin.xml files.

Once that is done, type a link like this in your address bar in your browser
aim:GetExpression?URL=http://www.yourURLhere.com/tutorial.arf
and click on it. If you did everything right, it will give you two prompts that you say yes to and it should work just fine.

You can download a zipped folder of all of the files you'll need right here.

Related Links
Building Expressions with Expression Creator

Discuss in the AIM Forum  |  Send This Page To a Friend!