I use Pidgin for instant messaging since I like having my G-Talk and Yahoo friends in the same place. One thing that is a little annoying is not seeing the same emoticons as my friends when we're in the same chat. I like the Yahoo smiles when I'm chatting in Yahoo, but I want G-Talk smiles when I'm chatting with my G-Talk pals. With a little research this morning I was able to fix this minor annoyance.

First, download this wonderful smiley theme, Pidgin Original. This theme basically tells Pidgin that when someone types :) in Yahoo, they should see:

However if you type the same thing in G-Talk You would see one of my favorites:

Extract the theme folder into your Pidgin Smileys Folder. In my case, using Linux, it is ~/.purple/smileys though Windows users may find theirs under Program Files. After you have a folder called "pidgin-original" under you smileys directory, you can use the theme. In Pidgin, click Tools > Preferences and then the "Smiley Themes" tab. You should see the new theme there called "Original Pack". Click it, then click Close. Now you're all set!

If you'd like to dig in a little deeper and create your own themes, Pidgin has a little tutorial right here.