Smilies

[taylovesthebeatles]

I just type in my smileys for example use a colon like this : or a simi colon like this ; and then a parentheses like this )( and it makes the smile like this and this

I think he was referring to some more specialized smilies that used to be available, that use combinations of letters and symbols. They're easier to just click on than to try and remember the "code".