AdiIRC

On further thought, adding a $nickicon(<nick>) identifier should have a .nicklist option, to get the icon shown in the nicklist, as it can be set in messages, nicklist, or both. (default would be messages)

The message prefix variables was added to adiirc many years before adiirc had scripting, this can't change now. Adding them today would have made them %variables instead.

I have been working on a different "Text Events" system for some time, like this: https://adiirc.com/build/textevents.png

It intentionally mimics the MTS themes variable system and will have something like a %:nickicon variable which should make theming messages easier.

The new system wont be available for some time, but for now, you can use nick icons in scripts like this:

echo -ag < $+ $chr(61445) $+ $nick $+ $chr(61445) $+ > : $+ $1-

Per Amundsen wrote in #note-2:

The message prefix variables was added to adiirc many years before adiirc had scripting, this can't change now. Adding them today would have made them %variables instead.

That would have made a lot more sense, but I now see why.

I have been working on a different "Text Events" system for some time, like this: https://adiirc.com/build/textevents.png

I look forward to seeing it

Thanks for the code. I was able to do what I needed using the following
alias -l imagechar return $chr(61445)
alias -l nickicon return $+($imagechar, $nick, $imagechar)
on ^*:TEXT:*:#:{ echo -cmt Normal $chan $+($nickicon, $chr(2), $nick, $chr(2), :) $1- | haltdef }