"If you tried to use the Character Viewer in Lion to insert symbols, emoticons, etc., into email, letters and documents, you may have trouble figuring out how to do it -- I did," states Jim Hamm.
He explains the frustration. "In Snow Leopard all you had to do was click 'insert.' This feature is missing in Lion. In Lion there's two choices: double click the symbol or drag and drop. Is this simpler than in Snow Leopard? No. Another example of where, seemingly, Apple designers stuck their fingers in Character Viewer, stirred the pot to make things a bit different but not better.
"Here's how to get Character Viewer to appear in the Menu Bar: System Preferences > Language & Text > Input Sources > check Keyboard and Character Viewer. I use it frequently, for example, to put a bullet point • in front of a new paragraph. Or maybe this ☛.
"Perhaps now you'll be pleased to use the Character Viewer...☺. . . Jim"