Icon (computing)
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Nuvola icons for KDE are available in PNG format, which come in six sizes, and SVG format, which is scalable |
On
Computer Displays, a
computer icon is a small
pictogram. Icons have been used to supplement the normal Alphanumerics of the computer. Modern computers now can handle bitmapped graphics on the Display Terminal, so the icons are widely used to assist users.
A
computer icon usually ranges from 16 by 16
pixels up to 128 by 128 pixels. When the
Graphical output device has a smaller size, the icon size is small. Vision impaired users (due to such conditions as poor lighting, tired eyes, medical impairments, bright backgrounds, or
color blindness) may need to utilize the self-selected icon size options.
Icons may represents a
file,
folder,
application or device on a computer
operating system. In modern usage today, the Icon can represent anything that the users want it to: any macro command or process, mood-signalling, or any other indicator. User friendliness also demands error-free operation, where the icons are distinct from each other, self explanatory, and easily visible under all possible user setups.
Icons were first developed as a tool for making computer interfaces easier for novices to grasp in the
1970s at the
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center facility. Icon-driven interfaces were later popularized by the
Apple Macintosh and
Microsoft Windows operating environments.
Icons may also be found on the desktop, toolbars and in the menus of computer application software such as
Microsoft Word. Icons are made more use-friendly by being very clear from every other icon. Each Icon-set may also have unifying features that show that similar icons are related to each other. Icons show this by:
#Contrasting Sizes#Dark-Light#Square-grabbing (large or small area, top/ bottom, left/ right, centred/ perimeter)#Pattern-contrast (Horizontal-striped, Vertical-striped, Slanted-stripes, Circles, Oblongs, ...)#Light-On-Dark, or Dark-On-Light#Framed/ Shadowed (or not)#Color contrasts (red, orange, blue, green, etc)#Fine-detail filled (with thin lined drawings), or NOT.#Animated ... but use very carefully!
Virtually every major computer operating system has the ability to use an icon-based
graphical user interface (GUI) to display information to end users.
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Several desktop icons from the Windows Vista operating system |
Most computer functions in a GUI are represented by a function icon. Placing the
cursor on the icon, and clicking (or
double-clicking) a mouse, trackball or other button usually starts the function or program.
The creation of a good function icon can be considered as an art form in itself, comparable to that practiced in the past in the domain of miniature painting by old masters such as
Joseph Severn and
Charles-Francois Daubigny.
The icon must be original, distinctive, and tiny and it must be useful on a wide variety of monitors set at different resolutions. This work is further complicated by the need to create several sets of function icons for several types of views in several types of operating systems, for any given program. For instance, the GUI guidelines in one operating system might specify the need to create sets of 16, 32, and 48 pixel icons for any program while the GUI guidelines in another system might specify sets of 16, 24, 48 and 96 pixel icons for any program.
In certain views of folders or directories in a GUI all the documents or files are represented as icons, in addition to their file name and, in certain cases, other details. In most systems and for most files these icons are generic images, representing the program used to create the file, or the file type. In this case, the comments made in the previous paragraph concerning the icon as an art form also apply to file icons.
In the case of graphic files most modern systems replace the generic icon with a reduced image of the graphic. This reduced image usually fits into a 128 by 128 or a 117 by 117 pixel box, depending on the operating system used. It is available in a "thumbnail view" or within some other specialized viewing area on the screen.
The most recent systems and the most recent applications often generate such reduced images from other types of files in programs which have not been traditionally viewed as "graphics," such as
word processor software, text files, or business presentation programs such as Agnubis,
Impress, or
PowerPoint.
*
Avatar (virtual reality) *
Pictogram *
Favicon*
The Iconfactory*
Windows Icon Image*
Apple Icon Image*
Free Icon Collections*
IconsReview.com Review of stock icon collections for software developers and website designers (
huge list of icon collections!)
*
Chart / timeline of icons of various graphical user interfaces*
Microsoft's "Let's Make a Theme" containing Microsoft's definition of 'icon'.*
Microsoft's Creating Windows XP Icons*
Apple Computer's Introduction to Apple Human Interface Guidelines article that contains the guidelines for doing Mac OS X icons*
KDE's Icon Style Guide*
KDE Wiki on Icons*
GNOME Human Interface Guidelines 2.0*
Favicon.ru — make favicons and desktop icons from many types of images and edit them in online editor
*
widgetwidget — desktop and application icons for the Windows & Macintosh platforms
