Slashdot Mirror
A History of Icons
John H. Doe writes "The GUIdebook has a great page illustrating the history of icons. Of course, they have the Lisa/Mac/OS X paths, but there's the Windows progressions, along with entries for NeXT, OS/2, BeOS, and yes, Linux. Would you call it progress?"
I used to have some beauties on my Amiga, and they could be any size I liked, up to the whole screen if that was your wish. IIRC they were easy to draw with something that came with the operating system.
I'd like to take some of my raytracings and make them icons. Any ideas where to start?
Darn my dyslexia. At first glance I thought it said "A History of Loons" and thought it was something biographical about slashdot.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Or if you don't like this slashdot article, you can read the same one that was posted on slashdot exactly one year ago (well, almost exactly)
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I know on my Amiga 500 I used to draw icons in Icon Editor, and it was pretty cool. I too had some real beauties. I miss Workbench, it was pretty sweet.
This doesn't help much, but here is the cache from google. http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:3hJWEm5NPAkJ: www.aci.com.pl/mwichary/guidebook/icons/components +&hl=en
Mark
Worship the icon you techno pagans!
Where's my flaming server icon?
I think it's about time that slashdot AUTOMATICALLY posted mirrors for the static pages they link to. Either that or stop posting links to crappy little servers that can't handle the traffic!
People that believe in their opinions don't post AC.
Looks like an iconoclast got to it.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
moof the dogcow!
Hm, all of the icons look like the same "broken image" icon to me...
Slashdotted to hell.
What post? The one you're carrying inside your rusty innards!
This is a chart of icons from various interfaces. Clicking on GUI names, section names or icons themselves will lead to the appropriate page: Options Show GUI families: Lisa Office System Mac OS NeXTSTEP/OPENSTEP/Rhapsody Windows OS/2 GEOS/GeoWorks Apple II Amiga OS RISC OS BeOS Red Hat Linux QNX Solaris
Hard to say whether it's progress, since I can't access TFA. However, I will say that the MS/Windows habit of trying to iconify every possible command is not progress. Some things simply cannot be conveyed via a 12x12 or 16x16 (or whatever the res is) pictogram.
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
Why not .avi files instead of .png icons? Sure, it will eat more resources, but it'd be great to see a animation (a real animation, not just a .gif or a jumping/flash effect) each time I press or put the mouse over it.
While I can't read the article as the server is being slashdotted, I can't help feel that icons, for the most part, have stayed the same since their invention. Sure, we have icons that can be huge, have millions of colors, and have cool transparencey effects, but for the most part, Icons have remained a picture that represents an object or action. The only real innovation that I can think of when it comes to icons are ones which convey information as well as symbolize actions/items. While I'm not familiar if this exists on other icons, it's pretty easy to see on a number of iApps on OSX. For example, Mail's icon shows you how many new messages you have, iCal shows the current date, and when you're downloading files with Safari,the download icons have little progress bars on them, I love the idea of icons providing information to me realting to their particular application and hope to see that implimented more on other systems,
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
In the last handful of years, icons have started making a transformation from functional to stylish. Specifically, look at the differences between Windows 2000->XP icons, and Jaguar->Panther icons. In both cases, the Calculator icon illustrates specifically what I mean. In Jaguar and W2k, it was completly clear what the icon was. In Panther, however, the buttons became grayer, and as a result, the overall icon is less clear. The XP icon is much worse - it is not even distinctly a calculator.
There are many more examples in the 2k->xp comparison. The address book, for instance. What was once clearly an Address book is now just an open book. The control panel, while not exactly clear in 2k, is now a Todo list! The desktop icon went from a desk with a letter in draft to a _vertical_ oriented surface.
Implicit Evaluation with PHP
If you like icons, you should check out Susan Kare's page She made most of the original MacOS icons, as well as most of the original Windows icons. Lots of great pixel art.
Was this last sunday - maybe it is an annual holiday type thing. (Yes I know-- they aren't related but shouldn't they be?)
The dominant theme of this Sunday since 843 has been that of the victory of the icons. In that year the iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726, was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent. Ever since, that Sunday been commemorated as the "triumph of Orthodoxy."
Orthodox teaching about icons was defined at the Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787, which brought to an end the first phase of the attempt to suppress icons. That teaching was finally re-established in 843, and it is embodied in the texts sung on this Sunday.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
How hard is it to use coral links? Editors - why aren't you automatically append ".nyud.net:8090" to any url? How hard is that, really?.
Sigh...
Don't forget the Biblical Icons. That Golden Calf must have some pretty great raytracing and high polys to be worshipped so blatantly at the risk of utter destruction.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Then see my site iconsurf.com where hundreds of thousands of icons are displayed to help you surf the internet.
I find them better than most of the icons included in the article.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
In case of Slashdotting, break mirror.
...
Oh, and we broke it
I sense much beer in you. Beer leads to intoxication, intoxication leads to hangover. Hangover leads to sobering.
Q. Once upon a time a mouse became trapped in a Russian cathedral; how did he escape?
A. He clicked on an icon and opened a window.
(I can't claim credit for that one...)
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Q: Why is Judy Garland like a cute little picture on an Apple Mac?
A: Because they're both gay icons.
Man, that was lame... sorry.
The Gimp lets you create .ico files just fine. I use the Windows version of The GIMP whenever I really need to build icons for Windows.
Fox can take the sky from you.
Yet again, the Slashdot editors have allowed a mispelled story to be posted. It should be had.
I'm not sure I would call everything that has happened to icons progress.
Now that icons are commonly 24 bit color or more and use complex shading and styles they are often more difficult to identify at a glance than 2-color monochrome icons. (Icons should always be capable of being represented as a 2-color monochrome icons to ensure they have enough visual contrast)
And with all of the varying styles these days, if you don't make your icons specific to each operating environment then they stick out like sore a thumb.
The days of 16-color icons were probably the best because you could make a decent icon without having to be an artist or having an expensive paint program.
It still boggles my mind how many people choose bad icons for their products. I currently have the joy of working with a particular software product where many of the different configuration tools all have slightly different pictures of little computer... looking things with some kind of network dealy around them, and I keep getting them all mixed up. Of course part of the problem is that the programs aren't very well organized to begin with and the fact that they keep changing the program names in each version proves that.
Anyway, it is important that any application have a clear distinct purpose, a good icon to reflect that purpose and then to stick with it as people learn what it symbolized.
Remember, Icons literally become a language to people!
DISCLAIMER: This is off-topic, yet related.
Now that I have it, all I wanted to say is that we (the 'slashdotters') need to agree to some common courtesy.
Yes, I'm talking about the 'slashdot effect'.
That each time we, who post something, take the 'common courtesy' of at least Coral CDN [mirror it].
And, no it's not that hard at all, either!
all that 'we' have to do is: http://redirect.nyud.net:8090/?url=${SUBSTITUTE_WI TH_URL} (see footnotes for more info...)
See, not that hard, really. If it wheren't I would have taken *this time to ask for you attention.
----
*) ...and if you got 'Konqueror' create a (new) shortcut (like so): :P) :P)
'Searh provider name' == 'Coral CDN' (or enter your own name
'Search URI' == 'http://redirect.nyud.net:8090/?url=\{@}'
'URI shortcuts' == 'cdn,mirror,mirr' (or, again, pick your own 'web shortcuts'
so, now all you konqi's have to do is 'mirr: ${URL} '
*) .. and for all you Firefox'rs, here's a searchplugin for you'vs too: coral.src & coral.gif [add them to your 'Mozilla Searchplugins'-dir]
*) .. and you with other browser, I don't know much about others to comment about. But if you use an enhanced browser (eg. not-IE :-) *blow below the belt, I know, I know =)*), you might be able to add it yourself, someway, like with 'Konqueror'. But I wouldn't know about it, so I leave this up to you'vs.
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
Awesome! The post you mention is one year old and the link is STILL SLASHDOTTED!
Signatures are for stupids.
Fortunately, nowadays the situation has improved considerably. You can find a lot of useful BSD-licensed icons in the eclipse project, most of them are quite IDE-related, but with a little bit of imagination you can use them in lots of different situations.
If you have some money to spend, you can buy the icon collections from Incors. They're really great Windows XP-style icons for a very reasonable price.
Aesthetic progress, sure. Functional progress? Well, every icon represents a file. Why aren't the complete file operations available for that file available by clicking the icon? Why isn't it obvious by looking at a file icon which apps can process it? Why aren't different modes for reading and writing apparent from the app icons? Why aren't there very obvious differences between data, logic and presentation file icons? Why can't I draw pipes and redirects among the icons, making a graph like the one simulated in a commandline with "|" and "" characters? Not to mention no way to start an app in the background by its icon. And don't get me started on representing permissions, ownership, in-use status, or any other state metadata.
As icons have progressed, we've evolved some very stable patterns in using the files which they represent. But all that these icons communicate is that a file exists, in a given storage subdivision (folder), with some clues to its datatype. If half the time spent beautifying icons were spent making them work better, more interactive, more representational of the full state of the file and its context, we'd all be more productive.
--
make install -not war
many of those windows animations, like for example this small animation when deleting files to the recycle bin, are avi files.
Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
A neat step forward in Iconography for windows would be the ability to use alternate image formats. Time for the 'ICO' to go, yes, I know its a special format, multiple resolutions, color schemes yadda yadda.
Even though it begs for abuse, support for an animated GIF as your desktop icons could be fun.
The only PT Boat Journal on the web: http://www.PT171.org
It instills a sense of empowerment and camaraderie among us, don't take this away from us ;-)
Help fight continental drift.
ICONS??? I use the terminal you insensitive CLOD!
I can even imagine what it could look like. A big hammer hammering onto a server, where the shaft of the hammer forms the slash of the slashdot sign (i.e. there's the dot part right of it).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Weboso (aka Jairo Boudewyn) is the creative force behind those. DeviantArt has a sprawling interface, so here's a direct link to his Gallery.:)
Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
Talk about icons! You could make full-screen icons on Ami! And the selected version could be a completely different picture from the unselected.
That said, it was mostly a low-overhead UI. Now sadly missed.
Astro
When the Xerox Star came out, it had icons because they had been proposed in a PhD thesis by David Smith.
Thanks to Mirrordot.
Tell the truth and you won't have so much to remember.
If you like icons, you may also want to check out Jimmac's ikony. You've probably seen a lot of his icons already, if you use GNOME. Really great stuff!