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 Silver Car Icon |
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Add Silver Car icon to cartIcon sizes: 256x256, 64x64, 48x48, 32x32, 24x24, 16x16, 512x512
File formats: ICO, GIF, PNG, BMP
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What Are Icons?
Many independent vendors are supplying custom icons in sizes and resolutions standard to certain systems. The article explains what icons are, how they are used and implemented in various platforms, and what standards exist for Windows icons, Mac icons, and PNG icons.Computer icons are an integral part of any modern GUI. Icons are small pictures of standardized sizes that visually represent objects, actions, and other concepts. In window-based systems, icons are used as a quicker, more intuitive way to communicate with the user. Icons depicting standard elements of a user interface are more visually appealing than text, can be recognized faster, and are certainly easier on the eyes.
Originally developed in 1970 by the Xerox Research Center and widely popularized by the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows systems, icons make new users feel more comfortable with operating systems, learn faster and interact more efficiently. Icons can be employed to replace or supplement text commands. Commonly used in menus, toolbars, on buttons and in new ribbon-type user interfaces, icons have come a long way from the original concept.
There are multiple file formats for storing icons. The Windows systems store Windows icons in the platform-dependent ICO format. Mac OS systems store Mac icons in their specific formats, while Unix-based systems use PNG icons for most applications. As such, icon software is generally available for the Windows and Mac OS platforms, while Unix users can create PNG icons with any graphic editor.
Generally speaking, icons are square images that come in a variety of standard sizes and color resolutions. Most platforms support icons of 16x16 to 128x128 pixels, while some systems readily accept icon images as large as 512x512 pixels. The ultra-high definition 512x512 pixel icons were first employed in Mac OS Leopard.
Pixel resolutions of all icons are platform dependent. For example, Windows icons are defined as images in 16 and 256-color gammas as well as True Color pictures with alpha channel. Windows icons come in standard resolutions of 16x16, 32x32, and 48x48 pixels. Windows Vista defines new standards for Windows icons, including icons in sizes of up to 256x256 pixels in True Color only. Optionally, images of 128x128 and 512x512 pixels are supported. Interestingly, the high-resolution Windows Vista icons are stored in compressed PNG format instead of Windows ICO used in previous versions of Windows and for lower resolution images. Other platforms such as Windows Mobile can use standard icons of other resolutions, such as 24x24 pixels.
Many independent vendors are providing custom icons. Aha-Soft offers a wide selection of Windows icons, Mac icons, and PNG icons in all sizes and resolutions standard to those systems. The company provides royalty-free icons individually and in matching sets incorporating icons drawn a common style or theme.
Copyright © 2009-2012 Aha-Soft. All rights reserved.
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