Icon An icon is a computer graphic with a clear meaning. The desktop icons are software identifiers, and the icons in the interface are function identifiers.
Icons are divided into two types: broad sense and narrow sense:
Broad sense - graphic symbols with referential meaning, which have the characteristics of highly condensing and quickly conveying information and easy to remember. The application range is very wide, software, hardware, web pages, social places and public places are everywhere, such as men's and women's restroom signs and various traffic signs.
Narrow sense - computer software applications, including: program identification, data identification, command selection, mode signals or switches, status indications, etc.
Icons have a standard set of size and attribute formats, and are usually small in size. Each icon contains multiple pictures of the same display content, each picture has a different size and number of colors. An icon is a set of similar images, each with a different format. From this point on the icon is three dimensional. An icon has another characteristic: it contains a transparent area that shows through the desktop background beneath the icon. Structurally, the icon is actually similar to McDonald’s Big Mac burger.
An icon is actually a collection of multiple pictures in different formats, and also contains a certain transparent area. Because of the diversity of computer operating systems and display devices, icon sizes require multiple formats.
When the operating system displays an icon, it will select the image among the icons that is most suitable for the current display environment and status according to certain standards. If you are using the Windows 98 operating system, the display environment is 800x600 resolution, 32-bit color depth, and the image format of each icon you see on the desktop is 256 colors and 32x32 pixel size. If under the same display environment, in the Windows XP operating system, the image format of these icons is: true color (32-bit color depth), 32x32 pixel size. The following is the standard icon format in various Windows operating systems: (unit: size pixel-color)
Windows 98 SE/ME/2000
48 x 48 - 256 32 x 32 - 256 16 x 16 - 256
48 x 48 - 16 32 x 32 - 16 16 x 16 - 16
Windows XP
48 x 48 - 32bit 32 x 32 - 32bit 24 x 24 - 32bit * 16 x 16 - 32bit
48 x 48 - 256 32 x 32 - 256 24 x 24 - 256 * 16 x 16 - 256
48 x 48 - 16 32 x 32 - 16 24 x 24 - 16 * 16 x 16 - 16
* This format is not required for XP icons.
Note: Windows98/2000 is not compatible with 24 x 24 format icons. You can open icons containing this image format in relevant application software, but the operating system considers them invalid. You must ensure that the icon you design contains at least one of the image formats listed above to obtain good display effects. If the operating system cannot find a specific image format in the icon, it always uses the closest image format to display it, such as reducing a 48 x 48 icon to a 24 x 24 pixel size. Of course, the effect is worse.
Icon file format
In the Windows operating system, the file name suffix of a single icon is .ICO.
Icons in this format can be browsed directly in the Windows operating system; the suffix name is .ICL, which represents the icon library, which is a collection of multiple icons. Generally, operating systems do not directly support files in this format and require third-party software to browse. .
In the graphical user interface, all resources in the system are represented by three types of icons: application icons (pointing to executable programs that specifically complete a certain function), folder icons (pointing to user (a "container" for other applications, files, or subfolders) and document icons (which point to information created by an application).
In Windows systems, the icon with a curved arrow in the lower left corner represents a shortcut. Shortcut is a special file type that provides quick and easy access to some resource objects in the system. The shortcut icon is a "replacement" icon of the original object.
Shortcut icons are very useful as they are the primary way to customize your desktop and provide quick access to frequently used applications and documents.
An icon is a graphic with symbolic meaning. It is not only a graphic, but also a logo. It has the characteristics of highly condensing and quickly conveying information, and is easy to remember. It not only has a long history, from totems in ancient times to various icons with more meanings and functions now, but also has an extremely wide range of applications. It can be said that it is everywhere. The icon of a country is the national flag; the icon of a product is a registered trademark; the icon of the army is the military flag; the icon of the school is the school emblem; at the same time, it is also widely used in various public facilities, such as public toilet signs and traffic instructions. Cards, etc.;
What we see through icons is not just the icon itself, but the inner meaning it represents.
With the emergence of computers, icons have been given a new meaning The meaning has a new use. Here icons become computer graphics with clear referential meanings. Desktop icons are software identifiers, and icons in the interface are function identifiers. In computer software, they are program identifiers, data identifiers, command selections, mode signals or switches, and status indicators. Icons play an extremely important role in computer visual operating systems. They can not only represent a document, a program, a web page, or a command. We can also execute a command or open a certain type of document through the icon. All you have to do is click or double-click on the icon.
Icon file format
Icon files (*.ico) in Windows are saved using a structure similar to the BMP file format, but its file header contains more information To indicate how many icon files and related information are contained in the file. In addition, the data area of ??each icon also contains the setting information of the transparent area. The organization of the image information data is the same as BMP. This is a lossless image.
In addition, the cursor files (*.cur) in Windows also use this format. Therefore, icons and cursors can be used interchangeably most of the time.
What is an icon?
An icon is a graphic image, a small picture or object that represents a file, program, web page, or command. Icons help you execute commands and open program files quickly. To execute a command using an icon, click or double-click the icon. It is also used for fast presentation of objects in the browser. For example, all files use the same extension and have the same icon.
What is the difference between an image and an icon?
A computer image is a picture of bitmaps (composed of pixels) or vectors (composed of drawing paths), and can be represented using various different formats (BMP, PSD, GIF, JPEG, WMF...). All these formats have several different properties (bitmap, vector, compressed, layered, animated...) that can be used to store Picture, and decide any size.
Icons are different standard images. They are available in standard sizes (usually small): 16x16, 32x32, 48x48... The icons are composed of several pictures.
Each of them has a different size and number of colors (a channel, 16 colors, 256 colors, 16.8M...). The most important property of an icon is its ability to contain transparent areas, which makes the square pattern of the icon The background behind the screen becomes visible
What is the structure of an icon?
An icon is a set of images in various formats (size and color). Additionally, each image can include transparent areas. That's why you'll find a transparent color in the paint palette for 16 or 256 color images and a variable opacity parameter to use with the alpha channel, for the new RGB/A image format (opaque = 0 means transparent).
You need to include several images of an icon to allow the Windows or Macintosh operating system to choose the appropriate format when displaying it on the screen. It may change based on the screen's color number and display position. For example, in Windows? taskbar icons are displayed using the 16x16 image format, and on the desktop, they are displayed in larger sizes (48x48, 96x96, 256x256). In Windows Vista?6?4, some intermediate sizes are used (24x24, 32, 32, 48x48 and 64x64). If an icon does not exist at a certain size, Windows Vista 6 and 4 will automatically resize the adjacent size to the maximum size of 256x256.
In OSX system version 10.5, large format icons are used, 128*128, 256*256 or even 512*512. All of these formats contain a temporary channel to create smooth transparency and allow the icon to be resized satisfactorily.
Which of these image formats should my icon include?
To be compatible with all display cases and screen configurations, you must consider the various image formats that your icon contains.
See below and recommended formats for different operating system versions:
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 6?1 Recommended: 48x48 (256 colors, 16 colors), 32x32 (256 colors, 16 colors) colors), 16x16 (256 colors, 16 colors). 6?1 Minimum: 32x32 (256 colors, 16 colors), 16x16 (256 colors, 16 colors).
Windows XP 6?1 Recommended: 48x48 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 32x32 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 24x24 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 16x16 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors) 6?1 minimum: 32x32 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 16x16 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors). 6?1 optional: 128x128 (RGB/A)
Windows Vista?6?4 6?1 Recommendations: 256x256 (RGB/A), 64x64 (RGB/A), 48x48 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 32x32 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 24x24 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors), 16x16 (RGB/A, 256 colors, 16 colors) 6?1 Minimum: 256x256 (RGB/A), 48x48 (RGB/A, 256 colors) , 32x32 (RGB/A, 256 colors), 16x16 (RGB/A, 256 colors) 6?1 Optional: 256x256 (256 colors, 16 colors), 64x64 (256 colors, 16 colors)
What is the RGB icon format and Alpha channel?
Also called RGB/A, this image format contains 16.8 million colors. It consists of RGB (red, green and blue) plus an additional opaque channel. composition. This channel is called the Alpha channel. Each channel is composed of 8-bit pixels (meaning that each pixel is composed of 8 bits. Bits represent the most basic unit in computers. Each bit can contain a 0 or a 1, which is binary). The result is that each pixel is composed of 32 bits (because a picture is composed of 4 channels, so the pixels of the picture are 4*8=32 bits). You can intuitively understand the RGB/A image by looking at the following view