Or even that the drive is external, after all. Given how crazy some external drives can look nowadays, the relationship between the icon in the interface and its physical counterpart may be problematic.
#MAC OS X LEOPARD ICON PACK FOR WINDOWS 10 MAC OS X#
However, I find it interesting that the Mac OS X icon for a hard disk is a bare HDD mechanism, while Windows appears to show an external drive. One exception is the generic hard disk icon used in Mac OS 7.5 I admit that even Windows 3.0's version was better. It's clear from the icon grids on Wichary's site that for the most part, Mac icons have always looked better than Windows icons, whatever the generation. It also traces standard file type icons, sounds, splash screens. It has many different interface elements from many OSes from the past and present, including Mac, Windows and Gnome and BeOS. Marcin Wichary offers a very entertaining resource called the Graphical User Interface Gallery. Flat objects appear as if there were a wall behind them with an appropriate shadow behind the object. Utility icons are depicted as if they were on a shelf in front of you. The various perspectives are achieved by changing the position of an imaginary camera capturing the icon.Īpplication icons look like they are sitting on a desk in front of you. All interface elements have a common light source from directly above. The angles and shadows used for depicting various kinds of icons are intended to reflect how the objects would appear in reality. Some icons should be designed as if the viewer is looking at them straight on and others from an angle. Looking through the Interface Guidelines, I was surprised to find a section on the conceptual viewing angle for icons. Your icon will look more realistic if you successfully convey the item’s weight and feel, as well as its appearance. Examine various objects to study the characteristics of plastic, glass, paper, and metal. Icons that represent actual objects should look as though they are made of real materials. Apple suggests that developers add shadows to the icons, giving the idea that the icon is resting on a surface. Of course, the Aqua interface can provide photographic detail to these small illustrations. The original 128K Mac interface used 32 x 32 pixels. If you don’t add a glow to make the edges of your icon prominent, it might appear to dissolve into the black background of the Cover Flow view.įor the best-looking icons, developers must create versions of program icons from 512 x 512 down to 16 x 16 pixels.
If your icon is very dark or has black edges, consider adding a slight inner glow just inside the edges to make the icon stand out against the black background. The icons are set in a black background above a reflective "surface." Depending on the color of the icon or level of transparency, the icon can melt into the background or be clipped. I didn't realize that the Cover Flow view in the Finder also comes with its own share of issues for icons. However, in its Human Interface Guidelines, Apple suggests that developers need to make fresh versions of the icons and not just blow up their old images.įor example, the 512 x 512 pixel version of the icon should not have thick strokes or look “vectorized.“ In general, the larger icon should be a higher quality rendition of the 128 x 128 pixel resource, which exhibits richer texture, more details, and greater realism. Leopard supports 512-by-512-pixel icons, which are much larger than the previous 128-x-128 standard. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard offers new challenges for icon designers. But the standards for these interface elements keep changing. Computer users on Mac, Windows or Linux must take icons for granted.
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