Anthony's X Icon Library (version 1.4) Main ReadMe File ------------------------------------------ EMail: anthony@cit.gu.edu.au This collection was developed from the need for a collection of small bitmaps for both programming and X application icons. The library is freely copyable and can be used for any purpose you may desire. I would appreciate any new icons you may like to add to this collection and thay can be e-mail'ed to the above address. NOTE: The contents of this collection have been filtered to remove `junky' and other `horrible' looking icons. This has been a major problem with other collections I have seen. That is to say I have applied :- Sturgeon's Law -- `` 90% of everything is crap! '' Also note that this collection does NOT contain large background root pictures, and is limited (as much as possible) to bitmaps less than about 100x100 pixels in size. Monocrome (or Black & White) icons in the library are stored a X bitmaps as you would expect. Color icons are now stored as X pixmap files (version 3.2g XPMs) due to popular demand. However, the color background patterns (`cl-bgnds') in the collection are stored in the GIF picture format. This is basically due to the inability of most of the color set root programs available to understand the XPM icon format. Anyone know why? See the ``README.colorformats'' file for more details. The general purpose color icons (all xpm icons except those in the grey scale section ``gr-misc'') in this collection now share a common color table of approximately 30 colors. This prevents the users of the common `pseudo-color' displays, from running out of colors on your display when using, or viewing, a large number of these color icons. See the ``README.colortable'' file for more information. I also recomend this colortable to software developers and for use in window managers. The xbmbrowser program available on the mit export ftp site, is a MUST for viewing the icons in this collection. It scans and displays a whole directory of icons all at the same time. The program understands both X bitmap and X pixmap formats, and provides a user customisable menu of commands to execute on individual icons. The latest version at time of distribution is version 3.1 and is ftp'able from export.lcs.mit.edu in the directory /contrib. Or you can write to the author of the program, Ashley Roll on "aroll@gucis.cit.gu.edu.au". Please mail any nice looking icons available on your systems to the email address above. I will then sort them and include them into the collection, and add your name to the `contribution list'. I find that most systems have a dozen or so really nice icons that are not found elsewhere. NOTE: Due to the difficulity in keeping comments and other details inside icons when processing them (especially in changing to and from the PbmPlus processing programs), authorship and contribution details for icons are listed in the file ``README.contribs''. Applogies for any errors to this file. Please mail such errors to the address above and I'll try to fix it for the next release. In a simular way, I have not attemped to keep any `transparent' color. If you wish a transparent color for som particular icons, the `pixmap' program, available in the mit export ftp site, can `fill' the the outside region of the icon with the `transparent' color, quickly and easilly. If anyone has a script to do this automatically, using the PbmPlus programs, perl, sed, or any other method, please mail it to myself. I hope to release the scripts I use in sorting out this collection to the network with the next release (1.5). Anthony Thyssen -- anthony@cit.gu.edu.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Collections Orginisation :- Icons are very difficult to group in a logical way. This sub-directory orginization represents my own attempt at this near impossible task. Please mail me on any comments you have to icon sub-divisions, especially in a specific categorys like `bw-32' and `prog'. The catagories are distributed in seperate compressed tar archieves. A short summery of which archieve contains which section can be found in the file "TarFileContents". std Icons (xbm) that are all 64x54 in size. This is to allow X window screen displays to have all its application icons the same size. Some of these icons represent particular machines on the Giffith University network. These icons are placed in the directory "/usr/include/X11/bitmaps/std" at this site. See also "README.xrdb" and README.twmrc. bw-32 Black & White icons that are all 32x32 in size. bw-48 Black & White icons that are all 48x48 in size. bw-64 Black & White icons that are all 64x64 in size. bw-misc Black & White icons of miscellanous size. bw-bgnd Large(ish) background tile patterns (IE: escher fish tile). bw-pats Small scale texture patterns (IE: GreyScale or root_weave). cl-32 Color icons which are 32x32 pixels in size. cl-48 Color icons which are 48x48 pixels in size. cl-64 Color icons which are 64x64 pixels in size. cl-misc Color icons of miscellanous sizes. cl-bgnd Color background tiles. (NOTE: these are in gif format) gr-misc Miscellanous sized grey-scale icons. (only 2 at this time) button Small symbols or pictures used for buttons and/or markers. Usually 16x16 but not always. cursor Small cursors and associated masks. IE: watch & gumby twm Small set of icons for use as part of the TWM window manager title bar display. The number in the icon name refers to the 75dpi font point size that is used within the title bar. This is equal to Box size - 1. (See "README.twm" file) prog A collection of icons that would probably only be used in specific programs. This includes icons for landscapes, `planview' type adventure games (EG: Ultima, Nethack), Drawing programs, and assorted miscellanous controls. This is a `catch-all' directory of icons with specific purposes. See the README.prog file in this archieve. mail Icons for showing the status of mail (xbiff & xmail progs) *_new.xbm for new mail just arrived *_none.xbm for no mail in mail box (or no new mail) *_old.xbm for only old mail in mail box (hardly used) *_mask.xbm for mask shaped windows (ie: xbiff) desktop Icons for file managers and browsers (eg: like `xdtm' ), in both X bitmap and X pixmap formats. These are further grouped into categories such as folder and document icons. Specific program icons can usally found in the other 32x32 sections of the collection. flags A collection of country flags from around the globe movies Icons that form an animation sequence of some sort. The xpm series `eyeguy' is located here. bits Bits & Pieces which are not relly complete icons in themselves but can be used to create new icons. IE: flowers, animals, balls, pipes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why I created this collection :- Looking on the internet for icons is not easy. A number of libraries for bitmap/picture libraries exist but few are devoted to the X application builder and general X usage. This is not to say thay don't exist, the "Poskanzer Bitmap Collection" being a good example. Athough these contains some bitmaps that are suitable for icons and X programming, these bitmaps are small in number, are of mixed sizes, and many are not very nice looking. Aside from this, the Poskanzer's Collection contains a tremendous collection of large background pictures. It also looks as if this collection is not being updated. It seems to have had no new entries over the last few years. Originally I restricted myself to bitmaps that can be used as program icons in every day usage. The goal was to create a collection of bitmaps of a ``standard'' size that can be used for icons on the screen. It removes the `hodge podge' of different icon sizes that I see people use, and window managers have to contend with. Using a `standard' size results in a nicer looking display of the icons in the ``icon regions'' of the screen. With this goal in mind, a ``standard'' size of 64x54 was agreed on by the system programmers here are Griffth University, Division of Science and Technology at that time. This size was chosen as it is close to a ``golden rectangle'' (IE it is pleasing to the eye) and when a icon name is attached by the window manager it generally become another ``golden rectangle''. It was also close to the 64x64 size which was in common use when sunview windows were prevalent (and not that long ago either). To complete this goal, I usally try to convert icons to this `standard size' and am slowly succeeding in this respect. These ``standard'' sized icons can be found in the `std' sub-directory and consist of descriptive icons to refer to specific applications or machines we have in our local nertwork (IE: kurango (aboriginal for sun), gucis, sphinx, opera...). These machine icons chould be renamed to a more descriptive name for the icon (IE: "kurango.xbm" to "ayres_rock.xbm") but the users here would now probably kill me if I made this change. As time went on however this collection soon expanded to include: buttons for the TWM window manager (for in title bars), in the `twm' section; background patterns (small ones not root-maps), `bground'; and general use buttons or cursors, `buttons' and `masks'. One directory `misc' is a collection of odd sized icons which have either defied sorting to the various areas or are just waiting to be resized to the `standard' size. Color icons have also since been added to the collection. ASIDE: since the above paragraph was written the directories may have been renamed. See the general description near the top of this file. The subdirectories `std' and `twm' are an intergral part of the X window setup here at the Griffith University, Science and Technology Division. And is used to provide a usable default X window setup for naive staff and students. Anthony Thyssen - (SysProg @ Griffith University) anthony@cit.gu.edu.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ And even if there was a possibility of life outside the Store, it wouldn't be life as we know it! --- Terry Pratchett ``Truckers'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------