icons

Icons are one of those things that are all over the World Wide Web but most people don’t realise just how bland the web would be with out them.

I only found this out because I have a website dedicated to icons, after a few months of enjoying the benefits of pay per click the big G all of a sudden decided that my website needed to be more than just one page.

During the process of completing redesigning the website it dawned on me just how much these little graphics play a part on the World Wide Web. One of the best examples can be found on yahoo's home page, try to imagine the page without icons and you'll see just how important they are.

Other hubs exist on how to create icons here is an unusual one that shows how to make your desktop icons transparent. transparent icons

A number of different ways exist to create and personalize your icons depending on your artistic ability you could always create them with paint shop pro, when saving the file that you want to use as an icon you need to save it as a .gif or .bmp It is possible to use other extensions such as .jpg though the extra steps needed to use it make it a poor choice.

You will also find many different types of software available that deal only with making Icons most will set you back a few bucks but are considerably simpler to use than say Paint Shop Pro. Another option is to use an online editor, just Google “Online Icon Maker” and you will find many that are quick and easy to use.

If you’re not into designing your own Icons and simply want a decent selection to choose from you can purchase a set from many different sites prices vary from an out of the box selection where you get a few thousand for $10 - $50 or you can get a unique Icon designed for around $10 www.iconsmonster.com was the site I was redesigning and the site has a collection of 1200 Icons for $19.95

One of the other things that people can easily get confused with is the difference between an .ico file and an Icon .ico files are the very small thumbnail that you see after book marking a web page in your list of favorites. These .ico files are considerably smaller than a regular Icon file and cannot be created in a program like paint shop pro. The easiest way to create one is to use an online site that does it for you for free; many exist and by searching on Google for “make .ico” you will also find many sites.