individual sizes for desktop icons

[msl]

I'm reasonably sure that this is impossible without a program being
written, and I'm thinking it's probably unlikely even then, so I guess
this is really a request/challenge.

Can you come up with a way to make individual icons be larger/smaller
than others on the desktop? i.e. Make the programs that I use all the
time be twice the size of the other icons.

Any thoughts about whether this would ever even be possible with a
third party tool or if it would have to be integrated into the OS?

 

[Richie Hardwick]

I'm reasonably sure that this is impossible without a program being
written, and I'm thinking it's probably unlikely even then, so I guess
this is really a request/challenge.

Can you come up with a way to make individual icons be larger/smaller
than others on the desktop? i.e. Make the programs that I use all the
time be twice the size of the other icons.

I can't. Nobody can.

Any thoughts about whether this would ever even be possible with a
third party tool or if it would have to be integrated into the OS?

Don't know. I'd bet that it can't be done, period.

Richie Hardwick

 

[Mick Murphy]

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/IconTweaker/IconTweaker.html

This should suit you.
Click on the view full size before you download it to make sure it is what
you want.
You can change the number of pixels for the particular icon.

 

[Richie Hardwick]

http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/IconTweaker/IconTweaker.html

This should suit you.
Click on the view full size before you download it to make sure it is what
you want.
You can change the number of pixels for the particular icon.

Looks from the description that it is package of icon themes.

Can't see anything about making a single icon different sized than the
others. Have you used it?

Richie Hardwick

 

[dadiOH]

I'm reasonably sure that this is impossible without a program being
written, and I'm thinking it's probably unlikely even then, so I guess
this is really a request/challenge.

Can you come up with a way to make individual icons be larger/smaller
than others on the desktop? i.e. Make the programs that I use all the
time be twice the size of the other icons.

Any thoughts about whether this would ever even be possible with a
third party tool or if it would have to be integrated into the OS?

First, some info...

1. An icon can be just about any size. Common sizes are 16x16, 32x32,
48x48.

2. An icon file can contain several images, each a different size

3. If an icon file contains images of different sizes, Windows uses the
16x16 to display the icon when the icon is displayed small, a larger size
when displayed big.

4. If an icon file does NOT contain images of different sizes, Windows uses
what is there and extrapolates it for different sizes as needed; IOW, if the
icon file contains only a 16x16 image and Windows needs to display it as a
"large" icon it will do so. The resultant image is seldom as good as it
would be if the desired size were actually available.

5. In Desktop Properties, Appearance tab, Advanced one can change the size
of icons; however, it changes the display size for ALL icons when they are
displayed as "large". You cannot use it to change the size of individual
icons.

Now as to what you want to do...

1. Yes, you could do it

2. You would need any of many icon creating/editing programs

3. One of the "colors" available when making/editing icons is
"transparent". To make an icon appear to be smaller you would have to
replace one or more rows/columns of perimeter icons with "transparent".
That means you would probably lose some of the icon's image; if that doesn't
bother you, well and good; if it does bother you, you would have to redraw
the remainder of the icon. Every icon. A *huge* amount of work.

4. A better solution IMO would be to make special icons for the desktop
shortcuts of the pertinent programs...those could be distinguished in some
manner - a transparent center, perhaps - and it is easy to change the icon
for a shortcut without affecting the file type icon.

5. An even better solution - also IMO - is to forget it. Instead...

a. make a folder somewhere (not on the desktop); maybe name it "Most Used".

b. make folders within that folder and name those folders so as to
catagorize your most used apps; eg, "Music", "Utilities", "Games"...whatever

c. put shortcuts to the desired apps within the catagorized folders

d. Make your "Most Used" folder into a new toolbar on the taskbar. Drag the
sizing bars of the new toolbar so that only the title shows. Clicking on it
will then get you a pop up menu of the catagorized folders and hovering over
any will get you a list of the app shortcuts. You now have easy access to
as many apps as you wish and can delete all the clutter on your desktop.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Bob I]

You could use fewer colored pixel in the icon you want to "look" smaller.

 

[dadiOH]

3. One of the "colors" available when making/editing icons is
"transparent". To make an icon appear to be smaller you would have to
replace one or more rows/columns of perimeter icons with
"transparent". That means you would probably lose some of the icon's
image; if that doesn't bother you, well and good; if it does bother
you, you would have to redraw the remainder of the icon. Every icon.
A *huge* amount of work.

An easier way to make an icon smaller would be...

1. Copy a smaller icon (in the icon editor)

2. Make a new, larger icon that is blank

3. Paste into the larger, empty icon

For example, copy the 16x16 icon, make a new, empty 32x32 icon and paste
into it, delete any other 32x32 icons in the icon file, save the file.
Windows will now display the icon you made on the desktop and - even though
it is 32x32 - it will appear small because the only "picture part" is 16x16.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[Mick Murphy]

Richie, it's not the sort of thing I'm interested in changing.
That is why I suggested the OP just have a look at the Program, to see if it
suited him.

 

[Ardent]

Can you come up with a way to make individual icons be larger/smaller
than others on the desktop? i.e. Make the programs that I use all the
time be twice the size of the other icons.

I am getting this visual help for oft used programs this way - I have
all the icons in rows on top - not at the side which is the default.

The left rows are all Windows utilities like explorer, Winzip, Word
etc. On the right all the Internet related programs arranged in the
order in which I use them.

Then I use a small program icon_restore.exe to remember the desktop
arrangement and if by any chance the arrangement is disturbed I get my
setup restored in a single click.

Instead of looking for a larger of smaller icon I have what I want and
easily recognized.

HTH

Hope this helps

 

[msl]

I am getting this visual help for oft used programs this way - I have
all the icons in rows on top - not at the side which is the default.

The left rows are all Windows utilities like explorer, Winzip, Word
etc. On the right all the Internet related programs arranged in the
order in which I use them.

Then I use a small program icon_restore.exe to remember the desktop
arrangement and if by any chance the arrangement is disturbed I get my
setup restored in a single click.

Instead of looking for a larger of smaller icon I have what I want and
easily recognized.

HTH

Hope this helps

I just remembered I had actually asked someone about this so sorry for
the slightly unnecessary bump. Just wanted to thank everyone for their
response. As I stated originally, I knew that the functionality was
not something that would be easy to accomplish. While I appreciate the
responses, it seems like dadiOH was the only one who gave me an option
that would actually do what I asked. Now some day when I have way too
much time on my hands and feel like improving my extremely minimal
programming skills, I'll see if I can make something out of his
method.

Thanks again,

Matthew

 

[d0nk]

I had this same idea as the OP today and stumbled upon this thread. I believe that hinging a GUI Application around dadiOH's idea of setting Icons to a large size and using the alpha channel to make things smaller is perfectly possible. A simple and crude one that still requires a step or two from the user, such as initially changing icons to very large, could be done with basic scripts. Could probably even brew one up on Mac OS X using Mac's built-in scripting tools if you wanted to.

Contextual Menu Item->

A script would identify & locate the icon of clicked folder->

Open it in one of the many assortments of software choices for basic png editing (even stock OS X has tools for this)->

Let you choose the size (or choose size by clicking an array of context menu items instead of one)->

Scale the icon using the mentioned "alpha matte" method->

Save as a new file in an app support folder->

Paste (re-assign) new icon to folder: done

On the user end it would just be a right-click, hover over "icon renamer" item and choose between say 3, 4 or 5 different sizes

Thats the simple way. But OS's are starting to support way cooler things on the graphical end that sure goes beyond my reach but I'm sure is possible. Most or all of the major desktop OS's are hardware accelerated on the graphical end through and through, from the desktop rendering to dragging icons and files around. We've already seen things like Fences and other amazing enhancements from that company and others. Highly graphically altering a lot of the stock windows graphics.

So on that note, I think our best bet of seeing a true proper way of implementing this idea
would be to hit up Stardock (can't post link) and see if they can work that into Fences or it's a seperate product. They have a whole suite that works together to enhance windows UI stuff. I like the idea of doing this for enhanced productivity. It would work very well with my brain for sure.




dadiOH wrote:

> 3. One of the "colors" available when making/editing icons is
> "transparent". To make an icon appear to be smaller you would have to
> replace one or more rows/columns of perimeter icons with
> "transparent". That means you would probably lose some of the icon's
> image; if that doesn't bother you, well and good; if it does bother
> you, you would have to redraw the remainder of the icon. Every icon.
> A *huge* amount of work.

An easier way to make an icon smaller would be...

1. Copy a smaller icon (in the icon editor)

2. Make a new, larger icon that is blank

3. Paste into the larger, empty icon

For example, copy the 16x16 icon, make a new, empty 32x32 icon and paste
into it, delete any other 32x32 icons in the icon file, save the file.
Windows will now display the icon you made on the desktop and - even though
it is 32x32 - it will appear small because the only "picture part" is 16x16.