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Creating Windows Icons using Paint
| Q: |
I want to create some
of my own icons for use on my Windows desktop. I know there are some
icon editors out there that I can buy, but I don't want to spend any
money. All of the "freeware" ones I've downloaded aren't really that
good. What do you recommend? > Sissy, Tampa FL |
| A: |
Sissy, you have a great
icon editor right in Windows, it's called Microsoft Paint. If
you look in your accessories folder at Start > All Programs >
Accessories you'll see Paint. Now, here's what you have to do.
First, click on Image and the Attributes on the menu
bar. Set the height and width to 32 pixels each. The picture has now
shrunk to the size of an icon image. Zoom in using the Zoom Tool
on the toolbar. I recommend zooming in to 8X. You can also turn
on the gridlines by clicking on View > Zoom > Show Grid. This
makes it easier to edit your icon's pixels (individual dots). You
can also click on Show Thumbnail on that same menu to see your image
as you're editing it. Now, go ahead and edit your image using the
standard Paint tools. If you don't know how to use Paint, we cover
it full in our
Microsoft Windows 121 course. When you're done, you have to
save your image with the .ICO file extension to tell Windows it's an
icon file. If you don't know what file extensions, are, we cover
those in our
Microsoft Windows 120 course. |
By Richard Rost
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