Desktop
ICONS
Tips
& Tricks
·
Icon Spacing, Tweak It. . .
A little-used Windows Display Properties
command lets you adjust icon spacing both for the desktop and for folder
and Explorer windows.
-
Right-click.
. .on the desktop
-
Select.
. .Properties to open Display Properties
-
Single
Click. . .the Appearance Tab
-
Click
the down arrow. . .for the Item drop-down list
-
Select.
. .Icon Spacing(Vertical) • Notate the starting
numbers •
-
Adjusting the number up (spreads
icons farther apart) or down (makes icons closer together).
-
Single
Click. . .Apply to check your adjustments,
and check the change in both a folder window and on the desktop.
-
Repeat
the steps. . .for Icon Spacing (Horizontal).
-
The horizontal and vertical
spacings affect one another, so keep fine-tuning until it's just right.
Note: Screen
resolution and display size significantly affect the perception of icon
spacing, so one size very definitely doesn't fit all. So if you frequently
change resolutions, you'll need to consider that too.
·
Making DeskTop Icons Smaller. . .
Are those icons that are cluttering
your desktop getting you down?
Bring them down to size and give yourself
more room.
-
Right-click.
. .on the desktop
-
Select.
. .Properties to open Display Properties
-
Single
Click. . .the Appearance Tab
-
Then on the Item drop-down menu,
Select.
. .Icon
-
Then pick a size of 16 (the
default is 32)
-
Single
Click. . .OK
Note: (This
works best if you make the words under the icons as short as possible)
·
Choose any icon you want for a short cut. . .
-
Right-click.
. .on the current shortcut icon. . .
-
Select.
. .Properties to open Display Properties
-
Select.
. .Shortcut tab
-
Single
Click. . .Change Icon button
-
Now use the Browse button to
find a new one. . .
-
Single
click. . .on the one you want to use
-
Single
Click. . .OK | Single
Click. . .Apply | Single
Click. . .OK again
·
You can make your own short cut Icon's. .
-
First set up a folder in My Documents.
. .ie. . .My ICONS
-
Take any .BMP file, rename it to give
it an .ICO extension. . .
-
Voila! Instant icon. . .
-
EXAMPLE:
cards.bmp now becomes cards.ICO
You access the file in the normal
way.
-
Right-click.
. .on the current shortcut icon
-
Select.
. .Properties to open Display Properties
-
Select.
. .Shortcut tab
-
Single
Click. . .Change Icon button
Now use the Browse button to
find your new one. . .
-
Single
Click on. . .the one you want to use
-
Single
Click. . .OK | Single
Click. . .Apply | Single
Click. . .OK again
The great thing about this is you can
have a special Icon for each and every shortcut. There are also many
sites on the internet where you can find desktop icons to download and
use.
-
· Here's my favorite
site. . .
-
Clip
Art Warehouse
-
Stop here for over 20,000
free graphics, clip art, animated gifs, buttons,
-
DESKTOP
Icons, lines, banners, backgrounds and more.
-
http://www.clipart.co.uk/
· Convert .gif's to .ico's files. . .
-
If you have found a .gif file
that you want to use for your Windows desktop or as Internet shortcut icon,
you'll have to convert the transparent .gif into a transparent .ico file.
I recommend the freeware icon viewer IconShop from Peter
Stuer (89kb) (download
here). IconShop keeps the transparency and it scales a graphic to the
necessary 32x32 .ico pixel format:
-
As of 3/10/03 there is only an Alpha version available for WinXP.
-
1.)
Open the .gif file you want to use and export the file as .ico. That's
it.
-
2.)
Now you can choose a program icon on your desktop, right click -> properties
-> change icon and select the .ico you've created.
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