main page

Adding, editing and creating icons

TOS 2.06, unlike previous version of TOS allows you to add your own icons for files, folders and programs..


____________________________________________


Organizing and creating a new "DESKICON.RSC" file
There are literally thousands of icons available for Atari ST users which can be used with TOS 2.06, so you'll probably find most of what you need instead of having to create your own icons.
In order to organize icons we need a handy and easy to use program such as "Icon juggler". This little program is made for TOS 2.06 and can read icons from other suitable resource (.RSC) files, then paste them into the "DESKICON.RSC" file you'll be using (or create a new one if you don't already have a file by that name).

 

Once you've organized all the icons you need to save the file, then reboot (restart) the computer in order to load the new icons into memory. From then on you are ready to assign the new icons to your files, programs and folders (by going to "Install Icon" in the "Options" menu).



____________________________________________


Bug in Icon Juggler causing lost icons!
There's a small, but significant bug that shows up if you...
  1. Organize icons with Icon-juggler, saving the DESKICON.RSC file you're working on
    and.....
  2. Load the same DESKICON.RSC file into any resource-editor (i.e. Interface, ORCS etc.) to edit/create new icons, then save the file there.
It seems that Icon-juggler adds an invisible pile of garbage at the end of each RSC file it's working on and for some reason, whenever a previously Icon Juggler-saved file is loaded into a resource editor, the last icon in the file is removed! This means that every time you edit the file with a resource-editor, one more icon at the end of the file is being removed!

The solution....
There's a simple solution to this problem:


The problem does not show up if you...

  1. only use Icon-juggler (i.e. you only need to organize icons which other have made as there are lots of ready-made icons out there on the Internet)
    or.....
  2. you only use a resource editor for anything involving icons (any resource-editor can of course be used to organize icons as well, but in a more manual way than with a dedicated organizer such as Icon-juggler. If you find yourself editing/creating icons a lot and don't feel the need to reorganize the file you may not ever need to use Icon-juggler in the first place)


____________________________________________


The 12 default icons in TOS
Atari placed 12 basic icons in the TOS 2.06 ROM/EPROM chips. They represent the basic file/program/folder/device types, but for most files you'll get the same icon which isn't very exciting.

 

As explained at the top of this page and in the section about installing icons, a file named "DESKICON.RSC" containing additional icons can be used to add any icon you like (up to 200 icons).

...however, those 12 standard icons in TOS will be replaced with whichever 12 icons are located first in the "DESKICON.RSC" file.
This also means that for any files/folder/devices/programs you haven't assigned an icon to, going by the default instead... those icons might end up with something completely different! A folder icon may have the icon of a word-processor, a text file may have the icon of a trash-can etc.

The solution?
Copy the first 12 icons which are standard in TOS to the beginning of the "DESKICON.RSC" file (in the same order). That way the defaults will always work. Then add your new icons after these 12.
If you really don't care much for the 12 default icons at all, be sure to replace them with equivelant icons (the trash-can icon with a different trash-can, the folder icon with a different folder etc.). It's very important that you keep them in the same order. The way TOS goes about knowing which icon belongs to which item isn't by its name, but by its order. If you rearrange the order of the icons you'll get the same problem as just mentioned.

Conclusion?

The 12 default icons from TOS 2.06 are included in the icon file I've made available which is found in the software folder of this user-guide.



____________________________________________


Editing or creating new icons (using resource-editors)
Most people will be quite happy with the icons that are already available, made by others. New icons often come with programs, and large icon collections covering all sorts of subjects are available on the Internet.

If you want to edit existing icons, or create your new ones from scratch you need a resource-editor. These programs are often used by programmers to create graphical menus and dialogs for programs, so they might seem a little complicated to use at first ....practice makes perfect! (be sure to practice on a copy of an icon file in case you mess it up!).
Resource editors open and save files with the ".RSC" extension (such as our "DESKICON.RSC" file of course).
A few resource editors worth mentioning:

Out of these three I'd recommend you get a hold of "Interface" as seen here...


  


 
 "Interface" can be used to edit/create icons.



____________________________________________


Editing or creating new icons (icon-editors)
In addition to resource-editors there are dedicated icon-editor programs...

Unfortunately there aren't many of these around. The ones I've found are either buggy, are only available as demo versions (and since the company that sold the software is gone there's no chance of buying the full version either), don't handle .RSC files (but instead other icon formats) or are only available in certain languages (i.e. German)

Out of the few working icon editors I've found there's Icom ("Icon-Master"). But as this is basically the exact same icon editing part of "Resource-Master" you may as well use any full, standard resource editor instead (such as "Interface" which is now free.



____________________________________________


Notes, limitations and workarounds concerning icons
There are many possibilities with icons as described here and in the section of the user-manual about installing icons, but there are also a few limitations to keep in mind:



main page