IF01075
Computer Icon
On computer displays, a computer icon
is a small pictogram. Icons have been used to supplement the normal
alphanumerics of the computer. Modern computers now can handle bitmapped
graphics on the display terminal, so the icons are widely used to assist users.
A computer icon usually ranges from 16 by
16 pixels up to 128 by 128 pixels. Some upcoming OSs will feature icons up to
512 by 512 pixels. When the graphical output device has a smaller size, the icon
size is small. Vision impaired users (due to such conditions as poor lighting,
tired eyes, medical impairments, bright backgrounds, or color blindness) may
need to utilize the self-selected icon size options.
Icons may represents a file, folder,
application or device on a computer operating system. In modern usage today, the
Icon can represent anything that the users want it to: any macro command or
process, mood-signalling, or any other indicator. User friendliness also demands
error-free operation, where the icons are distinct from each other, self
explanatory, and easily visible under all possible user setups.
Icons were first developed as a tool for
making computer interfaces easier for novices to grasp in the 1970s at the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center facility. Icon-driven interfaces were later
popularized by the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating environments.
Icons may also be found on the desktop,
toolbars and in the menus of computer application software such as Microsoft
Word. Icons are made more use-friendly by being very clear from every other
icon. Each Icon-set may also have unifying features that show that similar icons
are related to each other. Icons show this by:
1.
Contrasting Sizes
2.
Square-grabbing (large or small area, top/
bottom, left/ right, centered/ perimeter)
3.
Pattern-contrast (Horizontal-striped,
vertical-striped, slanted-stripes, circles, oblongs, ...)
4.
Light-On-Dark, or Dark-On-Light
5.
Framed/ Shadowed
6.
Color contrasts
7.
Fine-detail (with thin lined drawings)
8.
Animation
Virtually every major computer operating
system has the ability to use an icon-based graphical user interface (GUI) to
display information to end users.
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