How to make your own custom icons - Part 1
With the Windows XP quick launch bar and all the custom theme and registry hacks there are out there, you can customize Windows to the max. But I’ve always had trouble keeping my custom folders organized on my quick launch bar. I want to assign each folder a different icon representing exactly whats inside, and sometimes the pre-packaged Windows XP icons don’t do the job. This tutorial will be focusing on the smallest of icons, such as the folder icons, shortcuts, and program applications.
To get started you will need a graphics program, even Windows Paint can do the job, but I would recommend maing these images as vectors in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or Freehand.
1) First things first, start off by making your icon 48 x 48 pixels, Windows uses three icon sizes, and starting off with the largest one will always let you size down. The three sizes are 48 x 48, 32 x 32, and 16 x 16 pixels.
2) Be sure to use vibrant and opposite colors, because icons are fairly small, dont try putting much detail into them, writing will be difficult if not impossible to see. I recommend using basic pictures, such as shapes, letters, or colors.
3) After you have designed your image export or save it as a .bmp file. There are ways to make your icon a icon file, but this method will be shown in Part 2 of this tutorial.
4) All you have to do now is assign your new icons!
If you want to change a shortcut, such as a desktop icon, or a quick launch icon, simply right click the file and select properties, then select the shortcut tab, and click change icon. You will now be able to browse for the icon you have created. Select it and click ok, you should be good to go.
If you want to change a file or folders icon, right click the file or folder and select properties. Now select the customize tab and select change icon. Browse for your custom picture and select ok.
This is Part 1 of creating a custom icon, this covered the very basics, in Part 2 we will cover in depth, custom icon building, where you can change the entire look of your Windows.
