Precision Software Appli…tions Silver Collection 1/Precision Software Applications Silver Collection Volume One (PSM) (1993).iso/windows/games/allic2.arj/ALLICONS.TXT

Text File | 1992-07-11 | 6KB | 97 lines

The *Original* ALLICONS is the largest single collection of Windows 3.X
icons available on Compuserve.
Compiled by Russell Mueller with the aid of an anonymous collaborator
and Keith Ledbetter's DUPICON program which identifies and eliminates
duplicate icons.
4190 ICONS (07/10/92)
The collection has been broken into 3 parts to make it easier to
download. The 3 parts are:

ALLIC1.ZIP: Icons whose names start with the numeral 0, A - E


ALLIC2.ZIP: Icons whose names start with the letters F - O


ALLIC3.ZIP: Icons whose names start with the letters P - Z.


The size specified above is due to the fact that even though each icon
file is only 766 bytes, DOS requires a full cluster (4096 bytes) for each
file.  All icons unZIPed require 15 Megabytes of physical drive space.

Each of the above files is a ZIP of ZIP files.  All of the icons with the name
A*.ICO have been ZIPed together in A.ZIP, all of the icons with the name B*.ICO
have been ZIPed together in B.ZIP, etc.  These ZIP files were then re-ZIPed
into the ALLICA.ZIP, ALLICB.ZIP and ALLICC.ZIP files.  I apologize for the
inconvenience, but this technique produces the smallest possible files for
maintaining the maximum number of icons.  I recommend doing all unZIPing on a
hard drive or a RAM drive for maximum speed.  Do not try and unZIP them into
the root directory!  The root directory of disks, whether floppy or hard drive,
can contain a very limited number of files in the root directory: 112 files on
low density disks, 224 on high density disks, and 512 files on hard drives.
Make a subdirectory called ALLICONS on your hard drive. The user can then copy
them on to floppies for later use and browsing.
Those who have tried unZIPing directly to floppies were very discouraged by the
long time of unZIPing (several hours).  Although the 3300 files would seem to
use 766 bytes X 3300 = 2,527,800 bytes, in fact, due to the nature of file
management on disk drives (cluster sizes and all that stuff), they will consume
15 Megabytes of hard drive space.  Your file manager such  as XTREE, QDOS,
PCSHELL will only show two and a half megabytes used, though.
If you do not know how to use icons with Windows 3, please reference your
Windows User's Guide manual, pp. 91-96. Using the procedure to change the
properties of an application, you can use the Change Icon button and assign
a new icon by typing in the path name and file name of any icon. For viewing
icons, you can use an icon editor such as Phil Eskelin's Icon Draw, AZICED, or
an icon manager such as Icon Manager from Impact Software, Icon Draw Plus
from WinSoft, Icon Master, Icon Magic, or Icon Tamer and Icon Tamer Pro
from Moon Valley Software.

ASSIGNING ICONS:
If you are new to using icons with Microsoft Windows 3, then you will probably
need a little instruction on how to use them.  Icons are assigned to
applications using the Program Manager.  Windows' programs or applications have
the icons embedded in the program code.  DOS programs do not contain any icons,
but you can still assign one using Program Manager.  After an application has
been set up in a group, the user highlights it's name by clicking the left
mouse button ONCE on the current icon.  Now in the top left corner of Program
Manager, select Files, followed by Properties, and then press the Change Icon
button using the mouse.
In Windows 3.0: In the dialog box which opens, you will see the text box above
a button for View Next and OK.  Type in the drive:\filename.ico of the new icon
you wish to assign and select the OK button, and then select the OK button in
the next dialog box and you are done.
In Windows 3.1: In the dislaog box which opens, you will see the test box above
a scroll bar region.  Type in the drive name and drive:\path\filename.ico of
the new icon you wish to assign and select the OK button.  You will see the
icon in the scroll bar region. Select OK, OK and you are done.
    Gee, that seems easy enough, except how do I look through all those icon
files to see which ones that I want to use?  That is not an easy question.  As
I mentioned above, there are several icon management utilities on the software
market, both in the shareware market and in retail market.  I have seen, used
and purchased (or registered in the case of shareware) several of these
utilities.  I can recommend Icon Tamer and Icon Tamer Pro from Moon Valley
Software, but my personal favorite is Icon Manager by Len Gray at Impact
Software.  This icon manager was reviewed by Barry Simon in the October 15,
1991 issue of PC Magazine (p.50).  Icon Manager will even let you open all of
the icons at once and browse through them using a mouse and scrollbar.  I like
to use the shareware version of Icon Tamer.  I can open 2 copies of this
utility: one is directed to my temporary directory where I store new icons from
downloads, the other is doirected to my ALLICONS directory where I store all of
my icon collection.  Using 2 copies of Icon Tamer this way, I can browse my new
acquisitions and compare them with my collection to look for duplicates.
When I want to search for a particular icon, I use Icon Manager from Impact
Software. Each icon collector will have his/her own preferences for icon
utilities and favorite icons.  The shareware icon managers can be found on
Compuserve in the WINADV forum in the shareware section, or utilities sections.
Icon drawing programs can be found in the Compuserve WINNEW forum in the
Icons/Bitmaps section (#16).

And in answer to those who have asked:
My all-time favorite icon has to be FILE2.ICO which is a representation
of the file cabinet for File Manager, except that it is more realistic with
files spewing from the file cabinet drawers. Or perhaps, my own Blue Max
icon.

<End of File>