Now that you have SunDesk and SunDesk Strip, you're probably growing impatient having to wait for your favorite applications to obtain color desktop icons. You diligently scour the download libraries searching for new 'icl8' icons, yet you still have a bunch of applications with boring black and white icons. What to do?
If you have ResEdit 2.1 (or newer), you're in luck. If you don't, you'll probably get it soon enough. Until then you can find a utility such as Icon Edit that allows you to create color icl8 icons. If you don't have ResEdit 2.1, but you have an icl8 editing utility, follow its instructions to add color icons to your applications. Then skip over the next section.
USING RESEDIT 2.1
_______________
ResEdit 2.1's icon editing capabilities is just one of the reasons why it is light years better than previous versions. It allows you to edit a whole family of icons in one editing window. This means you can edit an icon's black and white ICN#, the small ics# version, the large icl8 and icl4 color versions, and the small icl8 and icl4 color versions, all of which are used in System 7.0. All in one window, with tools you'd expect from a color paint program! Not only that, but after you've created a basic black and white frame (the ICN#), you just drag it from the ICN# box to the icl8 box to make a copy of it. Then, edit the icl8 color version using the black and white outline. Once the icl8 is done, drag it from its box to the icl4 box to create the 4-bit version. Do this for all the icon types. It is so simple that I just described the entire procedure in one paragraph.
In actual usage, it would go something like this. You have an application that needs an icl8 color icon. Run ResEdit and open up your application. As expected, it has no icl8 resources, but it does have ICN# resources. Open up the ICN# resource list to locate the application's black and white icon that appears in the Finder. Note the ID number (usually 128). Now, back to the main resource list window, create a new resource with Command-K. The resource type you're creating is, of course, icl8.
It starts you off with a new (and blank) icl8 icon editing window, with an ID of 128. If the ID of the application's ICN# icon is not 128, press Command-I, then enter the ID of the ICN# icon. In other words, if the application's black and white ICN# was 2000, then give this icl8 an ID of 2000, too.
Finally, you should see the application's ICN# in its box near the center of the window. Drag this icon to the icl8 box at the top. Presto. You have your outline for coloring in the icl8. Using your artistic prowess, and ResEdit's excellent tools, do your stuff. When you're all done, save your changes and quit ResEdit.
INSTALLING NEW COLOR ICONS
________________________
Now that your favorite application has been endowed with a color (icl8) icon, run SunDesk Strip so you can add the icon to the Icon Gallery using the "Add Icons to Gallery" command. When asked to select a file from which to add icons, choose your application with the new color icon. Shazam! The new color icon is added to the Icon Gallery. Now what? Well, before you quit, use the "New Icons File" command to build a new SunDesk Icons file from the updated Icon Gallery icons. When done, just quit and restart your Macintosh.
