System 7 provides the ability to customize any Icon by simply pasting a PICT in the Icons place. This feature, however, is very limited as I'm sure some of you have found out. First of all the PICT must be 32 by 32 pixels large or it will be scaled down in size which more often than not leads to distortion. Another problem is the way in which Masks are created. The Mask determines what part of the Icon is visible on the desktop. System 7 usually leaves the Mask incomplete when pasting color PICTs that contain light colors. This results in parts of the Icon magically disappearing.
Another problem with pasting PICTs is the way in which the Icon will shade over when it is selected. Only certain colors will shade properly and this can make the Icon look 'speckled' when it is selected, if other colors are present. Worse than that, the Labels menu will only apply a label color to those special colors, leaving the other colors unchanged. This makes the Label options undesirable because it does not apply an even color to the Icon.
The Video Icon Collection contains over 50 Icons that have all been made using the set of colors that work best with the System. If you like, I can create a personalized Icon set of yourself or anyone else for that matter. There is no better way to 'Personalize' your Mac. If you are connected to a network, you can replace your hard disk Icon with a portrait of yourself and anyone who logs onto your machine will have an Icon of you appear instead of the usual File Server Icon. The set contains several Icons which include a full portrait, floppy disk, folder, document, and a Mac Icon embedded with your picture. Just send $20 with a photo of yourself and I'll make a personalized Icon set and get it back to you along with my latest collection. A sample of the Icon set has been included with this collection to give you an idea what your Icon set will look like. My address is:
Marc Smith
P.O. Box 646
London W8, 7PP
England
How to use the Icons...
For those of you who are unaware of how to copy and paste System 7 Icons, simply select the Icon that you desire and Get Info under the File Menu. Click on the Icon in the Get Info Window and then select Copy from the Edit Menu. You may now Paste the Icon onto any file using the same procedure only pasting the copied Icon on the file you want.
Suggestions For Using Icons...
Icons are an important part of the Macintosh interface. They are the visual guides to your information. Customizing these Icons provides a much better working environment and they can greatly help organization. It is, therefore, a good idea to use Icons consistently so as not to get confused. For example, use only folder Icons to represent folders etc.. Sloppy use of Icons can lead to great confusion.
How this collection is put together...
Each Icon is pasted onto a Teach Text document. There should be no reason to double click any of these files in order to copy the Icons but if you do, instructions will pop up explaining how to use the Icon. That's it!
