Icons

Documentation / Contents - File Handlers

• Overview of File Handlers
  • The Pair
  • What a File Type Is
• Opening a File
  • What Happens When You Open Something
  • Opening With a Particular Tool
• The File Handlers Panel
  • The File Type List
  • The Opens With List
  • The Detail Line
  • The Buttons
• Choosing a Handler
  • Auto-Pick Best
  • Try It
  • Opening Nothing
• Icons
  • The Available Icons List
  • Set Icon
• Creating New Files
• The Canonical Panel
• Where the Settings Live
  • The Master List
  • The Rule Files
  • The Ranking Tables
• From the Command Line
• Copyright Information

Icons

Every file type carries an icon, and that icon is what the File Manager draws for files of that type. The panel sets it.

The Icon Stem

An icon is named by its STEM: the file name without its extension. The stem "folder" means the icon file folder.fti in the icon directory. Stems are used rather than paths so that the same setting works whether the icon is found in the system icon directory or in your own.

The icons themselves are FTI files, the SGI icon format, which are drawn as line art rather than as a fixed grid of pixels. That is why they stay sharp at any size.

The Available Icons List

The third list in the panel shows every icon that is installed. Select a type in the File Type list, then click an icon here to try it. The stem appears in the "Icon stem:" field.

Set Icon

Assigns the stem in the field to the selected type. Use it after clicking an icon in the list, or type a stem in directly if you know the name.

Set Icon changes what the panel is holding. Press Apply to write it. The File Type list redraws with the new icon so you can see it in place first.

Seeing the Result

The File Manager reads the same rule files, so a type's new icon appears there. An already-open File Manager window may need to be refreshed before it picks the change up.

Choosing Well

• An icon should say what KIND of thing this is, not which application opens it. A PostScript file is a PostScript file whether you view it with one program or another.
• Types that are usually seen together should look different at icon size, not only at full size. The File Manager draws them small.
• The stock icons exist for the common types. Reach for a new stem when you have added a type of your own, not to redecorate the ones that ship.

See The File Handlers Panel for where the controls sit, and Where the Settings Live for the file the stem is written to.