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Icons

This comparison has been updated for Windows Vista and moved to our new website Mac vs. Windows

Overview

Icons may seem like a trivial subject in the grand scheme of computing, but their quality can indeed have an effect on usability. Well-designed icons make their function clear and speed up a task; poorly designed ones can lead to confusion as the user tries to guess what an icon means. In terms of individual applications, icons are much like a logo or brand - they establish an image for their product. An application with a well-designed icon that adheres to the operating system's standard colors and look will "fit in" with the rest of the system and create a professional image.

Both operating systems support variable levels of transparency in icons, which lets designers create icons with smoothly rounded edges, drop shadows, etc. However, Mac OS X arguably gives designers more room for creativity than Windows XP does, due to its support for higher icon sizes and its ability to smoothly scale icons to nearly any size.

To help illustrate the difference in quality between OS X and XP icons, the graphic below compares the OS X icon for Internet Explorer (top row) with the Windows XP icon for the same application (bottom row). Although Internet Explorer does not ship as part of OS X, it serves as a good demonstration for this subject since its icon is roughly the same design on both OS X and XP.


Internet Explorer icons for Mac OS X (top row) and Windows XP (bottom row). The units at the bottom are pixels.

The pixel dimensions in green are the recommended or optimal sizes for Windows XP icons.

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Mac OS X

Minimum icon size: 16 x 16 pixels
Maximum icon size: 128 x 128 pixels
Transparency support: 8-bit

OS X is capable of smoothly resizing icons to nearly any size between its minimum and maximum. As such, it has a slider that lets you click and drag to set your icon size (for the desktop or for any/all Finder windows):

As you drag the slider left or right, the icon size for your desktop/folder will change in real time so you can immediately see its effects.

OS X's support for large 128 x 128 icons leaves plenty of room for creativity:

Notice how the Lara Croft icon casts a semi-transparent shadow on the Simpsons icon behind it.

OS X lets you apply custom icons to both files and folders. To do so:

  1. Select the file/folder that's using the icon you want to apply
  2. Get Info (-I)
  3. Select the icon preview by clicking it, then copy it (-C)
  4. Select the file/folder that's using the icon you want to change
  5. Get Info (-I)
  6. Select the icon preview by clicking it, then hit paste (-V)

While this method is fairly straightforward, it may not be obvious to the average user, as there is little indication that you can copy/paste in this fashion within a Get Info dialog. However, any image can be copied and pasted for use as an icon, so it is very easy for users to create custom icons for their files or folders.

OS X can show image previews as icons for certain image files (such as .jpg or .gif). Image previews can be scaled to the same sizes that icons can. You can see large previews in Icon view:

Or very small previews in List view:

X's list view

Windows XP

Minimum icon size: 16 x 16 pixels
Maximum icon size: 72 x 72 pixels
Transparency support: 8-bit

Although XP technically supports any icon size between its minimum and maximum, the majority of its icons are designed for three sizes: 16 x 16, 32 x 32, and 48 x 48 pixels (some icons are designed for 24 x 24 pixels, though this size is usually reserved for items that appear either directly in the Start menu or in a Windows/Internet Explorer toolbar). Since XP cannot smoothly scale its icons to "in-between" sizes, developers will have to design their icons specifically for any alternate sizes at which they want them to appear crisply.

TweakXP.com describes a way to enable 128 x 128 pixel icons in XP. While this lets users take advantage of larger icons, they are still subject to the same limitations as icons at any other size - unless rendered specifically for that size, icons will appear blocky.

To change icon sizes:

  1. Click the Start Menu
  2. Choose Control Panel
  3. Choose Appearance and Themes, and then click "Change the computer's theme" (or "Display" if viewing the Control Panel in classic view)
  4. Select the Appearance tab
  5. Click the advanced button and choose "Icon" from the Item drop down menu

Alternatively, right-clicking the desktop and choosing "Properties" will call up the same appearance window. XP's icon size control looks like the following:

There are a number of flaws with this design:

  • The minimum and maximum values for icon size are not obvious (you will need to scroll all the way in one direction or the other until you can go no further)
  • XP's preferred icon sizes - 16 x 16, 32 x 32, and 48 x 48 - are not indicated as such
  • You need to click "Apply" in between each change, which can be frustrating if you aren't aware of the preferred icon sizes

When you set the icon size in this dialog, it applies to the desktop as well as any folders using Icon view. You cannot set desktop icon sizes independently of folders, nor can you specify different icon sizes for different individual folders in Icon view.

XP supports image previews as icons, but only in Thumbnails view or Filmstrip view. Thus, image previews cannot be scaled to any size.

XP lets you change the icons for folders, shortcuts, or filetypes; however, you cannot change icons for applications or individual files. To do so:

  1. Right-click the folder/shortcut and choose "Properties"
  2. Click the Customize tab
  3. Click "Change Icon..." (this brings you to a dialog that browses the contents of %SystemRoot%\system32\SHELL32.dll by default, which contains many icons)
  4. Click "Browse"
  5. Navigate to the .ico or .exe file containing the icon you want to use and click "Apply"

If you want to create your own icon, Microsoft has provided thorough instructions for doing so. In addition, Paint is capable of creating icons by saving .bmp format images with a .ico extension.

Conclusion

Mac OS X

  • Large icon sizes (up to 128 x 128)
  • Individually adjust icon sizes for the desktop or any folder
  • Smoothly scale icons to nearly any size in real time
  • Change icons for individual files
  • Copy/paste any image as an icon
  • View image previews at any icon size in any Finder view
  • Can't change icons for filetypes
  • Ability to change icons for individual files/folders is not immediately obvious

Windows XP

  • Large icon sizes (up to 72 x 72)
  • Change icons for filetypes
  • Create icons with Paint
  • Most icons rendered only at three sizes
  • Can't smoothly scale icons to non-optimal sizes
  • Optimal sizes not indicated as such to the user
  • Icon size setting applies to desktop and all folders in Icon view; no individual settings
  • Image previews as icons only available in Thumbnails view and Filmstrip view
  • Can't change icons for individual files

Mac OS X: 9
Windows XP: 5

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