Solved Any recommendations for a good free icon editor ?

[DavidE]

Any recommendations for a good free icon editor ?

I need to create a few simple icons, just a large full size "color block", nothing fancy.
I'm remotely helping someone that is visually impaired, computer illiterate, 94 years old.
I want to create a few icons for her, so i can just say "double-click the blue, red, ... icon".

I found this free editor and i think it will do what i want.
Greenfish Icon Editor Pro | Gizmo's Freeware
The program scans clean at VirusTotal.

I will run the icon editor and create the icons on my pc, and copy them to her via teamviewer.
I want a secure, reliable program - no malware/add-ons/etc for my pc.

Any suggestions for something better, why not to use this program, are much appreciated.

tyia,
David

 

[TheDeerDude]

Hi David,

I haven't personally used Greenfish Icon Editor, so I can't say much about it, I'm afraid.

However, I can recommend you a personal favourite of mine - IcoFX Portable, the portable version is free. Just another program to consider

 

[DavidE]

TheDeerDude, thank-you very much +1.

IcoFX and Greenfish both work fine for what i need.
I really like portable, didn't think of checking at PortableApps
This thread is solved.

 

[mrjimphelps]

If all you want to do is create some simple icons, you don't need an icon editor. All you need to do is to open any image file in Paint, save it in .BMP format, and put .ICO (rather than .BMP) as the file extension.

In fact, if you already have a .BMP file that you want to use as the icon, simply change the file extension to .ICO and you're done.

You can't do much in terms of editing when you do it this way; but it doesn't get any simpler than this.

 

[Alejandro85]

If all you want to do is create some simple icons, you don't need an icon editor. All you need to do is to open any image file in Paint, save it in .BMP format, and put .ICO (rather than .BMP) as the file extension.

In fact, if you already have a .BMP file that you want to use as the icon, simply change the file extension to .ICO and you're done.

That doesn't gives an icon at all, its still just a bitmap, Paint doesn't handles icon files at all. Changing the filename doesn't makes it an icon or changes anything about the file, it's still the same thing.

Unless the OP is fine with what he already have (I'm not still sure if he's looking for a true icon really) I don't see how renaming a file can help.

 

[mrjimphelps]

That doesn't gives an icon at all, its still just a bitmap, Paint doesn't handles icon files at all. Changing the filename doesn't makes it an icon or changes anything about the file, it's still the same thing.

Unless the OP is fine with what he already have (I'm not still sure if he's looking for a true icon really) I don't see how renaming a file can help.

What do you mean, it doesn't give an icon at all? An icon is nothing more than a thumbnail picture on your desktop which, when clicked, runs a program. I have created many icons in this way. I'm using them (and have been for a long time) as we speak.

The user said that he wants to create 'a few simple icons, just a large full size "color block", nothing fancy'. My suggestion will probably meet his needs as described, and you can't get any simpler than this method.

 

[TheDeerDude]

@mrjimphelps this is just a speculation on my part, but I think the renamed .bmp does not get converted into an .ico file, it just gets treated as one. Yes, it works just fine - I have done this myself on Windows Vista (and just now on 7), but it's more of a hack than proper way of doing it. It's convenient, but in my experience some viewers refuse to display it, most likely because it isn't the right file format. Saving it as a bitmap also reduces the colour range to be used, but then again the OP didn't ask for anything fancy

Also, inside a normal icon file there are several icons - each for a specific size, you can see this by extracting the ZIP I've attached into an empty folder, and changing the folder views - the bmp won't change, whereas the proper icon's icon will change as necessary, depending on the size.

Everyone probably knows this, but I really wanted to share it, because I find it so awesome

 

[mrjimphelps]

TheDeerDude: Thanks for that information. Yes, I understand and agree that a .BMP is not a true .ICO file. But the user wanted something simple, so I gave him my "quick and dirty" method. If he wants nice-looking icons, then he needs to do a more "proper" procedure than the one I have detailed.

As for me, I try to do things in the simplest way whenever I can; this keeps life less complicated and stressful.