Icons

Icons may appear on the desktop and in windows. Icons are pictorial representations of objects. This goes beyond the use of icons in Windows 3.1, which only represented minimized windows. Your software should provide and register icons for its application file and any of its associated document or data files.

Note
For more information about the use of icons, see Chapter 10, "Integrating with the System." For information about icon design, see Chapter 13, "Visual Design."

Windows includes a number of icons that represent basic objects, such as the following.

Table 3.1 Icons

Icon

Type

Function

System Folder

Provides access to a user's private storage.

System Folder

Provides access to the network.

Folder

Provides organization of files and folders.

Shortcut

Provides access to other objects. A shortcut icon uses the icon of the type of file it is linked to, overlaid with the link symbol.

Saved Search

Locates files or folders.

Application

Allows browsing of the content of a user's computer or the network.

System Folder

Stores deleted icons.

System Folder

Provides access to properties of installed devices and resources (for example, fonts, displays, and keyboards).