Differences with Other Platforms

The desktop is different from the application spaces you may be familiar with in the following ways:

• The desktop requires the larger 48x48 size to accommodate higher resolution displays.

• The desktop has a different color space for icons. You may be able to reuse icons from other environments, but if they have color in them, chances are some of the colors will need to be changed to map onto the desktop palette. The basic design should still work. See Table 4-1 for aid in translating colors.

• Perhaps the most significant difference is that, in most cases, desktop icons appear against a background color other than white, which seems to be the norm in other environments. This can make your icon appear unreadable if you simply copy it from another environment. You should test any icons from other environments before using them on the desktop.

Table 4-1 RGB Values for Common Desktop Environment Icon Colors

Color	RGB Values Decimal	RGB Values Hex	Grays	RGB Values Decimal	RGB Values Hex
Black	0, 0, 0	#00	Gray1	222, 222,222	#de
White	255,255, 255	#ff	Gray2	189, 189,189	#bd
Red	255, 0, 0	#ff0000	Gray3	173, 173,173	#ad
Green	0, 255, 0	#00ff00	Gray4	148, 148,148	#94
Blue	0, 0, 255	#0000ff	Gray5	115, 115,115	#73
Yellow	255, 255, 0	#ffff00	Gray6	99, 99, 99	#63
Cyan	0, 255, 255	#00ffff	Gray7	66, 66, 66	#42
Magenta	255,0,255	#ff00ff	Gray8	33, 33, 33	#33