Installing Icons for Themes

The GNOME Desktop provides several themes that are designed for users with special visual needs. For example, some of the themes are designed for users with low vision. Several versions of icons might be required so that the icon can be displayed properly in each theme.

You might need to install a new icon for an application. When you install a new icon, you must create several versions of the icon, so that the icon displays correctly in the themes. You must create several versions of the following types of icon:

• Icons that are used within applications in the GNOME Desktop.

• Icons that are used internally by GTK+ applications, or GTK+ stock icons.

When you install a new icon, you must create several versions of the icon, so that the icon displays correctly in the themes. You can create the icons in several formats, for example Portable Network Graphic (PNG) format. The suggested size of icons for the desktop environment is 48 pixels by 48 pixels. At this size, most themes can rescale the icons.

When you install a new icon, create the following 48 × 48 pixel versions of the icon:

• Regular icon

• Low contrast icon

• High contrast icon

• Inverse high contrast icon

If possible, create 16 × 16 pixel versions of the each of the icons above also, for themes that do not require large print.

Install the icons to the image files location that is specified for the theme in To Install a New Controls Option or To Install a New Window Frame Option. For example, to add icons to the HighContrastLargePrint theme, add the icons to the /usr/share/themes/HighContrastLargePrint/pixmaps directory. Add references to the icons to the relevant theme files. For example, to add icons to the HighContrastLargePrint theme, add references to the icons to the /usr/share/themes/HighContrastLargePrint/gtk-2.0/gtkrc file. Modify the gtkrc file for the theme to associate the icon with a GTK stock icon identifier.

For more information on how to create icons for application launchers and for panels, see http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec.