Ask HN: Good web-based icon editor?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=636388

by pg • 17 years ago

25 31 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Can anyone recommend a web-based pixel-level image editor? There seem to be favicon editors, but they're all hard-wired to make 16x16 images. Is there anything more flexible? (If not, someone should make one.)

oneplusone• 17 years ago

You may find http://aviary.com or http://www.pixlr.com/editor/ a good fit.

pg9• 17 years ago

Neither works well. Aviary won't let you zoom in closer than pixels 4 screen pixels wide. Pixlr doesn't seem to work at all.

pg9• 17 years ago

Actually, I take that back. Pixlr does work. This looks like the best option so far.

dmpayton• 17 years ago

+1 for Pixlr. I use it quite often when I don't want to reboot or launch VirtualBox for Windows/Photoshop and only need some minor tweaks.

swombat• 17 years ago

If not, someone should make one

Why? Would you pay for it?

pg9• 17 years ago

That's hardly the only reason to make things.

Though in fact I would, if it was cheap and (more importantly) easy enough.

staunch• 17 years ago

Splashup lists "Pixel-level control" as a feature on the front page.

pg9• 17 years ago

This looks the most promising so far. I can at least zoom in sufficiently. But there doesn't seem to be a way to set individual pixels.

solutionyogi6• 17 years ago

-Not an answer-

Why do you want it to be web-based? Any particular reason? I think there are certain things for which a browser is not a good application hosting platform. As an experienced web developer, I can imagine the amount of pain it will take to create a pixel based image editor.

Additionally, there are TONS of image editors available (free, commercial) for Win, Mac, Linux. I am sure you can find a program which you like.

steffanwilliams• 17 years ago

Agreed, a web based one makes very little sense.

For a desktop solution, I'd recommend Pixen. http://opensword.org/Pixen/

noodle6• 17 years ago

icons are really simple. for most people, making an icon will take less time than the download & installation of any software available.

solutionyogi6• 17 years ago

Really? What kind of icons are you talking about?

From the article ( http://simplebits.com/notebook/2004/08/23/anatomy.html ) written by a professional, I understood that creating an icon is a difficult process and you need a specialized tool. [e.g. You need to have two views - Zoomed in, Zoomed out]

And I doubt you can create an icon in less than 30 seconds. [Total time taken to download Paint.NET from http://www.dotpdn.com/files/Paint.NET.3.36.zip and install.]

pg9• 17 years ago

Why use software that requires installation if there's software that doesn't?

solutionyogi6• 17 years ago

Amount of time required to install an icon editor program < Finding a web based icon editor application*

[Ignoring the actual time needed to use the application and create the icon. I can guess that a native application will further reduce this time.]

* As I wrote earlier, because of browser limitations, there are very few web applications geared towards icon editing/image editing.

ankhmoop• 17 years ago

Off the top of my head:

- You generally own the license to the installed software in perpetuity. Your application source art will always be readable.

- It will integrate better with your desktop user experience. Printing, drag-and-drop, copy/paste of complex data, input devices (wacom tablets), etc.

utku_karatas2• 17 years ago

I subscribed to iconfu.com the minute I saw it because not only it allowed me to edit the icons but it also laid tons of predesigned icon sets right in front of me (be it OS or Creative Commons licensed).

Digging for all those icon sets alone would take a considerable amount of my time. And community seems to be tagging all those icons so it's very easy to search. I'm not aware of any desktop app providing the help of community like this.

Thanks to noodle for the heads up and kudos to the iconfu team.

noodle6• 17 years ago

http://iconfu.com/

pg9• 17 years ago

This appears to be limited to 16x16 images, unless you pay.

noodle6• 17 years ago

give 'em money and you get up to 48x48

conanite2• 17 years ago

hello pg,

iconfu is my site. I work on it when I'm not busy with rainbow ...

what's your username? I'd be happy to upgrade your account for you so you can enjoy full 48x48 pixel bliss.

Ask HN: Good web-based icon editor?

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