Chris Pirillo » icon

How to Create an Icon

Chris — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:40:21 +0000

How to Create an Icon is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

How many icons do you have on your desktop? I’m betting you probably have a few, unless you have them hidden. Even so, you still have tons of icons on your computer. An icon isn’t like a ‘normal’ graphic, since it can have multiple sizes or resolutions within the same file. They’re quite complex little pieces of art, so how can you easily create them yourself?

ConvertIcon is a simple icon utility. It can import ICO, PNG, GIF, and JPEG formats and export to high-quality PNG or ICO files. There is no software to download and it’s 100% free. It truly is this simple, folks. Just select an image from your computer, choose the size of the icon you want to create, and wait a few seconds while the site does the work for you!

Create custom icons for your documents folder, your My Computer desktop icon, or use them anyplace you wish – on your Windows computer, of course. Sorry Mac people, this one isn’t for you!

The best part of this site isn’t only that it’s easy to use: it’s the fact that you can export your icon into all of the sizes you might want or need. They’re all included in the .ico file (or .png!) that is output when you are finished.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code:

How to Make an iPhone Web Site and Icon

Chris — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:27:41 +0000

How to Make an iPhone Web Site and Icon is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

Yes, I have an iPhone. If you look closely, you can see my little Chris icon on there. It’s also on my home screen. When I tap it, it opens my blog. When you open my blog on your iPhone, it’s going to look a lot different than it would on a browser. That’s due to a plugin I am running in WordPress.

WP Touch is a plugin that was designed specifically for your iPhone or iPod Touch. What it does it to automagically reformat my blog (or any WP blog), and optimizes it specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It gives it a whole new layout, even, that is designed to just render better on your Apple mobile device. There’s no better way of giving you a better experience than to use WP Touch on a blog that is running WordPress.

As I drill down into the actual content on the home page, I can cascade out and read brief previews. Or, I can dive deeper and go so far as to leave a comment. It loads fast, and it’s clean. It’s a great way of getting content specifically optimized. It even uses Gravatars! There’s even a little search button at the top. Simply tap that, and you’ll be able to run a search through my blog.

How did I get the little Chris icon, you ask? If someone is viewing your website and they press the little plus (+) icon at the bottom in their Safari browser, they can select “add to home screen”. When they do that, the little graphic that is on my web server (or yours) is automatically pulled in when it’s added to their home screen. Even if you don’t have the iPhone or the iPod Touch, you still want to do this. You don’t know who out there in your audience does have one. You want to give them an amazing experience. Just open up your favorite photo editor. You’ll need to create a .png file. The size can vary up to 60×60 pixels. I uploaded mine to my root directory. It’s very important to name it properly: apple-touch-icon.png. That has to be the name, and it has to be in the root directory. This way, the plugin will be able to pull in this icon.

Think of it: you’re doing something simple and free for your audience. If you’re like me, you want to do everything you possibly can in order to keep people coming back for more.

FirstRSS+ThunderIT AWS HMAC ERROR: "http://xml-us.amznxslt.com/onca/xml?AWSAccessKeyId=05G128QTRXN0J06J6PG2&ContentType=text%2Fxml&Keywords=ipod%2Btouch&Operation=ItemSearch&ResponseGroup=Large&SearchIndex=Blended&Service=AWSECommerceService&Signature=ZJkol4%2BaiyFTuyziffvSU8lT%2BrvfNDX2z06cslPQifI%3D&Style=http%3A%2F%2Ftagjag.com%2Fcss%2Famazon.xslt&Timestamp=2009-11-24T16%3A37%3A34Z&Version=2005-07-26" NOT FOUND!

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

Are you an Indiana Jones Fan?

Chris — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:36:49 +0000

Are you an Indiana Jones Fan? is a post from Chris Pirillo

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

You could say I’m an Indiana Jones fan. Heck, I even watched the old “Young Indiana Jones” television show. So of course, I’m excited for the release of the newest movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The plot promises: “Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls.” Yeah… I can’t wait to see this. It comes out in theaters on May 22nd, 2008.

But the movie alone isn’t why I’m doing this video. Check out this announcement from one of my favorite websites, IconFactory:

For the past 6 months, artist Anthony Piraino has been crafting all new icons for Indy’s return to the big screen, and so we’re kicking off May with a re-release of Anthony’s original Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark™ collection, now with beautiful large resources for Mac OS X Leopard and Windows Vista. Indy’s bullwhip, trademark fedora and treasures never looked so good! In addition, the CandyBar iContainer sports a fun custom dock, and Dave Brasgalla has worked up a special Indy desktop picture perfect for armchair archaeologists.
We invite you to visit the Iconfactory’s Indiana Jones™ home page to preview and download each film’s icon collection throughout the month of May. Then be sure to grab your ticket for the hottest show in town, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull™ coming to theaters everywhere May 22nd. We hope you enjoy this Iconfactory special event. The adventure is just beginning!

That’s right, folks. You can download these awesome Indiana Jones icons right to your desktop!

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

RSS, OPML, Tag, Bookmark Icons

Chris — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:53:10 +0000

RSS, OPML, Tag, Bookmark Icons is a post from Chris Pirillo

We have a “standard” RSS icon and a similar working OPML icon, but I’d like to work with the graphics community on creating a “standard” Tag icon and a “standard” Bookmark icon – in a similar square style. These icons would tie into the functionality of my first two WP plugin ideas – where the user would only need to display one icon, and when the visitor hovers over it, would receive a nice callout to selected services. We could eliminate a massive amount of confusion and save page space at the same time. I think it’s time we started thinking about this – but I’m not a graphic designer. Help?

OPML Icon

Chris — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:30:26 +0000

OPML Icon is a post from Chris Pirillo

OPML is great – and for feed organization, it’s equally awesome. Just about every news aggregator supports importing and exporting OPML, but there hasn’t yet emerged an OPML icon design that is equally as appealing as the “standard” feed icon set forth by Firefox and subsequently adopted by the industry. In working with information architects on TagJag, we decided to dedicate some cycles to designing an OPML icon for use on the site:

Before you ask, I did float this past Dave (who didn’t like it much, but suggested I ask others what they thought of it). We’re certainly open to suggestions, but as it stands – this is the design we’re gonna use for linking to OPML files. It’s pretty much like the “standard” feed icon, but it’s… different. Check out OPMLIcons.com.

The Feed Icon Debate

Chris — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 05:03:02 +0000

The Feed Icon Debate is a post from Chris Pirillo

I received an email from Daniel Goldman earlier today regarding Mozilla’s filing for a trademark on the feed icon, requesting that Opera Software sign an agreement before using it in their Web browser. Daniel asked me if I thought this was a good thing or a bad thing for the feed icon. Let me start out by saying that the blogosphere has to get over the whole “copyrights and trademarks are evil” jihad.

Daniel asked: “Do you think that a trademark on a universal feed icon beneficial or detrimental?” I answered: Beneficial if Mozilla allows anybody to use the icon to indicate a feed – and detrimental if they don’t. They’re likely serving as the icon’s protectors, which is what I’m inclined to believe.

Daniel asked: “Do you have your own opinion on what a universal feed icon should be?” I answered: Yeah, theirs. It’s the only one that put the orange XML vs. orange RSS button debate to bed. If Microsoft signed the agreement for usage in Internet Explorer 7.0, then so should Opera – and so should anybody. I don’t think Mozilla is doing this to hurt the community, but to protect it. Would anybody rather have a crazy greedmonger holding onto the trademark? Doubtful.

Opera, please sign the agreement.

Windows Explorer ToolTips

Chris — Mon, 29 May 2006 14:28:58 +0000

Windows Explorer ToolTips is a post from Chris Pirillo

I don’t know how it happened, but I somehow lost ToolTip functionality in Windows the other day. I’d hover over an icon and NOTHING would show up. Needless to say, I was more than a little perturbed. I did a quick look around the ‘Net and discovered The Elder Geek had an answer that might work. It involves a bit of Registry diving, which is no problem from a seasoned power user like myself. To Enable or Disable Tool Tip Displays, fire up your Registry editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Explorer \ Advanced. Look for “ShowInfoTip” and make sure its value is set to 1. That’s it. Shouldn’t even need a reboot in XP to see ‘er work again.

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.