Glad you're here and interested in expanding this project 🎉 In order to make this work in the best possible way, there are hints and tips for successful contributors on this page. Please read everything carefully and your contributions will be valuable and gratefully received.
A new icon for a file name, file extension or folder name is needed? Please create an issue and follow the rules below:
- Describe if a file and/or folder icon is needed
- List the file names/endings and folder names
- Mention some graphic ideas (how can the icon look like)
- Show an example image of the icon or provide a link to the related website
It is always welcome to add new icons to the extension. However, there are a few things you should take into account so that the icon can be included in the extension.
Checklist
- Create icon as SVG (how to)
- Icon color fits to Material Design (how to)
- SVG has some space around the icon (how to)
- Unique assignment to file and folder names (how to)
- Provide separate icons for color themes if necessary (how to)
These free tools are recommended to create or edit new SVG icons:
- Inkscape is a free, open source SVG editor
- There are tools available to convert PNG/JPG images to SVG - Autotracer.org and Vectorizer.io are two examples.
Note It's important to produce fully vectorized graphic (don't include a base64 image string in the svg).
When you create a folder icon, please keep in mind that two SVG files are needed here: one that represents the folder closed and another that represents it open.
📁 folder-example.svg
📂 folder-example-open.svg
Of course, there is also the possibility to add existing SVGs. Mostly, however, the color has to be adjusted or the styling has to be changed, so that the other points from the above checklist are also fulfilled.
An important success factor of this icon extension is the fact that all colors fit together harmoniously. This is due to the fact that all icons exist only from colors of the Material Design color palette. This creates nice contrasts and the icons are easily recognizable.
Now it often happens that many programming languages already have icons with their own colors. To find the matching color from the Material Design color palette based on a known color, there is the Material Color Converter. With its help any color can be converted into a Material Design color.
You can check if your icon fits the Material Design color palette by running the following command:
npm run check-colors <path/to/svg>Continue reading here to find out about colors for the folder icons.
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When designing folder icons there are also a few points to consider. A folder icon always consists of two icons - the folder in the background and a motive in the foreground:
For the motive, only colors from the second row in the color palette are allowed. For the background choose a slightly darker hue (mostly in rows 4-6 in the palette).
This uniform color selection makes the folder icons look more consistent and fit well together. This ensures a good quality of the icons.
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All icons have a small distance to the edge. This way they don't seem so pressed together and have a little more air. It is not defined how much margin you have to leave them, because this is always a bit different. Just make sure that there is a space to the outside.
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Icons are assigned to file names, folder names or registered languages of VS Code in these files:
Be careful when assigning icons to files and folders, as not everyone expects a file name to have a special icon based on a framework that is not used by them. A solution for this can be the usage of Language icon definitions or icon packs.
Here's an example of how the SVG icon 'sample.svg' is assigned to file names and extensions:
{
name: 'sample',
fileNames: ['sample.js', 'sample.ts', 'sample.html'],
fileExtensions: ['sample'],
}This will apply an icon for the files 'sample.js', 'sample.ts' and 'sample.html' as well as for files that end with 'sample' like 'another-file.sample'.
It is also possible to use patterns for file names and extensions. This is useful when you want to assign an icon to a group of files that have a common pattern. Here's an example:
{
name: 'sample',
patterns: {
sample: ['ecmascript'],
}
}In case of this example the generated file names are "sample.js", "sample.mjs", "sample.cjs", sample.ts", "sample.mts" and "sample.cts". The pattern is defined in the patterns.ts file.
Allowed patterns are right now:
| Pattern | File extensions |
|---|---|
| ecmascript | js, mjs, cjs, ts, mts, cts |
| configuration | json, jsonc, json5, yaml, yml, toml |
| nodeEcosystem | Combination of ecmascript and configuration patterns |
| cosmiconfig | Similar to nodeEcosystem but in form of .${fileName}rc, .config/${fileName}rc and ${fileName}.config |
Here's an example of how a folder icon can be assigned to folder icons:
{
name: 'folder-sample',
folderNames: ['sample', 'samples'],
}This will apply a folder icon for the folders 'sample' and 'samples'.
Note The tool automatically creates generic "wildcard" variants of these folders, so only assign the base names.
Here's an example of how a file icon can be assigned to language ids:
{ icon: { name: 'sample' }, ids: ['css'] },This will apply the sample.svg icon to all files which could be associated by VS Code with the CSS programming language.
VS Code can be customized so that the background color is either light or dark. This must also be considered for the icons, because a dark icon on a dark background does not provide the necessary contrast it needs to be recognizable.
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Preferably, the icon has a color that looks good on both backgrounds. If this is ever not possible because it would otherwise no longer match the icon's branding, different icons can be provided for the respective color scheme.
This separation is possible by using the light attribute in the icon configuration:
{ name: 'sample', fileNames: ['sample.txt'], light: true },If the light attribute is set to true, it is necessary to provide two icon files:
- sample.svg
- sample_light.svg
The icon with the ending '_light' will be automatically chosen when VS Code is using a light background color. So the icon should then look a bit darker to have a good contrast on the lighter background.
In addition, there's also the possibility to provide a separate icon for high contrast backgrounds like this:
{ name: 'sample', fileNames: ['sample.txt'], highContrast: true },If the highContrast attribute is set to true, it is necessary to provide two icon files:
- sample.svg
- sample_highContrast.svg
Sometimes it can happen that certain files or folders need an icon, but you cannot avoid that there could be different icons for them. An icon pack can bundle different icons and as an end user you can decide which icons to display.
Here's an example that shows how two icons can be assigned to the same file name by using icon packs:
{
name: 'sample-blue',
fileNames: ['sample.txt'],
enabledFor: [IconPack.Blue],
},
{
name: 'sample-red',
fileNames: ['sample.txt'],
enabledFor: [IconPack.Red],
}To create an icon pack, the following steps have to be completed:
- Add the name of the icon pack to the enum in iconPack.ts
- Add translations to the package.nls.*.json files under the section
configuration.activeIconPack(at least to package.nls.json, the English translation file) - Adjust package.json under
configuration.properties.material-icon-theme.activeIconPack - Use the icon pack inside the fileIcons.ts,folderIcons.ts or languageIcons.ts files in the
enabledForattribute
At 100% zoom, VS Code displays icons at 16x16 pixels. This means that ideally, the icons should be designed in a way that they look good at this size.
A known issue is that the icons can appear blurry after resizing them, even to the point where they are no longer easily recognizable, depending on the case.
To avoid blurry icons, it is recommended to design them using a 16x16 grid and trying to align the edges of the icon to it. This will help ensure that the icons look sharp and clear, even at smaller sizes.
The following are some tips to help you design nice and sharp-looking icons. These tips are not rules but rather guidelines to help you achieve the best results possible:
-
Use a grid: This is the most important tip. Try to use a 16x16 grid to design the icons and snap the edges of the icon to the grid. Blurriness is often caused by misalignment of the edges and vertices, resulting in the icon trying to fit a pixel in between two pixels. As this is physically impossible, the engine will create two pixels with different opacity to simulate the in-between pixel, causing the blurriness. When a path is aligned to the grid, each pixel will be a solid color, and the icon will look sharp.
The following example illustrates an icon with its paths aligned to a 16x16 grid:
On the other hand, this other example illustrates an icon with its paths not aligned to a 16x16 grid:
Here is a comparison of both icons rendered at 16px:
As you can see, the misaligned icon (left) has blurry edges with "ghost pixels" that attempt to simulate "half a pixel". Additionally, the suitcase motif in it is slightly harder to recognize. On the other hand, the aligned icon (right) looks sharper and clearer.
So, even though the difference between the two icons was subtle, the impact on the final result is quite significant.
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Decimals are not your friends: Related to the previous tip, when designing icons, it's important to try to avoid using decimal values for the positions of the vertices. This is because, as previously mentioned, pixels are square, and there's no such thing as a fractionated pixel. If you keep the vertices aligned to the grid, it will be easier to avoid decimal coordinates. In short, try to keep the vertices on whole numbers.
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Sometimes less is more: Detail is valuable, but attempting to incorporate too much detail in 16 pixels or less can pose a significant challenge. It might even be counterproductive, resulting in an icon that is difficult to recognize. Icons are primarily about communicating a concept. To effectively communicate a concept, it must be easily recognizable.
Let's consider the following example:
The icon is visually appealing, but it has some issues: the trunk, the tail and the negative space separating the ear from the body are too thin. Additionally, the eye is too small, and the shapes, in general, are somewhat complex. While this icon would look great if rendered at 24, 32, or 64 pixels, at 16 pixels, we lack sufficient resolution to effectively convey the concept.
Now, let's explore a minimalistic approach to communicating the same concept:
Concept Result 
Indeed, the minimalistic version may lack the level of detail present in the first icon, particularly when viewed at a larger size. However, on the other hand, we are still effectively communicating the concept. It's unmistakably an elephant. Furthermore, all edges and paths are aligned to the grid.
Now, let's examine both icons when rendered at 16px:
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Curves vs straight lines: Let's face it, pixels are square, there's nothing we can do about it. And since pixels are square, drawing a curve actually involves drawing a series of... squares. Consequently, when rendering a curve, we're essentially asking the display to render a fraction of a pixel, which is impossible. As a result, curves tend to appear blurry. This is normal. However, it's perfectly fine to use curves, circles, and rounded edges in your icons. Just keep in mind these limitations if you're wondering why your icon doesn't look as sharp as you'd like.
This project offers translations into different languages. If you notice an error here, please help to fix it. You can do this as follows:
- Create or edit the translations in the
src/i18ndirectory. - Create or edit the
package.nls.*.jsonfiles in the root folder
This icon extension consists not only of icons but also brings some code. This is necessary to simplify various things and enable multiple functionalities. If you want to change something here, the following steps are to be considered:
- Install Node.js on your machine
- Install node dependencies with
npm install - Open project with VS Code
- Install required VS Code extensions
- Press
F5or runLaunch Extensionin the debug window - Run tests with
Launch Tests
You will find more information about the official extension API in the extension guides of VS Code.