Released on: 27, May 2008
, Author: Dmitry Costenco
, Audience: Software related
Aha-Soft announces the release of IconLover 4.23, an update to its
icon editing tool. The new release makes designing icons for
Vista-style toolbars even easier by adding the ability to
automatically create 'hot' versions of toolbar icons. The Circle Mask
is also new to version 4.23, enhancing the appearance of round objects
such as buttons.
Making Icons for Windows Vista Now Even Easier
IconLover allows designers and developers to draw or edit icons easily
without having to learn complex image editing tools. Supporting images
of any size and color resolution, IconLover is perfectly tailored for
making Vista-style icons. Producing 16 and 256-color icons, IconLover
remains compatible with older versions of Windows and low-profile
displays. The support of 24-bit Full Color and 32-bit True Color
images with alpha-channel makes icons produced by IconLover fit within
Windows XP and Vista guidelines.
The newest edition of IconLover makes it possible to automatically
create 'hot' versions of icons. Numerous applications in Vista and XP
react to user interaction by displaying a different version of an icon
when the user moves the mouse cursor over it. When the mouse cursor
moves over a toolbar icon, it becomes 'hot', allowing the user to
easily see which item is currently active.
When designing an application, it is crucially important to make the
hot-tracking effect different from other effects. There are already
several states available to each icons, such as normal and disabled.
While disabled icons are easy to produce automatically from the
'normal' version by simply graying out and engraving the image being
disabled, 'hot' icons are not as easy to convey the effect. Using a
wrong type of an effect would make it more difficult for the user to
navigate your product.
IconLover produces 'hot' versions of icons automatically, making it
possible to hand-paint a single version of an icon, and obtain the
disabled, and now the 'hot' states automatically.
The new Circle Mask effect introduced in this version of IconLover
improves the appearance of round objects such as navigation buttons by
removing jaggedness from the edges. The new effect uses
semi-transparent overlay to make round objects smooth and natural, and
is especially visible on smaller images.
Pricing and availability
IconLover 4.23 runs under all 32-bit Windows OS, including
95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista. Additional information on the product,
as well as its 30-day evaluation copy (with a nag screen) is available
from www.aha-soft.com.
About Aha-Soft
Aha-Soft, founded in 2000, specializes in creation of icons and
production of icon-related software. The company owns several
successful stock icon sites and created a number of popular tools icon
editing, creating and managing icons. Aha-Soft provides custom design
services for icons and logotypes, and offers a number of stock icons
available immediately. For more information, please visit the
company's site at http://www.aha-soft.com.
