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Re: Apple system icons: guidelines for use in Cocoa applications?
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Re: Apple system icons: guidelines for use in Cocoa applications?


  • Subject: Re: Apple system icons: guidelines for use in Cocoa applications?
  • From: adam baker <email@hidden>
  • Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 11:35:29 -0400

There is an important consideration, which I think is also mentioned in the Apple Human Interface Guidelines, which has to do with the fact that if you do use system icons, they should be used in a way that's consistent with their meaning and context elsewhere.

For instance, if you use the "Documents" icon from Finder, it should represent the user's documents folder, and shouldn't do something totally different, like save a copy of the current document.

hth,
adam

On Jul 11, 2005, at 3:05 PM, Kevin Walzer wrote:

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Hello,

I'm curious how other view the question of using Apple system icons in
their Cocoa applications, for toolbars especially. I've seen so many
shareware and open-source Cocoa applications that do this--either use
the icons (i.e. file icon, trash can, info icon) directly or with
modification--that I find it hard to believe Apple opposes this
practice. Applications that use the system icons do look better, more
"native" or "Aqufified," than apps that use third-party icons.

Yet I'm confident the icons are copyrighted by Apple, and the absence of
documentation on this issue tells me that Apple does not want to
explicitly license their use in third-party applications.


This question concerns me because I'm trying to decide how to handle
this in a Cocoa app I'm developing. As it will be open-source/ freeware,
I can't afford to hire an icon designer, and commercial third-party
packages actually forbid redistribution, which prevents using them in OSS.


With the full understanding that there are probably no IP lawyers on
this list, I'm still curious to hear how others approach this issue.

- --
Cheers,

Kevin Walzer, PhD
WordTech Software--Open Source Applications and Packages for OS X
http://www.wordtech-software.com
http://www.kevin-walzer.com
http://www.smallbizmac.com.
mailto:email@hidden
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References: 
 >Apple system icons: guidelines for use in Cocoa applications? (From: Kevin Walzer <email@hidden>)

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