IconFactory has turned icon drawing into an art and a business. Icons are the visible tokens computer users rely on to see in a blink of an eye what a folder or a file relate to. Pixadex is the joint effort of IconFactory and Panic Software to manage icons.

Icons are important to find one’s way through today’s GUIs. Without icons we wouldn’t be able to tell which file is what, and which files specific folders hold. But icons are also a statement about the designer of the icon set. Although icons will ideally look alike in a sense that largely differing icons representing the same item would cause confusion, there is much room for creativity.

As long as I can remember, the IconFactory has been a constant in the world of icon design, and very early in their existence did IconFactory provide for a way to create icons. That became IconBuilder which still exists today, and is more healthy and alive than ever before.

Instead of developing a real icon editor, the people at IconFactory did not reinvent the wheel, but used what is already there: the best graphics environment money can buy --Photoshop. IconBuilder is a Photoshop plug-in and manages only the creation of the icon as a resource. The art itself is left in Photoshop’s capable hands.

IconBuilder is a professional tool for designing icons in a professional way. Stock icons made by the IconFactory are undoubtedly created with IconBuilder. So, we can understand why you would need something like IconBuilder. But why would you need an icon management environment?

The answer to the end-user is “Play”. Icons are not only dead serious symbols. They’re playful as well. Many people like to customize their computer interface into something personal. A wallpaper can be a statement. A specifically tailored icon set as well. Usually changing the appearance of a computer interface requires some hacking. Unsanity’s ShapeShifter comes to mind on Mac OS X.

Hacking always entails some kind of risk. Unsanity’s tricks not seldom result in a less stable system than you would care to have. Changing icons is less intrusive and requires little or no hacking at all. CandyBar changes icons without requiring a complete overhaul of the system resources. CandyBar-driven customization never makes your system “wobbly”.

But which icons are you going to use today to replace the boring system ones? Here Pixadex comes into play. In fact, Pixadex serves two purposes, and two different audiences. At the one side there are the users who want to manage their icon collections so they can see which icon sets suits their desire any given moment. On the other side there are the icon designers who need a robust database to manage the icon sets they have created or are busy creating at any given time.

Pixadex for users

Users will like Pixadex’s easy-to-understand interface. In fact, if you’re familiar with iTunes --who isn’t-- you’ll grasp Pixadex immediately. In the right pane your icons are shown while in the left pane the icon sets are listed.

Pixadex 2 allows you to show icons as icons or in a list view. The list area has remained unchanged. Below the list area there are a number of icons and buttons enabling you to manage lists and individual icons.