[HN Gopher] Feather - open source icons
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       Feather - open source icons
        
       Author : vmoore
       Score  : 236 points
       Date   : 2022-10-16 14:44 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (feathericons.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (feathericons.com)
        
       | ImPleadThe5th wrote:
       | I highly appreciate things like this. But honestly, it's so hard
       | to tell the difference between all the different icon libraries.
       | Would love to see an Html standard library for these.
        
         | naillo wrote:
         | This basically feels like a solved problem.
        
       | throwaway290 wrote:
       | I thought moving the size slider would switch to icon versions
       | designed with less/more detail to accommodate extreme sizes, but
       | this is cool and since it's OSS someone might make a PR for that
       | at some point!
        
       | KaoruAoiShiho wrote:
       | What was that project that combined every single iconset together
       | and let you use any icon from hundreds of thousands of choices?
        
         | Simran-B wrote:
         | Related but with a lot less icons: https://icomoon.io/app/
        
         | h3mb3 wrote:
         | React-specific: https://react-icons.github.io/react-icons/
        
           | gervwyk wrote:
           | This is also my favorite goto for icons. Also interesting to
           | me how the repo is structured, by including a linked folder
           | to the source repo, see packages/react-icons/src/icons ..
           | does anyone know how to do this?
        
         | GNOMES wrote:
         | nerdfonts?
         | 
         | https://www.nerdfonts.com/
        
         | cdrini wrote:
         | Iconify? I love this tool! https://iconify.design/
        
       | Fileformat wrote:
       | Shameless self promotion: IconSear.ch[1] - instant icon search of
       | almost 100K icons[2] from over 100 sources[3] (including
       | feather!), linked directly to the icon source. More source ideas
       | welcome!
       | 
       | [1] https://iconsear.ch/search.html
       | 
       | [2] https://iconsear.ch/icons/index.html
       | 
       | [3] https://iconsear.ch/sources/index.html
        
         | smetj wrote:
         | Nice!
        
         | andyfleming wrote:
         | This is great!
         | 
         | I'd consider making the search experience more like
         | https://www.flaticon.com/. The drop-shadow boxes are too
         | distracting. Adding consistent spacing will help too.
         | 
         | I love that it's easy to get to the source, but having a page
         | in between would be nice to see other icons from the set and
         | information about where the icon is from.
        
           | Fileformat wrote:
           | Rather than an interstitial page, I'm thinking of overlay
           | buttons (like Gmail has for attachments) for viewing info/the
           | rest of the set/etc.
           | 
           | I like instant search better than suggestions/autocomplete.
           | It also works with JavaScript disabled though not instant.
        
       | s-xyz wrote:
       | Maybe I am not getting it, but feather icons have been around for
       | a while (I am a big fan). I am therefore surprised that nobody
       | posted this link before. Or did they just release the website?
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       |  _Feather: Open-source icons_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15089916 - Aug 2017 (140
       | comments)
        
       | swyx wrote:
       | my list of icon resources here: https://github.com/sw-yx/spark-
       | joy/blob/master/README.md#ico...
        
       | sgt wrote:
       | I see the symbol for saving is still a floppy disk.
        
         | marcosdumay wrote:
         | And our "A" letter still comes from an stylized ox, even though
         | I'm not aware of any modern language where the animal name
         | starts with it.
         | 
         | That's not reason to drop any of them.
        
         | Minor49er wrote:
         | What do you think about the icon for a new file ("file-plus")
         | being a sheet of paper?
        
         | TobTobXX wrote:
         | Q: What do the floppy disk and Jesus have in common?
         | 
         | A: They died to become the icon of saving.
        
           | nnopepe wrote:
        
         | badsectoracula wrote:
         | At that point _not_ being a floppy disk would be confusing -
         | when the Tango Icon Theme was used widely, it had some weird
         | "arrow to a box" (i think it was supposed to be a hard disk) as
         | the save symbol and despite using such programs for years it
         | threw me off very often when trying to find and hit the save
         | button in a toolbar. Actually it still does since some
         | applications still use the icon set.
        
         | CamperBob2 wrote:
         | What should it be? Serious question.
        
           | meltedcapacitor wrote:
           | Nothing? Autosave + undo supercedes "save". The "save"
           | operation needed to be explicit on 1980s computers because
           | nursing the floppy controller was a stop the world operation
           | -- a long solved problem.
        
             | tjoff wrote:
             | No thanks. I want writing to "disk" to be explicit.
             | 
             | Automatically save a copy that you can recover from, sure,
             | but let the user decide when and if to save it for real.
        
               | MerelyMortal wrote:
               | Or at the very least show a list of save points with
               | user-defined points highlighted.
        
             | badsectoracula wrote:
             | Autosave is an awful idea, making modifications to existing
             | files, creating new files "in memory" that i throw away
             | (i.e. not saving them at all) and of course making many
             | modifications that i decide later to save under a different
             | name are things i do all the time with all sorts of
             | programs.
             | 
             | If i want something to be stored in permanent storage i
             | explicitly request that with the Save or Save As
             | functionality.
             | 
             | That is not to say that an autosave functionality is always
             | useless, it can be useful -e.g.- for recovering from
             | program failures, but not as a replacement for the explicit
             | Save/Save As functionality.
        
             | jimjimjim wrote:
             | How would you save to another location? How do you save
             | something to a usb stick? How do you save as to a different
             | format while keeping the original?
        
           | MerelyMortal wrote:
           | Maybe we should ask one of those AI image generators?
           | 
           | (maybe an arrow into a folder, but then some new computer
           | users don't even know what folders are because their systems
           | don't show them to the users)
           | 
           | I'm also not opposed to keeping it a floppy disk. It's okay
           | to use outdated references for things. And it's funny to hear
           | a kid say you have a 3d-printed save icon.
        
             | CamperBob2 wrote:
             | DALL-E 2 yields https://i.imgur.com/B9kCRnt.png for the
             | prompt "a graphical icon used to represent saving a file".
             | 
             | Not sure it's an improvement over the floppy disk. Other
             | variations on the prompt tend to yield things like CF
             | cards. Although I guess the file folder with the arrow
             | isn't too bad. (For contemporary values of "Isn't too bad"
             | equal to "Holy shit, this thing is starting to understand
             | abstract concepts" a few months ago.)
        
           | mickael-kerjean wrote:
           | C-x C-s
        
           | RedShift1 wrote:
           | Perhaps we should work from a different angle, we have become
           | so used to the word "save" that we don't think about calling
           | it something else. How does somebody who has never heard the
           | word "save" describe saving a file? Maybe think more in the
           | direction of "remember" or "memorize"...
        
             | shadowofneptune wrote:
             | Could someone who has a basic understanding of English go
             | even two days without hearing the words 'save' or 'lost?'
             | It seems easy enough to understand.
        
         | alxlaz wrote:
         | What else would it be?
        
         | duxup wrote:
         | If it was anything else I would probably be confused.
        
       | s1291 wrote:
       | One can also use Inkscape Open Symbols [1].
       | 
       | [1]: https://github.com/PanderMusubi/inkscape-open-symbols
        
         | unsafecast wrote:
         | They're surprisingly good. I've come to expect built-in icon
         | sets, themes, etc to be terrible in just about every program.
        
       | rnmp wrote:
       | Glad to see it being featured here. Been a big fan since the
       | beginning.
       | 
       | Probably already mentioned before (lazy to scroll) but if you're
       | building something and need icons don't just use one package.
       | 
       | If you're building in React or a compatible JSX library use react
       | icons (https://react-icons.github.io/react-icons/).
       | 
       | It lets you pick and choose from many packs (Feather included)
       | and if you're careful with your selections you can meet pretty
       | much all needs in a cohesive way. Until you can afford an in
       | house designer :P
        
       | KineticLensman wrote:
       | The Scissors icon shares a common fault with many other scissor
       | symbols and emojis: the finger holes are too large for the blades
       | to actually close (and thus cut). This is something that I can't
       | now unsee, once it was pointed out to me.
        
         | account-5 wrote:
         | God damn it! Why'd you have to point this out!
        
         | RedShift1 wrote:
         | Thanks, now I can't unsee it either and will be on the lookout
         | for it wherever I come across a scissors icon.
        
       | sings wrote:
       | Shameless plug.
       | 
       | My set, Microns, has fewer icons but is good for starting new
       | projects.
       | 
       | https://www.s-ings.com/projects/microns-icon-font/cheat-shee...
       | 
       | The icons are intentionally designed to not have too much
       | personality. Less rounded and cutesy than Feather.
        
       | nyanpasu64 wrote:
       | I miss color icons, but the Tango-style icons look dated in
       | modern apps, and unfortunately DPI scaling arguably smudges
       | colored icons more than line-based icons (even if both are
       | vectors).
        
         | layer8 wrote:
         | Yeah, I'm missing icon libraries that actually look good on
         | lower-DPI screens. 10-15 years ago was peak good-looking icon.
        
       | _benj wrote:
       | I love these icons! Have used them in a few projects.
       | 
       | A similar project I also enjoy using is https://heroicons.com/
        
       | andrewgioia wrote:
       | Lucide[1] is a very active fork of Feather and what I've been
       | using for the past few years instead.
       | 
       | Feather is great as are their design guidelines, but it needs way
       | way more icons. Lucide picks up beautifully where it left off.
       | 
       | [1] https://lucide.dev/
        
         | 867-5309 wrote:
         | I wonder why _signal-zero_ and _signal-low_ are the same icon
        
           | azdle wrote:
           | Looks like it's just an accident: https://github.com/lucide-
           | icons/lucide/pull/428#issuecomment...
        
             | 867-5309 wrote:
             | beside the fact that an error like this actually made it
             | into a release, should it really take more than six months
             | for such a simple correction?
        
               | junkieradio wrote:
               | You can't really hold an open source project like this to
               | such a high level of scrutiny, all development was likely
               | done in people's spare time with no compensation.
        
               | jlkuester7 wrote:
               | You must be new here....
               | 
               | But seriously, I 100% agree! No one is paying for these
               | icons. Mistakes happen. The world is not ending if they
               | do not get corrected immediately. We all have a ton of
               | things we are working on and cannot always make our FLOSS
               | side-projects our top priority.
               | 
               | (Though, I will readily admit that this raises some
               | provocative questions about how much "mission critical"
               | projects should rely on open source projects which they
               | have no contract/SLA/affiliation with...)
        
           | marcosdumay wrote:
           | And signal-high is lower than signal.
           | 
           | I guess some discretion is required before using any of those
           | icon fonts. That's really not a point against it.
           | 
           | Anyway, my favorite feature is that the disability guy is in
           | a rush.
        
             | ComputerGuru wrote:
             | > anyway my favorite feature is that the disability guy is
             | in a rush
             | 
             | That's actually a thing now:
             | https://blog.logomyway.com/new-handicapped-logo-and-the-
             | hist...
        
               | marcosdumay wrote:
               | That's interesting.
               | 
               | For me the rushing icon does look better. But I wonder
               | why they didn't make the icon on a more normal position,
               | with the body and arms closer to the resting position. We
               | don't make signage with people running except when we
               | actually want to say that they are going fast; the same
               | should apply here.
        
               | thih9 wrote:
               | > I wonder why they didn't make the icon on a more normal
               | position, with the body and arms closer to the resting
               | position.
               | 
               | The article linked by grandparent says: "the new design
               | pictures a handicapped individual with their head tilted
               | forward, indicating their mobility and that they are in
               | control of where they are going. The new design also
               | pictures the individual with their arms back, once again
               | indicating that they are dynamic and in control of their
               | own mobility."
        
         | angelmm wrote:
         | Didn't know about Lucide! Thanks for sharing
        
       | mblode wrote:
       | I contributed the RSS icon[1] to Feather a few years ago. The
       | circle shape in the RSS icon is visually denser and deviates from
       | all other shapes in the icon set. I apologize for breaking the
       | constraints but in my defense, it looks much nicer this way
       | 
       | [1] https://feathericons.com/?query=rss
        
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       (page generated 2022-10-16 23:00 UTC)