Sublime Forum

File Icons change to asterisk

#21

This has the unfortunate side effects of:

  1. Reducing the usable space to make each icon look distinct
  2. Making each icon look more like each other, reducing the value in having icons

There are a number of constraints that we face in the default theme. Part of it is that the color in the Sublime Text interface is dominated by the colors in the user’s color scheme. So we can’t really use color to distinguish files/folder icons from each other. Instead, we really need to work with monochrome, which requires we rely more on shape.

Previously all of the file icons followed the pattern of a piece of paper, with a folder corner, and a small symbol in the middle. Unfortunately the space available for the symbol was so small, and the paper outline dominated the shape so much that the icons effectively provided no differentiation. The current set of icons was an attempt at:

  1. Providing a distinct icon for each major file type
  2. Having the icons be crisp at a res of approx 16x16
  3. Using a non-textual symbol that would imply the type of file it was

From user feedback, it appears that the symbol /* is confusing for a small subset of users, so I’d say we haven’t found the ideal solution for an icon that means “source code”. That said, adding a border around the symbols for source code, markup and text seems less than ideal since it negatively affects our attempt at addressing 1 and (to a lesser degree) 2.

Some have implied that the fact that it is a comment symbol is the main source of their confusion. Another set of users have implied that the fact that it is unbalanced (no closing comment marker) is part of their confusion.

The best suggestion I’ve heard for a possible alternative symbol is {}, which isn’t as distinct from <> (used for markup) as I would like. To some it also implies more of a CSS files that “source code”.

In the end I’m not sure if there will be a “perfect” solution possible, but I am going to continue to brainstorm and see if it makes sense to try and tweak the icon in a future release.

Until then, the small subset of users should feel free to try an alternative theme, or install a package like “A File Icon”.

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#22

Quick fix. Open the zip file Theme - Default.sublime-package take out the icons. Delete everything other than these three files:
file_type_default.png
file_type_default@2x.png
file_type_default@3x.png

run script to fill in the rest with the correct file icon:
cp file_type_default.png file_type_binary.png
cp file_type_default@2x.png file_type_binary@2x.png
cp file_type_default@3x.png file_type_binary@3x.png
cp file_type_default.png file_type_css.png
cp file_type_default@2x.png file_type_css@2x.png
cp file_type_default@3x.png file_type_css@3x.png
cp file_type_default.png file_type_image.png
cp file_type_default@2x.png file_type_image@2x.png
cp file_type_default@3x.png file_type_image@3x.png
cp file_type_default.png file_type_markup.png
cp file_type_default@2x.png file_type_markup@2x.png
cp file_type_default@3x.png file_type_markup@3x.png
cp file_type_default.png file_type_source.png
cp file_type_default@2x.png file_type_source@2x.png
cp file_type_default@3x.png file_type_source@3x.png
cp file_type_default.png file_type_text.png
cp file_type_default@2x.png file_type_text@2x.png
cp file_type_default@3x.png file_type_text@3x.png

Put the new files back into the zip file. Done. Now your files aren’t commented out anymore and all files just look like files.

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#23

That proposal is not recommendable.

Any manipulation to default packages located in ST’s installation directory will be overwritten uppon application upgrade.

Do not manipulate them!

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#24

It’s preferable to having my files look like they were commented out. Instead of telling me it’s not recommendable, tell me where I can make this simple change so it wont get overwritten upon application upgrade.

0 Likes
#25

Make a folder in Packages named Default, put inside of it only the files you want to change or replace using the exact same path inside of the folder as they have inside of the extracted package.

Those files will now always be present and will override the versions in the sublime-package file of the same name, even if that package gets replaced.

Thus your changes won’t get lost. I would recommend you install OverrideAudit as well. With those files in place, they will block any update that might happen should the default theme ever change; overrideaudit will tell you when that is happening so you can take appropriate action.

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