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OpenIcons, icons under a proper license!

Posted by Unlogic 2010-01-18 21:44 | Updated by Unlogic 2010-08-23 10:30 | 2 Comments | Tags: InkScape, LGPL, Open source, OpenIcons, PNG, SVG

Pretty much any web application benefits from nice looking, easy to understand icons. However if your developing applications under a GPL or LGPL license you might find that it's harder and harder to find icons licensed under a compatible license.

The reason for this is that most artists today seem to prefer the Creative Commons family of licenses which in most cases is incompatible with the GPL and LGPL licenses.

Running several open source projects based on GPL and LGPL code and a few proprietary projects based on LGPL code meant that I was starving for a set of icons with a uniform look and licensed under compatible license.

After spending a considerable amount of time searching the Internet for icons I decided to take matters into my own hands and do something about it. I had seen InkScape in a Slashdot posting not long ago so I decided to download it and give it shot.

After two hours and a few tutorials later I was on track and producing icons like never before. I was really surprised how easy it was to work with vector graphics, creating a decent icons with shadow, gradients etc. didn't take more than 10 minutes or so.

Being inspired by this I decided to set up a project with LGPL licensed SVG icons suited for use on the web and so the OpenIcons project was born.

I registered the project at freshmeat.net like I always do and even though the project has only been only for a week it has already seen over 750 unique visitors and had over 350 downloads!

Since there seems to be quite a lot of interest in LGPL licensed SVG icons I set up an official forum for the OpenIcons projects here. Any feedback and  any contributions are very welcome!

Edit: After barely a week online it seems that OpenIcons has already made it all the way to china!

Comments


Posted by Kia 2010-08-12 13:58

Just spotted your initiative, it's great! I'll be back after all my deadly deadlines ;-)


Posted by Unlogic 2010-08-23 10:37

Thanks Kia!

It's an almost comical fact that even though I'm a Java developer my most downloaded project consists of SVG icons =)


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