Icons and Their Meaning

THIS PAGE IS HISTORICAL ONLY. Please refer to the W3C Logo and Icon Usage page for information about W3C logos.

Icon Design | Referencing Icons | Absolute Icons | Relative Icons | Warnings etc. | Alumni | Member Icons

Oct 95: Infuriated by finding documents containing obsolete icons, I have moved them into "unused" in the hope that the MOMspider will catch them and the miscreants will be plagued by messages. - Tim

Conventions when Designing Icons

(This is mostly to try and prevent Henrik from making any more stupid icons)

Currently, to add consistency to our house style, icons are all made from the 9 simple colors of the W3C logo (not just any RGB but those RGB colors). Icons are simple drawings, filled rather than line. We will stick to this style unless we have a general style rethink.

Conventions when Referencing Icons

No borders

Icons should not have borders. This means you have explicitly (in HTML) set border=none as an attribute to IMG. Get rid of those blue squares!

Set the ALT tag!

Don't forget this!

Use Content Negotiation

Don't add the ".gif" or ".png" suffix so that the server can pick

Absolute Icons

These icons are under the copyright of the W3C. They can be used by others, but only if they are used in referring to the appropriate part of the W3C web site.

NOTE: Remember the ALT tags as included below. For unlucky GUI clients where the ALT tags are not shown, I have included them in as normal text.

This is the current W3C icon, ALT="W3C"

This is the current W3C Member site icon, ALT="Member site"

The World Wide Web. Now used to refer to historical subjects and areas of interest about the WWW itself, not the W3C or its activities. ALT="WWW"

Mailing lists and addresses related to WWW, ALT="Mail"

Activity areas and directions of the W3C, alt="Activities"

Reference Library, ALT="libwww"

Line Mode Browser, ALT="LineMode"

Command Line Tool, ALT="ComLine"

Mini Robot, ALT="Robot"

PICS, ALT="PICS"

The HTML language: specifications, etc. ALT="HTML"

W3C Technical Reports and Draft Specifications ALT="Technical Reports"

Press, ALT="Press"

HTTP Information, ALT="HTTP"

HTTP Information, ALT="HTTP-NG"

Relative Icons

These can be used anywhere to point to related information of a specific type. They are all (c)MIT/W3C

Information marked as historical; out-of-date, but still kept in case of interest or archival purposes, ALT="Historical" Always include the following:

Note: This information is out-of-date, but is kept for historical and archival reasons.

Bug list, wish list, ALT="Bugs"

Installation Guide, ALT="Installation Guide"

Manuals and documentation, ALT="Manual"

User's Guide, ALT="User's Guide"

Design and Architecture, ALT="Design"

Platforms supported by our software, ALT="OS"

News, ALT="News"

Frequently Asked Questions, ALT="FAQ"

Comments or replies, ALT="Replies"

Get started instructions and quick guide, ALT="Quick Guide"

Programming Style Guide, ALT="Programming Style"

A talk or talks on the subject, lists of slides possibly with audio etc. ALT="Talk"

Top page for each W3T Task Force ALT="Plan"

Warning and Information Icons

These icons are publically available throughout the web, and we use them in similar manner.

For cautions etc, ALT="NOTE"

Warning etc, ALT="WARNING"

Question mark, ALT="???"

Exclamation mark, ALT="!!!"

What's new, ALT="NEW"

I'm happy, ALT="SMILEY"

Alumni

The W3C, ALT="W3C". This is an old icon. WWW/Consortium/ is no longer a major page, and is going away as much as possible.

Mini Server, ALT="MiniServ"

Specifications and development areas ALT="Specifications"

Clients.html ALT="Clients"

Don't use this one - take a sec and finish the page instead. For pages under construction, ALT="WIP"

Links to other icon collections

• Virtual Icon Collection at Uni of Ca, San Diego
• The DCS Icon Browser in Italy also offers a nice search function.