What you need to know
- Apple has released information for designing and implementing icons for documents on macOS Big Sur.
In a new post on its Developer website (opens in new tab), Apple has laid out instructions on how developers can create effective icons for their macOS documents. The company says that designing and implementing good document icons will help users identify your app's files across the Mac experience.
A good document icon aids in the identification of your file on the Desktop, in a Finder window, or in an open dialog, especially when previews aren't available. These icons may be displayed on screen as small as 16pt or large enough to showcase every glorious design detail.
Developers can also, in certain scenarios, set their document to show off a preview of the content contained in the file.
Depending on the file type and personal preference, document icons can also display document previews. If someone has chosen not to show document extensions in System Preferences, these icons can additionally provide additional context in deciphering their file type and native program.
Apple says that macOS Big Sur lets developers control how their document icons display across the entire user experience.
With macOS Big Sur, you can customize and control how your app's document icons display across the system. We'll show you how to design a great icon, integrate it into your Xcode project, and assign document types and type identifiers.
Developers can check out all of the information related to macOS Bir Sur document icons on the Apple Developer website (opens in new tab).
