Pixadex 2.0.2
The Iconfactory
Price: $18.95 (free trial)
Pros: A welcome break from cluttered folders in the Finder and a proper showcase for the work of talented artists.
Cons: Limited meta-data, should be updated for Leopard.
by Gerrit Dalman, Capt, USAF
Make no mistake, icons are an art form. Just like your music and your photos it would be really nice to have a way to organize and showcase your collection. That's what Pixadex does. It's an iLife app for your tiny digital art collection.
Back in the heyday of Mac OS 9 (Classic), customizing Finder icons was pretty popular. Many users generated huge collections of the low-pixel creations and used them to make their desktops a little more interesting. In the age of Mac OS X, default icons are prettier and reveal more about the files they are associated with, so changing them may not be as mainstream, but at the same time the expanded canvas (128 pixels square up from 32) and the growth of the internet have kept this art form alive and well.
If you're an icon collector Pixadex can consolidate your sloppy assortment of folders into a proper repository for your favorites. The core functionality is very similar to iPhoto. Your entire collection is searchable and can be previewed at any size. Adding new icons from files, folders, or special archives called iContainers is drag-and-drop easy. Likewise, applying your icon of choice to any item in the Finder is as simple as dragging that item onto the QuickDrop area.
Almost every interface convention from iPhoto ('06 mind you) applies to Pixadex. Items removed from collections remain in the library and items removed from the library are held in a trash can, keywords can help you create context, and meta-data like artist name and website.
Next to the optimized interface, that meta-data is probably the greatest benefit to adopting Pixadex. Unfortunately you can't store everything an artist can (there's no way to capture a read me file) and you can't keep icons associated with related content like matching desktop pictures or skins, but you can use the information to create smart collections to automatically organize your plethora of pixels.
As icing on the cake, Pixadex also plays well with others. You can use icons as your iChat buddy picture, quickly send collections to CandyBar to replace system icons (like toolbars and other interface elements), and even manage icons intended for Windows Vista.
With the imminent release of Leopard, super-sized icons are soon to be the norm, so Pixadex - though clearly due for an update - will only become more relevant in the next few months. PIxadex is a fine and polished product with a whole lot of potential for growth. If at any time you have more than a dozen icon sets on your harddrive, you owe it to yourself to download the free trial and give it a spin.
System Requirements:
* Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later