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Icons and Their Evolution in the Web Dev World
You likely already know what an icon is, as they are not a new concept. You’ve seen them everywhere and can usually make out what they mean, as they are meant to be perceived quickly and intuitively as images meant to convey a message on user interfaces, signage, websites, and more. What you may not know is the evolution of how icons are rendered on a webpage from the early days compared to now.
The Early Web: Image Sprites: Pros and Cons
An image sprite is a technique where multiple images are combined into a single larger image file, called a sprite sheet. By using CSS to adjust the background position, specific images within the sprite sheet can be displayed selectively.
This approach reduces server requests, improves performance, and enables smoother animations on web pages by loading all the required images in a single HTTP request. Image sprites are an effective way to optimize loading times and enhance the overall user experience.
And they are a pain to work with.
While image sprites have their advantages, their cons, given the options we have to do, are why they are not my first choice when determining how to arrange and render a site’s icon library:
- Limited Flexibility: Image sprites are typically created in advance, combining multiple images into a single file. So adding or modifying individual icons within the sprite requires updating the entire sprite sheet. Booooooo!
- Increased Complexity: Implementing image sprites requires additional CSS code to position and display the desired icon within the sprite sheet. Yeah. Madness. This leads to increased complexity in the codebase, making it harder to maintain and understand, particularly for larger projects with numerous icons. Debugging and troubleshooting issues related to sprite positioning and background coordinates can also be a pain in the a**.
- Performance Trade-offs: Using an image sprite to hold your icon library can reduce the number of HTTP requests, thus improving performance, however, there’s still the issue of the large image file size. This is especially true if the sprite sheet contains numerous icons or if high-resolution images are used. This can be even less convenient if only a few icons from the sprite sheet are used on certain pages, resulting in unnecessary data being transferred and potentially slower load times.
I think you get the picture now. Image sprites suck, but were better than the alternative when making one of the awful early websites from the 90s.
There are a few alternatives to using image sprites, such as web component icons, and svg icons. For now, we’ll focus on CSS icons (my favorite!).
The Modern Web: CSS Icons
CSS icons refer to icons that are created and styled using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Rather than relying on image files, CSS icons are implemented through HTML and CSS code, allowing for greater flexibility, scalability, and customization.
The icons are still designed as vector graphics using tools like Adobe Illustrator or Sketch, but then they are then converted into CSS code. You can do this by encoding them with base64 and adding them to the background CSS property, however, my preferred way is to convert the icon library into a font family.
CSS icons can be customized using CSS properties, such as color, size, and effects. With this flexibility, we can match icons with the overall design language of their websites and create consistent visual styles.
Why CSS Over SVG Icons?
CSS icons are commonly preferred over inline SVG for various reasons when it comes to web design. They offer advantages in terms of lightweight and efficient performance, resulting in faster loading times and improved user experience. Since CSS icons have smaller file sizes compared to inline SVG, they allow for optimized page speed without compromising visual quality. They also provide the flexibility that allows designers to scale and adjust the icon effortlessly using CSS properties for responsiveness across different screen sizes. In addition, CSS icons offer accessibility options, such as text alternatives and aria labels, making them inclusive for a wider range of users. Overall, CSS icons provide a practical and effective solution for incorporating scalable and customizable icons into web designs.
Consider CSS Icons with These 5 CSS Icon Sites
Let someone else do the hard work (I mean, I think creating icons can be hard…), by using these free CSS icon libraries.
1. Font Awesome (fontawesome.com)
Font Awesome is one of the most comprehensive libraries of CSS icons available, with over 1,500 scalable vector icons that can be customized using CSS classes.
2. Material Design Icons (fonts.google.com/icons)
Created by Google, Material Design Icons is an open-source library that offers a vast collection of icons inspired by the Material Design guidelines. You can use CSS classes to easily integrate any of their 5,000+ icons.
3. Boxicons (boxicons.com)
Boxicons is a growing collection of well-designed icons that are lightweight and easy to use. For over 1,000 icons, Boxicons allows you to choose between CSS classes for fast implementation, or SVG files for more advanced customization.
4. CSS Loaders (cssloaders.github.io)
CSS Loaders is super convenient for when you need animated, loading icons. You can copy and paste the HTML and CSS to start using it right away. No SVG images for CSS fonts here. These images are made purely with CSS.
5. CSS.gg (css.gg)
CSS.gg is a unique library that offers a minimalist collection of icons with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. This library includes over 700 icons, each with a single CSS class name. CSS.gg is a great choice if you prefer a lightweight approach to incorporating icons into your project.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking to enhance your website’s visual appeal, optimize loading times, or improve user experiences, consider incorporating CSS icons from these recommended sites. Embrace the possibilities and elevate your web design with the help of these sites.
