TUAW Review: Pixadex 2.0

Today, the Iconfactory released Pixadex 2.0. Think of Pixadex as "iPhoto for icons." With it you can store, sort, search and use your icon collection easily and efficiently. You can change your Mac's icons with a simple drag and drop, and find that one particular icon you're after in a snap. I've been using it since version 1.0, and it's one of the applications I routinely use to "show off" to Windows users.

Today's release introduces some great new features, including smart collections, nested folders (yay!), integration with Spotlight and, my favorite new feature, the ability to format PNGs, TIFFs and JPEGs for use as desktop icons with a simple drag and drop. An exploration of the new features follows the jump.

Interface

Pixadex 2.0 has received a minor facelift since 1.x. The top of the main window has a "gradient metal" look, similar to Apple's Mail. This is a change from the pinstripe look of version 1.x. Other than that, it's largely the same. Along the bottom of the window is a drag-and-drop area, buttons to add or remove collections, an action button and a quick jump to Candybar (another application by the Iconfactory and Panic). Choose icon or column view and use a slider to alter the display size for your collection. Finally, you can change the window's background color.

Smart Collections

Smart collections are new to this update, and they work much like smart folders in the Finder, iTunes or iPhoto. Create a folder based on your search criteria for live updating. I like to change my trash can icons often (empty and full), so I've created a "trash cans" smart collection that finds every icon with "trash" in the name, as well as collections that find icons by some of my favorite artists. Other available criteria are: creation date, file size, comments, URL, keyword(s) and copyright information.

Nested Folders

These were specially made for neat nicks like me. Categorize all of our icons with an infinite number of subfolders. The cool thing here is that now you can customize the collection icon that appears in the list, to make finding what you're after even easier (my "Star Wars" collection is now represented by Vader's helmet).

Spotlight Integration

This works like a charm. After installing Pixadex, I did a search for "Shake" in Spotlight and it immediately found the appropriate icon in Pixadex. What's more, selecting it from the list in Spotlight opens Pixadex and highlights the icon just like Spotlight does in OS Xs System Preferences. Pretty cool. Of course, adding keywords to your icons would allow you to further customize your searches, but I just used the icons' names when I was playing around this afternoon.

Converting Images to Desktop Icons

I've saved the best for last. You can now create an OS X desktop icon from a PNG, TIFF or JPEG by simply dropping it into Pixadex's main window. I cropped a JPEG headshot of my daughter to 200 pixels x 200 pixels, dragged it into Pixadex and presto! It now adorns the folder that holds her scanned artwork. Using the Finder's View Options I was able to scale it up and down fine. Really cool.

There are other features that I didn't discuss here, but I just wanted to take a look at the changes. For $18.95US ($9.95US for registered users of Pixadex 1.0), it's a steal of an application.  If you're an icon junkie like me (3700 and counting), you owe it to yourself to grab a copy. Pixadex requires Mac OS 10.2 or greater (10.4 or greater for Spotlight integration).

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