Re: Internet Shortcut

On Wed, 7 May 2025 08:27:30 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote :

A great way to find icons is simply to search images.google.com for, oh,
say "ACME WIDGETS" and the result will be an entire page of icons.

 
<https://openclipart.org/search/?query=icons>

That's a good idea, for most people - but not for me, as I've been there,
done that, and as a result of writing many tutorials on shortcuts & icons,
I have learned that there is much more than that web page can provide us.

But it's a good site for beginners - so thanks for point it out to us.

Like many clipart sites, that site contains thousands of royalty-free
clipart icons, which is very useful for a "typical" user who needs icons.

But what if you want a *specific* icon for a *specific web site" shortcut?

Long ago, I wrote up a tutorial for creating icons on Windows and another
tutorial for creating shortcuts with icons on Android, where in both cases,
having an existing icon file is fine & dandy - if it looks like you want.

I don't have that tutorial in front of me but having listed scores of icon
sites, I may or may not have included your rather nice icon site above but
I checked out your site for the common pitfalls, and to your credit, your
suggested site does NOT fall prey to some of the pitfalls of most sites!

Most sites make you jump through hoops and watermark the result, but yours
brings up the icon without that where the image is easily screenshotted.
 <https://openclipart.org/image/400px/211645>

Yes, I said screenshotted for the simple reason that you don't need to
download an icon when all you need is a 50x50 pixel image on your device.

So your site is wonderful - but it does fall prey to the pitfall of almost
all icon sites, which is that the icon you want might not even be there.

For *this* thread, the icon URL will be to a web site (based on the OP's
question of creating a one-tap shortcut on Android to Firefox opening up a
specific web site).

Since you're gonna likely have an entire folder of such shortcuts on your
Android homescreen, how are you gonna differentiate the various web sites?

Hmm. There's rather intelligent genius in the next statement - so wake up!

1. Let's say you make a one-tap shortcut to Home Depot's web site.
2. What better icon than the Home Depot icon, right?
3. So you go to images.google.com & type "home depot" & voila!
   a. You get a ton of custom web shortcut images to choose from.
   b. You screenshot the entire page, and crop out the one image you want.
   c. It's genius, is it not?

To make it even more efficient, this is the URL you would likely use:
 <https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=YOUR+SEARCH+TERM+HERE

>

Which, for Home Depot URL icons might be something like this:
 <https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=home+depot>

Usually you want a square or round icon, which you'll often find.
A. You screenshot that entire page
B. Then you crop out the one icon you want

They're often already in the perfect icon set of square dimensions!
Anyway, I've written so much on this to help people, it's absurd. :)

Here are some links for those who would like references to create one-tap
shortcuts to almost anything on Android, including Firefox URL shortcuts.

Note: The descriptive names are on purpose as my tutorials very
often show up in the first pagef of google searches due to being
able to be found in addition to being extremely detailed & tested.

 *[Tutorial] Illustrated (mostly privacy based) one-tap shortcuts so that you can access (in a single tap!) any buried Android setting or app activity*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/tutorial-illustrated-mostly-privacy-based-one-tap-shortcuts-so-that-you-can-access-in-a-single-tap-any-buried-android-setting-or-app-activity.4625951/>

 *How to manually create a homescreen shortcut to a known unique Android Activity?*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/how-to-manually-create-a-homescreen-shortcut-to-a-known-unique-android-activity.4336833/>

 *What Android debugging tools will analyze any active homescreen shortcut to report the exact ACTIVITY and/or INTENT calls made by that app shortcut?*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/what-android-debugging-tools-will-analyze-any-active-homescreen-shortcut-to-report-the-exact-activity-and-or-intent-calls-made-by-that-app-shortcut.4624939/>

 *[Privacy] Is it possible to find the shortcut activity Google Maps uses to turn on "Google Location Accuracy"*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/privacy-is-it-possible-to-find-the-shortcut-activity-google-maps-uses-to-turn-on-google-location-accuracy.4285243/>

 *There MUST be a way to search for user-created Android SHORTCUTS (not widgets); but how?*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/there-must-be-a-way-to-search-for-user-created-android-shortcuts-not-widgets-but-how.4733365/>

 *[DISCUSSION] Muntashirakon App Manager*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/discussion-muntashirakon-app-manager.4674128/>

 *Photo Tutorial: How to change the app icon name & image on Android*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/photo-tutorial-how-to-change-the-app-icon-name-image-on-android.4455759/>

 *A list of Android Usenet newsreaders & how to search & reference NNTP DejaNews/Google web archives for comp.mobile.android newsgroup topics in one tap*
 <https://xdaforums.com/t/a-list-of-android-usenet-newsreaders-how-to-search-reference-nntp-dejanews-google-web-archives-for-comp-mobile-android-newsgroup-topics-in-one-tap.4634973/>
--
F'up added Android newsgroup as all my posts are research intensive, so the
energy invested is intended to illuminate & help very many others; but if
you feel you need to limit a reply to just the Firefox ng, I understand.