How to change the standard icon of Ukelele keyboards to another one?

[Waldemar Gütschow]

I created two new key layouts, one for Russian and one for Pinyin and installed them.

They work fine, but I would prefer to see an unique icon left of the key layout name in the top menu bar.

I could change the icon of the corresponding file names in the folder "Macintosh HD / Library / Keyboard Layouts", but the icons in the top menu bar did not change.

See screenshot, please.

[Sorin Paliga]

If you do not explain what and how you did this, I do not think people around may offer you a solution.

Have you read the manual? It may be boring, yes, but it gives you the basic knowledge.

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<Icons not changed.png>

[Gé van Gasteren]

The main point to note is that an icon is not an image, it’s a container of images and masks of specific sizes, which needs a special app to create.

This text, on page 50 of Ukelele’s manual, is talking about a Keyboard Layout Collection, which can contain one or more keyboard layouts, an icon file, and some settings like Language:

The Icon... button opens a standard open file dialog that allows you to add an icon to the keyboard layout. The file you choose has to be in Apple’s icns format, with a file extension of .icns. The icon should have at least a 16 × 16 size, and preferably a 32 × 32 size as well for use with Retina screens. You can also add an icon by dragging an icon file to the keyboard layout in the table. Icons can be generated by several programs, including Image2icon (free on App Store) or Icon Composer 2x (https://www.lemonmojo.com/work).

[Sorin Paliga]

As John asked about our opinion: perhaps the manual has gradually become too complex, people do not have patience to read it through, some do not read the first page either, but hasten to ask basic things (as long as they have not read the basic things). 

The manual should be brief, clear and clarifying less intuitive details.

Just a thought—

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[Gé van Gasteren]

On Sat, Nov 21, 2020 at 8:40 PM Sorin Paliga <sorin....@gmail.com> wrote:

As John asked about our opinion: perhaps the manual has gradually become too complex, people do not have patience to read it through, some do not read the first page either, but hasten to ask basic things (as long as they have not read the basic things). 

The manual should be brief, clear and clarifying less intuitive details.

Just a thought—

 

You may have a point regarding icon files, but otherwise, I don’t know.

I had the thought that it might be good to have hyperlinks from words in the Quick Start section to related places in the reference section, but I’m not really sure it would help, and that may not even be possible in a PDF file.

Another thing to consider is that the majority of users do read the manual – only a few end up here on the group because they are still having problems, or because they don’t have the patience or the language skills to find their way in the manual. I don’t remember how many Ukelele downloads there are yearly, but it’s really a lot, so it seems that, overall, people are managing quite well.

[Waldemar Gütschow]

... back from work.

No, it's not boring for me to read a manual. That's what I generally do before asking for help in a forum. My problem is, that I understand - may be - 95 % of English texts, and even if I understand 100% of all words, then sometimes the meaning does not come through to me.

But don't worry, it will not kill me, if I have to live with the standard icons looking like a small keyboard instead of a national flag or something else. 

My home-brewed keyboards are working fine, that's important, and I am able to read their names, therefore a beautiful icon is not a must.

[Geke]

On Sunday, 22 November 2020 at 21:16:00 UTC+1 waldemar wrote:

... back from work.

No, it's not boring for me to read a manual. That's what I generally do before asking for help in a forum. My problem is, that I understand - may be - 95 % of English texts, and even if I understand 100% of all words, then sometimes the meaning does not come through to me.

But don't worry, it will not kill me, if I have to live with the standard icons looking like a small keyboard instead of a national flag or something else. 

My home-brewed keyboards are working fine, that's important, and I am able to read their names, therefore a beautiful icon is not a must.

Lieber Waldemar,

Kannst Du die Bilder für die Ikonen machen? 32 x 32 Pixel, also winzig klein.

Wenn ja, dann kannst Du sie mir schicken, zusammen mit den Tastaturbelegungen, und ich mache Dir Layout-Bündel draus.

Bitte auch die Sprache für jede Tastaturbelegung nennen, die Einstellung geht mit rein in die Bündel-Info.

Falls die Sachen so nicht hochladbar sind, bitte ZIPpen, das müsste gehen.

[Sorin Paliga]

It is very simple to have a dedicated flag. If not a part of a bundle, you must label the icns file EXACTlY like the keylayout. Warning: like its INTERNAL name, not the one displayed in the Finder. 

With newer macOS’s and new versions of UKELELE the icns file may be associated in the application. Have you tried this and did not work? 

I have in my system both bundles, with internally associated icns files to keylayout files, but also older keylayouts and externally associated icns files, e.g. Greek Koiné. They all work OK in Big Sur, macOS 11. The only caveat with older simple keylayout files is that they are displayed under the area ‘Others’, not under Greek as their language is not associated to any known to the system. But they work OK.

On 22 Nov 2020, at 22:16, 'Waldemar Gütschow' via Ukelele Users <ukelel...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

... back from work.

No, it's not boring for me to read a manual. That's what I generally do before asking for help in a forum. My problem is, that I understand - may be - 95 % of English texts, and even if I understand 100% of all words, then sometimes the meaning does not come through to me.

But don't worry, it will not kill me, if I have to live with the standard icons looking like a small keyboard instead of a national flag or something else. 

My home-brewed keyboards are working fine, that's important, and I am able to read their names, therefore a beautiful icon is not a must.

Cattus Thraex schrieb am Samstag, 21. November 2020 um 17:22:48 UTC+1:

If you do not explain what and how you did this, I do not think people around may offer you a solution.

Have you read the manual? It may be boring, yes, but it gives you the basic knowledge.

On 21 Nov 2020, at 18:17, 'Waldemar Gütschow' via Ukelele Users <ukelel...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I created two new key layouts, one for Russian and one for Pinyin and installed them.

They work fine, but I would prefer to see an unique icon left of the key layout name in the top menu bar.

I could change the icon of the corresponding file names in the folder "Macintosh HD / Library / Keyboard Layouts", but the icons in the top menu bar did not change.

See screenshot, please.

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<Icons not changed.png>

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[Geke]

Offtopic, kind of:

I wanted to send Waldemar a private message, but somehow I can’t (see screenshot).

Does anyone know why that could be, or what’s wrong with my account?

I am definitely logged in with Google, so I really don’t understand this behavior.

[Tom Gewecke]

> On Nov 21, 2020, at 9:17 AM, 'Waldemar Gütschow' via Ukelele Users <ukelel...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
>
> I could change the icon of the corresponding file names in the folder "Macintosh HD / Library / Keyboard Layouts", but the icons in the top menu bar did not change.

You need to put the icon in a bundle and install that (not just a .keylayout file).

[Sorin Paliga]

So, if you have a keylayout with the name (internal name, not the name of the file in the Finder) like ‘name1.keylayout’, the icns name MUST be EXACTLY the same, this time as it is displayed in the Finder, so it must be ‘name1.icns’. If you move the two files to /Library/Keyboard Layouts, your file ‘name1.keylayout’ will have the associated icon in the upper right part of the Apple bar.
The more elegant alternative is to create a bundle and include the icns file inside this bundle. This will not work with older macOS versions (I do not remember prior to which one), but will work with the last 4–5 versions.
I sent you two screen shots last evening. The problem is to have a correct icns file, there are apps which convert graphics like jpg or png to icns files. If the icns file is corrupt or otherwise problematic the associated icon will not be displayed.

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[John Brownie]

Geke wrote on 22/11/20 22:29:

> Offtopic, kind of:
> I wanted to send Waldemar a private message, but somehow I can’t (see
> screenshot).
> Does anyone know why that could be, or what’s wrong with my account?
> I am definitely logged in with Google, so I really don’t understand
> this behavior.

That turned out to be an "advanced" option, which is now turned on. All
members should be able to reply privately now. Thanks for finding the
problem!

John
--
John Brownie
Mussau-Emira language, New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea
Kouvola, Finland

[John Brownie]

(Not sure why this needed to be approved, and why Google didn't notify
me about it!)

Tom Gewecke wrote on 21/11/20 19:28:

> You need to put the icon in a bundle and install that (not just a
> .keylayout file).

You can do it with a bare .keylayout. The Add Icon… menu item still
works there, and adds an icon file next to the .keylayout file, but you
need to install both to get the icon to show.