If you want to make a custom icon for your website that will show up in the Springboard when a user makes a “webclip”, using their iPhone or iPod Touch, all you need to do is:

1. Create a 57×57 pixel PNG image

2. Name the image “apple-touch-icon.png”

3. Copy it to the root folder of your website

If you want more flexibility i.e. you don’t have access to the root of your site or you want to use a different file name or format, then you can use a link tag in the head of the document, such as:

<head>
    <title>iHelloWorld</title>
    <link rel=”apple-touch-icon” href=”/whatever.jpg” mce_href=”/whatever.jpg”/>
</head>

If you do use an image that is larger than 57×57 pixels it will be scaled down automatically for you. Also, Safari will automatically composite the icon with the standard “glassy” overlay so it looks like a built-in iPhone or iPod application should your imaging skills be as bad as mine!.

Note: There is some degree of clipping off the sides of the icon that can’t really be controlled. If you scale down a circular logo (in EPS format) to 57×57, there is a noticeable clip on the sides. With that in mind, I recommend adding a pixel or two on the sides if you’re using a circular design. Note that scaling the icon down under 57×57 does not solve this, it merely scales it up to fit the 57×57.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

About iPhone developer

The iPhone Developer web site has been setup to help those of us who are, or will soon be developing iPhone applications, not just for the Web, but using the SDK that will be available sometime in February.

Feel free to comment on the posts, or email me if you have any comments about content etc.

iphone@revisionsoftware.com