I'm not sure about the subscription model. Everything is a subscription these days and I think it's a bad thing because if you've already made the icons then just set a fixed price. Made new icons? create a new version and charge for it.
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Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
51–60 of 135 posts
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#52I'm a bit puzzled. To use the full set commercially, do I need to pay a subscription as long as I'm using them, or only as long as I still need new icons?
~~I see the catch. Billed yearly. So the minimum you pay for access is $240.~~
~~That may not be much for the quality you are getting, but my fontawesome infinite access pack was a lot cheaper.~~
Edit: This was wrong. The catch is that you can only download 100 icons at a time, and you can’t download any more when your subscription expires. The system tries to detects bots, so you cannot automatically download the full set.
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#53Oops, the HN audience really likes icons.
> 1. Can't pronounce them,
In the case of Unicode, you can use the code name
> 2. type them in text,
In the case of Unicode, you have the code point
> 3. send them in text email,
Same as #2
> 4. spell them,
Same as #1 (though why you'd want to spell a glyph is beyond me)
> 5. sort them,
Same as #2
> 6. look them up in a dictionary
Databases for Unicode and icons already exist
> 7. search on them.
Same as #6
> 8. Have no reasonable and reliable way to determine what they mean.
Here is the clincher for why icons have become so widespread: they're actually easier for international audiences to determine what they mean because they illustrate an action rather than describing that action in a specific language.
They're also easier to parse for anyone with reading difficulties like dyslexia.
There's a reason traffic signs employ iconography. It's actually easier for the lowest common denominator to read and understand. Plus they have a fantastic benefit of conveying information concisely. Another example of that latter point if the iconography on media players (the pause, play, et al buttons).
> At my Web site, I have no icons and, instead, for links use words typed using the Roman alphabet, words in English, words that have meanings in standard dictionaries, can be spelled, typed, etc.
As with most things, it depends largely on your audience/use cases. Your site might not benefit from them but that doesn't mean there isn't a benefit.
> So, just suggesting that the Roman alphabet was a step forward from icons and returning to icons is a step backwards.
People who cannot read English might disagree with you there ;)
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#54I have learned to stay away from open-core icon sets. It seems like they are doing a very nice balancing act where the icons you need later on happen to be in the paid section.
I also dislike this is promoted as an open source icon set. This is a commercial product providing free samples. By design, it has a funnel of free / 'open source' users of which some will be turned into customers.
Finally, it's amazing to me as a programmer how commercial minded designers are in tech. It would never occur to me to create a programming library where you have the 'basic' open source version and the 'optimized' commercial version. But basically this is how graphics / icons / page templates / etc are being marketed.
I guess this is where any kind of 'community' helps. If a library has a community, it would be forked the 2nd day if it tries to pull something like this. But icons / templates / graphics are generally the work of a single person or small group of persons. There is no community that may philosophically decide they disagree and thus fork the project on new license terms.
All in all, quite depressing. But, I understand, we all need to eat.
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#55I found this annoying and spammy. It took me almost a dozen clicks to find out where to buy the premium license, and there it says "contact us for a quote" instead of saying what the price is. I'll defer to others about whether this type of post (on the other site we used to call it a slashvertisement) is appropriate for HN but I'm personally not keen on it. I think if I wanted this type of product I could find it my…
We didn't fully optimize it for mobile but you should be able to see the pricing here https://streamlinehq.com/pricing or by using the desktop mode on mobile. Just tap on the triple dot menu at the top right of the screen and enter the desktop mode.
It seems like you also didn't optimize it for desktop. There is an annoying "Unlock the world’s largest vector sets" message constantly floating at the bottom of the viewport, obscuring the descriptions of the icon sets in the very last row. There's not even a way to make this floating thing go away!
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#56Nice work! Ignore the "open source" puritans.
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#57I'm a bit puzzled. To use the full set commercially, do I need to pay a subscription as long as I'm using them, or only as long as I still need new icons?
~~I see the catch. Billed yearly. So the minimum you pay for access is $240.~~ ~~That may not be much for the quality you are getting, but my fontawesome infinite access pack was a lot cheaper.~~ Edit: This was wrong. The catch is that you can only download 100 icons at a time, and you can’t download any more when your subscription expires. The system tries to detects bots, so you cannot automatically download the fu…
You can purchase for 1 month too. No need to subscribe for annual pricing if you don't need icons or illustrations throughout the year.
Our design process is incredibly intensive. https://medium.com/streamline-icons/create-more-beautiful-an...
Which is why a lot of folks choose us over other icon libraries: https://streamlinehq.com/wall-of-love
If you need Purchasing Power Parity, please reach out to hello@streamline.vip.
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#58Wait, are the commercially licensed icon sets also open-source? If not, then the title is too misleading IMO. I don't think it took you 12 years to create the free icons right? It took you 12 years to create all the icons (free and commercial).
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#59Why is this open-source?
Neither is the source of the (free) icons available, nor is the license (CC 4.0) approved by OSI as "open source".
Don't get me wrong I am not an evangelist praising the OSI. But not even having the source (figma/sketch files, repository) available definitely abuses the term open source.
Re: Show HN: Open-core icon sets that took me 12 years to create
#60I have learned to stay away from open-core icon sets. It seems like they are doing a very nice balancing act where the icons you need later on happen to be in the paid section. I also dislike this is promoted as an open source icon set. This is a commercial product providing free samples. By design, it has a funnel of free / 'open source' users of which some will be turned into customers. Finally, it's amazing to me…
> It would never occur to me to create a programming library where you have the 'basic' open source version and the 'optimized' commercial version.
Unfortunately this is frequently the case in programs and libraries: GraalVM has commercial-only optimizations, Qt has commercial licensing and proprietary modules, SQL/NoSQL/caching databases, search indexers, etc.