Line Up Icons doesn't

Win98SE 1024x768

I have noticed just recently that when I use Line Up Icons all the icons shift slightly to the right and down such that icons on the far rght of the screen end up being clipped.

I use WinTidy in the StartUp folder on a terminate but not resident basis but if I introduce an icon to be used for a few days I cannot line it up without the aboce corruption.

I have deleted ShellIconCache and am using a Cache Icon of 4096.

I have switched between several home spun themes, downloaded some others, change res and color depth and generally given the display a good pasting but all to no avail.

Any ideas?

Edit: I've cracked this. I tried to delete the post but was denied access.

 

How did you fix it?

 

I had the same value in both IconSpacing and IconVerticalSpacing and misunderstood icon spacing to be center of gravity spacing rather than the space between icons.

Once I'd fathomed out that the grid is based upon:

resolution/(space+icon size)

I settled upon a space of 41 and 40. This gives 14.03 horizontal and 10.67 vertical respectively for a 1024 x 768 display and icon size of 32.

I'll lose 1/3rd on the very bottom row but don't use that because my taskbar (on auto hide) is two tier and one of the icons in the last but one row has two title lines. Replacing 40 with 41 clips a bit off the the lower title lines.

Admittedly pedantic but if we can fine tune to this amount then why not do it right.

For some reason my original settings were both 43 giving 13.65 horizontal and 10.24 vertical and hence the clipping on the far right. I have been using WinTidy for some time and often introduce an icon or two on a temporary basis requiring a Line Up Icons but the clipping wasn't happening until recently. Perhaps the combo 43/43 wasn't the default and crept in some how - no idea on that one.

Of course, the 'perfect grid' is a spacing of 32/32 which gives 16/12 exactly but I find 16 too tight and the bottom row will be sat on by the taskbar anyway.

It's amazing how we can get fairly expert on some aspects of the PC and then flounder on basics that we've never considered before.

 

gammaepsilon,

Thanks for coming back and sharing the fix. The explanation was such a tickle, I had to imediately check your profile in hopes that a profession was provided. I was betting on scientific or engineering field........

 

I was a mathematician in my youth but am now out of practice. Most folk stop well short of the nth degree but mathematicians will not leave well alone and are forever wondering what it's like on step n+1 whence pedantic.