 __
(__)
 ||____--------____        ____--------____        ____--------____    
 ||                --------                --------                ----
 ||                                                                   |
 ||  P I X E L   F L A G S                                            |
 ||  =====================                                            |
 ||                                                                   |
 ||  Release 1.2 (2014-02-09)                                         |
 ||  http://www.pixelflags.com                                        |
 ||                                                                   |
 ||  Copyright (c) 2012-2014, Sebastian Luehnsdorf - Web-Solutions    |
 ||  Created by Sebastian Luehnsdorf                                  |
 ||                                                                   |
 ||  Please use the contact page at http://luehnsdorf.com/contact     |
 ||  for any bug reports, feature request or any other feedback.      |
 ||                                                                   |
 ||                                                                   |
 ||____--------____        ____--------____        ____--------____   |
 ||                --------                --------                ----
 ||
 ||
 ||
=======================================================================

1. INTRODUCTION

This collection was started due to a lack of complete and up-to-date
flag collections for web design purposes on the web. This collection
attempts to provide a wide range of flags in a variety of formats,
styles and sizes to accomodate any use case a web designer may
encounter.

This collection is neither complete nor will it probably every be.
Many countries' states do not carry any flag. Other flags are
difficult to find and for other states a high resolution image can not
be found.


======================================================================

2. LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2012-2014 Sebastian Luehnsdorf - Web Solutions.

The contents of this collection, including all images contained, are
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License (CC BY 4.0).

This license requires attribution. A copy of this license should be
included in this collection. For details of the license please visit

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed


======================================================================

3. COPYRIGHT & USAGE INFORMATION

While most flags of countries and their states are part of the public
domain, some of the flags in this collection may be copyrighted by
their entity. The use of such flags may be restricted in your country.
Such restrictions are independent of the copyright status of an
individual image.

Please ensure that you are using the images of this collection in both
a legal and appropriate manner.


======================================================================

4. CONTENTS

This collection currently consists of 790 flags and is made available
in four different formats. Each format again provides four different
styles. All formats and styles are provided in 16 different sizes.
Each archive contains the flags in exactly one format, style and size.
Please visit the homepage for a description and preview of each
format, style and size at

  http://www.pixelflags.com/

The collection is primarily based on the ISO 3166-1 and ISO 3166-2
standards, which is extended freely to encompass any flags not
included in the standards. For example, the state of New York with the
ISO 3166-2 code US-NY is included with the filename us_ny.png. In
contrast, the internationally unrecognized country of North Cyprus
does not have an ISO code assigned to it. The corresponding flag
carries the filename "unrec_northern_cyprus.png".

This allows to include many flags which would be excluded by the ISO
standard while complying to the standard as closely as possible. It
also allows to avoid any political statement possibly implied by
inclusion or exclusion of a particular entity. I do not wish to offend
anyone with this collection and attempt to be as objective and neutral
as possible.

If you are offended by anything in this collection, feel free to
contact me. I am happy to make corrections based on the ISO standard
and wherever else possible if the request can be considered
reasonable.

You can find a list of all countries, states and other entities with
their English, German and local names in the accompanying labels
files. These files are provided in a variety of formats, including
ASCII format with XML encoded unicode characters, UTF 8 format,
UTF 16 format, as an importable python module providing a dictionary
and an XML file. These files are part of the collection of flags and
may be used on the same conditions as the flag images.


======================================================================

5. SUPPORT & FEEDBACK

Due to the complexity of this project, it is not unlikely that
mistakes were made when assembling source images and labels for the
flags. If you discover a mistake or omission and wish to submit bug
report or feature request, please create a ticket at

  http://luehnsdorf.com/contact

If you believe this is a project worth supporting financially, please
contact me to become a sponsor.


======================================================================

6. CREDITS & SOURCES

While some of the flag images were created by myself, most information
and images for this collection come from a broad variety of sources
including:

  http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/
  https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
  http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/
  http://www.flags.net/
  http://www.geonames.de
  http://www.sil.org
  http://www.wikipedia.org
