Website Favicons?

Okay...this is probably in some documentation somewhere...but a quick search didn't reveal anything...and someone here probably knows anyway...

How does one set up an icon for their webpage - the one that appears in the address bar/favourites list in browsers supporting the function?

Is it just a matter of stuffing a file with the right name in the root directory of the site? Or is it something which you incorporate into the HTML of the page?

I've been learning a lot lately...so am not afraid of a little dabbling with raw HTML now.

It's a silly little thing...but I'm bored!

The way I have done it on some of my websites is to take a GIF or JPG and convert it to an icon file (.ico).

You can do this (and much more) through a wonderful free program INFRANVIEW

Name it favicon.ico and put it in your main http directory where your index.htm file is. That's all you have to do.

There may be an optimum number of pixels for this purpose, but I don't know what they are. All mine are 32 x 32 pixels (windows default for desktop icons), but since the browser shrinks them down, you might be better off using something smaller, like 15 X 15. I'm sure a google search would enlighten us both on this point.

I think dimensions of 16x16 and saved in Windows icon format (.ICO) are what you need. Place it in the root directory where you have index.htm, and that's that.

If for some reason you don't control the domain name, you can still set a favicon.

For example, say your website was at http://members.aol.com/membername/index.htm

In the header section of your html, include the following:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/membername/favicon.ico" />

This points the page to a favicon you have made, that resides in your membername folder.

Dang! I had not thought of that since Oct, 2000 (based on the date of my icon file) and I've totally forgotten how I got there.

There's a good page at http://www.winterdrache.de/freeware/png2ico/favicon.html which describes the process.


Daniel

This page will convert just about anything to a 16x16 favicon and it does a pretty good job.

http://www.html-kit.com/e/favicon.cgi