Loading your favicon icon

LOADING YOUR FAVICON ICON

When your favicon icon is finished, name it 'favicon.ico', 'favicon.jpg' or as whatever image type you've chosen. Then upload your favicon into the root directory of your web site.

It may help some browsers to find your favicon if you add the following line of code to the pages for which you want your favicon to appear.

- replacing '.xxx' with '.gif', '.png' or whatever.

If your icon does not appear immediately in your own browser, try closing and reopening the browser. If still no go, remove any previous bookmarks to your site, rebooting your computer and adding them again.

Also check that:

The file is named 'favicon'.
It's all in lower case.
The graphic is present in the root directory of your web site. (Same directory as your 'index' file).
The main size is 16x16 pixels and the graphic is 16 colours. If you made your icon in a dedicated icon editor, other sizes and colour depths may be present in the icon file as well, but 16x16 must be there at 16 colours.

Favicon is more stable than it used to be, but still notoriously fickle. It still may not show, particularly in early versions of Internet Explorer. On the other hand it could suddenly pop up when you least expect it. If you have made and loaded it correctly, it should still be seen on other computers. It's a difficult thing to check. Ask around.

If all fails in your own browser, it could be that your ISP will not allow favicons (rare), or a long forgotten faviconless bookmark could be stored, deep in the dark mysterious machinery of your computer's operating system. After all, you're more likely than other people to have bookmarked your own site in pre-favicon times. In this case all I can suggest is that you seek intensive therapy from a Genius at your nearest Apple store or its Microsoft equivalent.

Don't tear your hair out. If your mini-logo is striking enough, your surfers will remember it. Meanwhile your favicon will be wandering around the world impressing other people on other browsers!

P.S. It's possible to show a different favicon for different pages of your site. (Or not show, as the case may be!) This dilutes the effect and personally I don't recommend it. One clear image oft repeated is much more likely to be remembered. Make one favicon and show it as often as you can.

Good luck! ...

About icon files...

LOADING FAVICON ICON

LOADING YOUR FAVICON ICON