Favicons-How to Make Them and Use Them
What is a Favicon?
Favicon is short for favorites icon. It’s an icon that is associated with a particular website. It shows up in the address bar of the viewer’s browser to the left of the URL. See some examples:
Here is the readily recognized “G” Google favicon
The red “Y” and exclamation point for Yahoo ties in with the way they list their website as Yahoo!
The two dots that Flickr uses, blue and then pink, tie directly into the blue and pink they use for their name. Think of ways you could tie your favicon into your site for help in branding.
See how Suzanne uses the chick icon for her Chickens in the Road site to coordinate with her blog?
Here at Dandelion Blog we have a simple blue box, the same color blue as we use on our site, along with a small yellow dot for the dandelion.
Favicons also show up on the favorites or bookmarks list when a viewer adds a site to their favorites.
How do you make a favicon?
Okay, you know you want one now. They help with branding your website. But you’re not sure how to make one. Here is a list of some online favicon generators you can use to create a favicon for your own site.
Generate a favicon from a file you upload
Try this online favicon generator.
Or this one.
Or this favicon generator.
Other options for making favicons
This site generates a favicon from text instead of an image you upload.
This site gives you a graph paper square to color in the boxes to make your own favicon:
Where to put the favicon file on your website
Icons are saved as a file called favicon.ico and placed in the root directory of the website. Most browsers will automatically detect the favicon file. For the more technically inclined, favicons can use different file types, and be uploaded to different directories by adding code to the head section of your webpage. More information can be found here.
Favicons can help brand your website. Try for a simple image that will still be easily recognizable at such a small size. If you make a favicon for your site, come back here and leave a comment so we can hop over to your blog and see it!
If you would like to learn more about creating, maintaining, and promoting your author website along with the creative spirit it represents, please subscribe to our
full RSS feed.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment