favicon doesn't seem to work

[scroce]

I know this should be simple, but it doesn't seem to work.

I made an icon the following way:

1. took a gif image and shrunk it down to 16x16 px using my graphics program (macromedia fireworks)

2. exported it to a .bmp format
3. named the .bmp file to favicon.ico and stuck it in my root directory.

it looks like an icon - but when I bookmark my site, no icon shows up. I asked another person who didn't have my site bookmarked to try, (i.e. 5.5) and they didn't get my icon either.

there's a missing piece to this puzzle, but I don't know what it is - maybe I didn't make the icon right?

Oddly enough, it does seem to work in Netscape 7.1 - although I don't think that browsers bookmarks support an icon, the icon does show up in the navigation bar.

what gives?


I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[YNOTU]

Add this code to your page

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="company.ico" type="image/x-icon" />

 

[scroce]

tried it - doesn't seem to work - i can't tell if it's a cache thing, or if it just plain ain't workin'

here's the test url - do any of you see it?

http://www.njsbaig.org/testnewindex.asp

under my first header tag i have

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">

DeCojute, I'm not sure, is that extra "/" supposed to be in there before the ">" - I tried it both ways, but it's not showing up in my ie


I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[manarth]

I've just tested a number of pages with favicons: most of which show up in Mozilla but don't appear in IE.

I'll let you know if I work out why, but for now - know that you're not alone!

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please tell us if our suggestion has helped[/li][li]need some help? faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Icon files are a proprietary format. You cannot expect a renamed BMP file to act just like an .ICO file. That would be like renaming an HTMl file to .ASP and expecting server-side code to magically work client-side ;o)

Use an icon editor, something lkike Axialis IconWorkshop, and you should be sorted.

Personally, I always add both of these lines to my pages, although I'm not sure if the second one makes a difference or not:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">
<link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">

Hope this helps,
Dan

 

[scroce]

ok - i guess i'll try making an icon with one of the other programs that are specifically designed to make an .ico file and see if that works.

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[YNOTU]

IconCool Editor is a good one to use.

 

[scroce]

before i did all that, I tried just using a different .ico file that I know was already made specifically to be an icon
I uploaded that and named it to favicon, but it still doesn't work.

Oh well - this is way too much work for something that's supposed to be so easy!

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[YNOTU]

Don't give up scroce. Have the pleasure to have learned and finished what you're after when not knowing how it's done.

My advise would be to access Google and search for "Favicon". You'll be surprised how many tutorials there are on the subject.

 

[manarth]

question:
Who can see the tek-tips favicon?

I can see it using Mozilla, but not IE 6.0 on Windows XP.
(btw, it's a 5 pointed purple star)

Known successes are:
[ul]
[li]

http://www.favicon.com/

[/li]
[li]

http://my.yahoo.com/

[/li]
[li]

http://www.accessfp.net/faviconico.htm

[/li]
[/ul]

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please tell us if our suggestion has helped[/li][li]need some help? faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[scroce]

manarth,

that's kinda wierd, I used either a yellow triangle or an orange swirl. (unless I'm going nutz!!!)

I just replaced it as a test with one of those - does anyone see it?

thx.

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[YNOTU]

I saw it the first time you posted the question.

 

[manarth]

to clarify my previous post:

the tek-tips fav-icon is a 5 pointed purple star. It appears under Mozilla 1.6 and Firebird 0.8, but doesn't appear in IE.

The favicon under

http://www.njsbaig.org/testnewindex.asp

appears as a green/yellow triangle, and appears under moz but not IE.

The issues which I think could affect presentation of a favicon are:[ul]
[li]file format of the image (bmp/ico/png)[/li]
[li]image size (should be 16x16 pixels)[/li]
[li]image attributes (resolution, color depth)[/li]
[li]path & filename of the image[/li]
[li]link statement in the html[/li]
[li]mime type (as declared by server) of the favicon[/li]
[/ul]

Earlier, I posted a list of sites where the fav-icon works in both IE and Moz. If anyone could post the URL of sites where the favicon works in moz but not IE that would help pinpoint which issues are to blame!

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please tell us if our suggestion has helped[/li][li]need some help? faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[smah]

FWIW, IE has very bad behavior about this. Once you add the favorite to IE, restart your computer, then go use the favorite link to go to the website. Then close IE & reopen it and the favicon will finally be there.

BTW, scroce's icon looks like a brown curled horn with a yellow & orange background.

 

[scroce]

hmmm - ok - must've been a purple star then. do you see anything different now? I'm trying to determine if browsers cache favicon. - i've done some reading, but not extensively, so please pardon me if the answer is written obviously somewhere.



I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[scroce]

thanks manarth and smah - your posts provide some good clarification

I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[YNOTU]

[tt]I see you got it working now

[/tt]

 

[scroce]

OK - thanks for the confirmation - for some odd reason, I still can't see it in IE - but I'll trust that it's working as good as it's gonna for now. I'm sure there's some wacky techincal reason for it's seemingly erratic behavior - and that if/when I figure it out, I'll write back to this post.

I put it back to the yellow triangle (which is what it's supposed to be)

DeCojute, wondering if you can see it now, i.e., did your browser cache the orange swirl? - also, if you don't mind - which browser are you using?

thanks


I am a nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefore, I am perfect.

 

[manarth]

Mozilla's Bug 32087 discusses implementation of favicons in Mozilla.

The reasons for using rel="icon" instead of Microsoft's rel="shortcut icon" are
several.
* Specifying a rel attribute consisting of more than one word implies that the
current document has two equally valid relationships to the linked resource.
Microsoft has made a mistake here.
* The icon would not be used just for shortcuts, but for bookmarks, the location
bar, the `Top' icon on the Links Toolbar, Find in Bookmarks search results,
etc.
* Most crucially, where link rel="shortcut icon" is currently used, it is saved
as an .ico file, which Mozilla does not (and probably will not ever) recognize.
So aping their shortcut names would just be a waste of time on both sides,
because Mozilla doesn't recognize Windows's icon format, while IE doesn't
recognize anything else.

<marc> i wonder what will happen if i press this...[ul][li]please tell us if our suggestion has helped[/li][li]need some help? faq581-3339[/li][/ul]

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

>> Mozilla doesn't recognize Windows's icon format,

Now this I find very hard to believe, as every time I visit

http://www.soterm.com/

in Mozilla, the icon shows up just fine, and it's a genuine ICO file.

How can this be, if, as you say, Mozilla doesn't recognise ICO files?

Dan