A favicon or 'favorite icon' is an icon that is associated to a web page. The icon
can be found next to the URL in the address bar and also in other places such as
bookmarks and tabs in tabbed browsers. The favicon is by no means a requirement
on any site, but adds a nice touch and character to your site. When the favicon
was first invented it was required that the file be named favicon.ico. This requirement
no longer exists however, in most cases the icon will still be named favicon.ico.
Creating a favicon
Since the ico format is created by Microsoft, support for creating your own ico
file can be a challenge.
The simplest way to create an ico file is to create a square image (width and height
are the same) using any of your favorite image types. Remember that the favicon
is a small resolution image, so simple is better.
Using an online resource such as:
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/
http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/
Upload your image then download the favicon.
We chose the first site, thank-you chami!
Displaying the favicon
In the <head> content... </head> section of your web page add the following
line:
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
This assumes that the favicon.ico file is located in your root directory. You can
also use a full URL in place of the current href. For example this site uses:
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.masteryofthenet.com/favicon.ico" />
Summary
Having a favicon is one of the simplest ways to improve the look of your site while
making it look more professional and its so simple that anyone can do it.