Several readers have asked recently how I get that
cute little Internet Brothers beetle in their Favorites list whenever they bookmark
this site. I will tell, but you have to promise to pass it on. Remember the
Helpware pledge. This isn't anything new. The Favorites Icon feature
was introduced when Microsoft released version 5.0 of their Internet Explorer browser
for Windows. It isn't a standard, you won't find it in Netscape, Opera or any other
browser except IE5+, so don't complain to me. As you study your web server logs, you may notice
several "file not found" errors for favicon.ico. This is the key to the whole procedure.
Whenever an IE5 browser user chooses to add your site to their Favorites list, the
browser automatically looks for the favicon.ico. If a custom file is found — in
Internet Brothers' case the cute little red beetle — it is saved along with the
URL and Title of your site in the Favorites folder. If it isn't found, the standard
default IE5 icon First you must create an icon. Microsoft lists the
specification for the icon as follows: 16x16 pixels, no more than 256 colors, no more
than one kilobyte in size, file type ico. If you stay within those limitations, you may
use anything you want. Most people use their company logo or other identifying symbol.
I chose the Internet Brothers beetle You will need software to generate the icon. I
recommend either Microangelo
or Icon Forge. If you prefer, there
is a free tool on the Web that will assist in constructing one for you at
Favicon.com. When your icon has the appearance you like, save it as
favicon.ico. It must have this name (not entirely true, but let's leave this as simple
as possible). Next, use your FTP utility to upload the favicon.ico file to every
directory on your web server. If all your web site files reside in the root directory,
that is the only place you need favicon. However, if your site consists of many
subdirectories, the favicon file needs to be located in each. Test it first yourself. Go to a web page from each
subdirectory of your site with IE5 and Add to Favorites. Now display the Favorites
folder to see if your new icon appears as intended. That's all there is to it. Remember,
you promised to pass this tip on.
22nd of June 2000
is displayed.The Steps
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