[WEB4LIB] Re: Creating an icon

[Thomas Dowling]

Another .ico issue that I haven't seen mentioned on the list.

IE5 has an interesting/annoying/bad habit of requesting a file named
"favicon.ico" (annoying or bad, as this may generate a lot of 404 errors
in your log files).  It will look for a file cited in a <link
rel="shortcut icon" href=..."> link, then for favicon.ico in a document's
directory, then for favicon.ico in the server's document root.  If, in any
of those locations, it finds a 16x16, 16-color icon file, it will use that
icon next to the document's title in the favorites list if you bookmark
it, and may put it next to the URL in the location bar when you visit it.

IMO, it's a rather presumptuous feature in IE5 that will fill up a lot of
log reports with unnecessary 404 errors, but it can be a moderately
helpful way to help your site stand out in users' favorites lists.


Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu




----- Original Message -----
From: TMGB <bennettt at am.appstate.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>
Sent: Monday, June 21, 1999 9:50 AM
Subject: [WEB4LIB] Re: Creating an icon


> I've done what David Merchant has mentioned doing and the usual image
> size is either 16x16 or 32x32 pixels.  You can create a bitmap image
> like this and rename it with the .ico extension.  I think that Chris
> Gray is also correct in that with specific icon editing programs you can
> create one .ico image that includes at least four different icons.  I've
> brought up a .ico file in iview32 (a freeware graphics simple
> manipulation program) using drag and drop and a sub menu came up to
> choose to display a 32x32 16 color or 256 color or 16x16 16 color or 256
> color image.  If you want just one image in your .ico file ms paintbrush
> will do the job.  For Windows 95 you can use a 16x16 or 32x32 pixel
> image.
>