# anyone good with favicons?



## IanT (Feb 2, 2010)

Alright... I have tried everything, using Infranview to save as... and then set transparency, ... this is driving me NUTS! I want to make this favicon so that when it shows in the browswer there is no white space around it, can someone walk me through how to do it? 

I have literally been tinkering with this for hours, Ive tried several different methods Ive found online, to no avail. 

Needless to stay, I am quite frustrated at this point!!


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## kwahlne (Feb 2, 2010)

What's the file type of your original image?  Some file types don't support transparency.


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## IanT (Feb 2, 2010)

I thiiiink I might have figured it out... it was a .gif and a .jpeg at different times lol... I can use Infranview to convert it into pretty much anything Id like..

I think I got it worked out... had to download photoshop...which was a beyotch... but got 'er done


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## kwahlne (Feb 2, 2010)

Great!  I've been wanting to make a favicon for my site too, just haven't gotten around to it yet...

I already have Photoshop and just saw that I can get a free plugin for it.  Thanks for reminding of yet another thing for my "To Do" list.  ;-)


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## IanT (Feb 2, 2010)

lol noooooo worries 

The transparency/erasor thing is your frieeeeend...


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## krissy (Feb 16, 2010)

what is a favicon?


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## IanT (Feb 16, 2010)

Its a conjunction of (favorite)fav icon... favicon its that little icon you see in the address bar of most web pages you visit (like on this forum, its that little soap bar looking thing to the left of the http:// thing in the address bar...)

it also is the same icon that is displayed when you drag the site to your favorites, or onto your desktop to save the page...

Kinda just adds to the overall credibility and such to the site  I like how it looks 

does that answer your question ???


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## krissy (Feb 16, 2010)

yep! i had no idea that is what they were called or how to describe them but i think it is really cool. how do you decide what yours is? i kinda thought that the web hoster decided, lol


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## IanT (Feb 16, 2010)

krissy said:
			
		

> yep! i had no idea that is what they were called or how to describe them but i think it is really cool. how do you decide what yours is? i kinda thought that the web hoster decided, lol



If you are just browsing a website, you cant really decide which one is displayed (unless you can save it as a particular favorite icon on your own browser.. on mine I dont think its possible)....

Its usually something that is decided by whoever developed the website you visit, kind of like another extension of their logo, like if you go to microsoft.com, there favicon is a little microsoft icon, youll probably notice this alot now that you know what it is! 

Glad I could help!!!

I posed this question because I recently got into web design-- and I loooove it... now Im trying to research everything I can to be the best web designer I can be, and Im learning programming too (python and PHP languages)... its kinda confusing, but once you get into it... a lot of the same principles can be applied across the spectrum 

glad I could help! feel free to ask any other questions, even if I dont know the answer it might be cool to research it as there are always new things to learn..... and I love learning (and teaching!) new things!


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## DopeSoap (Mar 2, 2010)

The favicon image needs to be 16 pixels by 16 pixels in size and should be saved as a .gif or .png with transparency with the file name "favicon".

Once you have that file saved to your computer simply change the file type extension (i.e. .gif or .png) to .ico. Just upload that file to the root directory of your website and refresh your browser a few times (u may need to clear your cache in your browser's options to see the favicon) 

http://www.yoursite.com/ would be the root
http://www.yoursite.com/webstation/ would not be the root
http://www.yoursite.com/webstation/html/ isn't root either

Some browsers do not support favicons though. 

If you want a different favicon for different sections of the website just add the following code to the HEAD section of your page's html (between the <head> and </head> section of your page's html)

<link REL="SHORTCUT ICON" HREF="http://yoursite.com/imagedirectory/favicon.ico">

Hope this helps, let me know if you need any further help. 

* on a side note, if you want all the power of photoshop but for FREE, download Gimp, it's open source software. Find it here: http://www.gimp.org/

Kevin
http://dopesoap.com


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## IanT (Mar 2, 2010)

reaaaaaallly that is friggin awesome!! I did figure out the favicon thing before seeing this post, but Gimp is something I am downloading right now... as of yet Ive been using...uhhh...other avenues to access photoshop


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## DopeSoap (Mar 2, 2010)

IanT said:
			
		

> reaaaaaallly that is friggin awesome!! I did figure out the favicon thing before seeing this post, but Gimp is something I am downloading right now... as of yet Ive been using...uhhh...other avenues to access photoshop



I thought you'd like that


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## madpiano (Mar 13, 2010)

Lol, Gimp drives me nuts. I have been using Adobe Products for too long and can never find what I need on Gimp, but for a free software it certainly is brilliant. I am sure it does everything PS does, if I could just find it....we are no longer on speaking terms  :cry: 

I do ok nowadays with Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro, but have just found out that my daughter will be getting CS4 Complete (all the bells and whistles, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop extended and some other stuff) for free from school. Yay - dances round the room. Labels will be so much easier with Illustrator !


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## IanT (Mar 13, 2010)

madpiano said:
			
		

> Lol, Gimp drives me nuts. I have been using Adobe Products for too long and can never find what I need on Gimp, but for a free software it certainly is brilliant. I am sure it does everything PS does, if I could just find it....we are no longer on speaking terms  :cry:
> 
> I do ok nowadays with Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro, but have just found out that my daughter will be getting CS4 Complete (all the bells and whistles, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop extended and some other stuff) for free from school. Yay - dances round the room. Labels will be so much easier with Illustrator !




yeah I got it free too through their Dreamspark program... I wouldnt have been able to afford it otherwise! Gotta love how they dole out free software to students!


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