What is a Favicon, and Why Does it Matter?

There are 2 billion websites worldwide, each with a marker or logo. No matter how many tabs are open in your browser, you don’t confuse them with one another, thanks to favicons.

Favicons are tiny icons on your browser tab. They help you quickly locate an open page or tab within your browser, saving time from scanning each tab.

These tiny logos are also crucial to businesses as a form of good impression and well-thought-out web design. Familiarize yourself with favicons, as this article will discuss favicons from start to finish.

What is a Favicon?

Favicons assist users in recognizing websites by indicating which tab leads to them, and users can memorize them without their names. Popular favicons we know are Facebook's mini "f" logo, PayPal's blue double "P," and Apple's iconic black half-eaten apple.

Due to their similarity with brand logos, favicons are often confused with brand logos. They have design similarities but aren't the same. 

According to branding statistics, logos serve as a brand trademark or means of identification, helping customers remember you. At the same time, users associate a favicon with a brand as an identifier among open or closed tabs. 

Bharat Shyam introduced the concept and use of favicons in Internet Explorer in 1999. Since then, web browsers and search engines have followed the trend and implemented favicons.

The following sections show precisely where you can spot favicons in your browser.

Finding the Favicon on a Browser

Favicons are easy to find; browsers display them in the following locations:

1. The browser's address bar
2. The browser's tabs
3. The bookmarks/history menu.

The guide below shows how you can navigate favicons in Google Chrome.

1. Address bar - When you search a website in the address bar, a favicon comes with the title.

2. Tabs bar - You can easily find favicons when browsing in the tabs to the left of the webpage’s title. Take Techjury.net as an example. 

The small bubble chat icon where the arrow points is its favicon. To its right is the website’s title.

You can observe that Techjury.net’s favicon resembles its logo.

3. Drop-down menu - In Google Chrome, users can find favicons in the drop-down menu for bookmarks and history. 

To find it, click the kebab icon at the top right corner of the browser. 

Click Bookmarks. The bookmarks tab will display all your bookmarked websites and any bookmark folders you've created.

Favicons and website titles are shown in the Bookmarks and History part. Below are the favicons of Techjury.net, Comfyliving.net, Dataprot.net, and many other sites/folders.

Like brand logos, favicons are essential for staying in people's minds. Designing them in a way that fits your brand is crucial. To achieve the best results, follow the required sizes for each type.

Different Types of Favicons

Favicons come in various dimensions and formats, with modern devices featuring varying-density displays. Web browsers typically use 16x16 pixels as their most common size.

Here are many variations of favicons and their ideal favicon sizes:

Types of Favicon

The types of favicons depend on their file formats, such as PNG or SVG. There are rules when creating one, including getting the correct image format.

Below are the most common file formats to create a favicon design:

Creating a favicon depends on its use. It's recommended that you prepare your favicon in different formats, as there are places where it needs to be in this or that format.

Creating Your Favicon

The best thing about having or creating your favicon is consistent brand identity. Companies and businesses use favicons to help them differentiate themselves from other brands.

If you are a business owner, adding favicons is an excellent move toward better branding. 

Here are four steps to making a favicon:

Step 1: Create Your Image

Hiring a graphic designer for a favicon is wise for those not into design, as they should know the nuances of presenting a business professionally and appealingly. They should use brand colors and ensure the design quickly identifies the website.

If the budget is limited, Fiverr connects freelancers with graphic designers for as little as $5. At the same time, an online favicon generator is available for those on a budget. Both platforms offer graphic design services.

You can also use the online graphic design tool Canva. It doesn’t provide premade templates for favicons, but you can create a custom design.

Step 2: Convert Your Image

After creating your favicon, convert the image to suit your platform. The favicon format compatible with most web browsers is ico. For better results in image conversion, refer to the first table above, which contains the size guide. This will help you know which design and size suit you best.

Alternatively, favicon generators allow you to convert your image into the proper format for download, like Favicon.io and Favicon-generator.org. Good favicon creator tools can also transform your image for free.

Step 3: Upload it to Your Website

After creating and converting your favicon to your liking, it's time to upload it to your website. You must upload it to your website's root directory to correctly display the favicon.

Another way to upload it is to create a folder in the root directory called images. Save the favicon there and use favicon.ico as the file name. This file name is a common name for favicons.

The last step is editing your site's HTML code directly.

Step 4: Add Basic HTML Code

You don't need to do this for modern browsers, as they can find your favicon file without adding code. This step is to help older browsers find and display your favicon image correctly.

Add the following piece of code to your HTML header within the tags of your page:

<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="http://example.com/favicon.ico" />

After this, you’re done! Your favicon should now show on your website tab and saved bookmarks.

Learn about the importance of favicons in the section below.

The Importance of Favicons

Favicons are more than a mere minuscule icon. They also have different benefits, such as: 

• Help users find a necessary page quicker and easier.
• Adds legitimacy to your website.
• Quickly identify your website or brand.
• Visually stand out in a list of bookmarks.
• Create memorable, catchy elements for faster-perceiving images.
• Enable seamless browsing for improved search engine rankings.
• Act as a functional element of the website layout.
• Enhance the browsing experience and usability of the web interface.

Due to favicons, you will browse for less time. Despite being modest, they significantly impact the user and the website owner.

Conclusion

Favicons help customers remember your company, which strengthens your brand. Although it may seem minor, they contribute to a site's success at little to no additional cost. It's up to you or your brand how you create it; you can utilize your primary logo, for example.

By including a favicon, you demonstrate that you're up-to-date with modern technological developments and aim to improve the user experience.