Making sure a favicon, or favorites icon, is associated with your website is an integral part of extending your brand online and improving usability.
But, what’s a favicon? And, furthermore, where is it located?
A favicon is the petite 16 × 16 pixel image shown in browser navigation bars and in browser bookmarks. Look at the top of this browser, and you will see a teeny yellow “TBH” next the the URL for this blog entry. That’s the favicon we have associated with this blog.
When you bookmark the TBH Creative blog, your browser will also use that graphic to help assist in visual identification of this website from all of the other saved pages, aiding and increasing usability.
Have more than one tab open in your browser? A favicon associated, if it exists, will also appear along with a truncated portion of the page title to help you distinguish between all of the pages open.
Why are favicons important?
Strategic web design plans often includes discussions about marketing goals (e.g., converting visitors to customers and sharing case studies), content needs (e.g., creating graphics, links, forms, and copy) and development steps (e.g., planning the site architecture and navigation and customizing a CMS solution).
While thinking about these big picture items, small details—like creating a favicon—are sometimes overlooked. Pay attention next time you browse a website that has misspellings, broken links, and error messages. When website developers and designers aren’t at the top of their game or too busy, the attention they’ll pay to the smallest details is often revealing. You can usually trust that the more important details—such as website load time and security certificates—are carefully taken care of and maintained for quality when the little things are done properly, too.
Using your wordmark or logo is often best choice for your favicon image. If you need ideas, this website with lots of samples from popular websites will help you get brainstorming for a solution. Once you’re ready to go, read our “how-to” blog post that shares how to integrate a favicon into your website.
