June 21, 2006

Nerd Alert


We have been knee deep in all kinds of technical mumbo jumbo this past week, trying to learn new design programs, figure out some more advance HTML as well as RTML (which is even more confusing!) etc, all while trying to maintain a healthy attitude that we can and will design and run our own website and online store!

One fun thing I learned about are favicons, the little icons that appear in your browser window next to the url of the site you're visiting. Most of the time it's a little globe, but sometimes people post their own icons but I never knew what they were called, or how to do it. Turns out it's easy!!

Here's how:
-Create a .gif file that is only 16 x 16 pixels in size (which is soooo small that you can really only do very basic shapes if you want people to be able to tell what it is.) One color dingbats and letters seem to be good choices that don't degenerate too much when they're that tiny.
-Save the file as "favicon.ico". This is the default icon name that your web browser will be looking for when loading up the page.
-Upload your file to the root folder of your website (via FTP or however you choose to do it) and it should work!!! You may have to empty the cache on your browser if it's not loading up right away.

I wasn't able to upload one to this site, of course, because we don't have an FTP for this url. But check out the favicons at The Curiositiy Guild and The Curiosity Shoppe!

More info how on to create favicons at:
http://articles.pointshop.com/webdesign/48183.php
and favicon.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I always wondered about how there's an 's' in my typeface for the Saturate website--a ha! who knew it was a favicon (almost as cool a word as 'cafetorium') and who knew that Eddie had planned it that way!