One of the first things I noticed when analyzing the access log files for my site was a 404 Error stating that there was “no referrer” for favicon.ico. To some extent this particular message is not really an error, it’s more like a warning it’s a good thing if you are getting this error. Hopefully, I can show you how to take this good thing and make it even better.
I say it’s a good thing because it’s an indication people are adding you to their favourites; however, if you don’t have a favourites icon file defined on your web server, then this error message will appear. Simply uploading an icon with the name favicon.ico to the root of your web server will ensure that the error message disappears and that the icon you have defined appears in your visitor’s bookmarks whenever they add you to their favourites. The icon that you have uploaded will be one that conforms to the “brand” or image you would like to portray on your web site. Once you have put the favourites icon in place and a visitor has added you to their favourites, whenever they click on the drop-down box which displays the historical list of sites accessed, your icon will also appear next to your web site address in this listing. Following the successful upload of your favourites icon, you can now establish how many people have added you to their favourites by checking the list of files downloaded using your log file analysis software. Without the icon file in place, you have to rely on counting the number of times you obtained error 404 for favicon.ico to establish the number of times you have been added to people’s favourites.
Related Links: –
Web999.in FavIcon from Pics – this is a cool site, you can upload a picture to it, and from this, it will create a favourites icon (16 x 16 Pixels).
Favicon.com – custom icons for your website! A URL dedicated to the design and use of the favourites icon.
Web Developer’s Virtual Library (WDVL) – preparing your image and creating the icon.
Web Developer’s Journal – creating your favicon.ico
For Adobe Photoshop Fans, you can obtain a plugin here, giving you the ability to recognize ico files.
If any reader knows of any other good sites containing icon libraries or software that can help you design icons, please add your comments to this post.
