Favicon for the forum

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#1 Post by **gator** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:16 am

I was wondering if it'd be possible to have a favicon for the forum. I use the links bar in firefox, and it'd be really nice to have a favicon
for our url. Its not difficult to implement (just a matter of having a small icon file in a specified path, if I remember HTML:D)

I was about to suggest the trackpoint for this purpose, but lenovo blogs has chosen the trackpoint already. My other suggestions are:

1. that old IBM dog with a red nose

2. coloured IBM logo - the one they used for olympics (if needed we can request IBM for permission maybe - they use a different icon)

#2 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:33 am

This forum has a favicon. I suggest you try a different browser to see it. I see it just fine in Opera 8.54 and Netscape 7.2. I just tried it in IE7 but it is not appearing in IE7 for me though.

I am not a Firefox user, so I don't know if there are settings in Firefox you can change to see it. If Firefox has a setting to appear as another browser, try Mozilla.

#3 Post by **gator** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:47 am

I see it in the address bar of Opera 9, but for some strange reason it does not show up in the personal toolbar(while I can see favicons for other pages, wikipedia for example). I had the same problem with firefox 1.5 and 2 and IE7 also. Any idea why it shows up on some browsers and not in others? (and how does wikipedia shows up on every one of theM). Asking just out of curiosity. Lenovo blogs has an awesome favicon though, I wish we had that

Can we have Bill's birdie, or the dog instead, or atleast ? I really cannot see what this favicon is - can you please let me know hwat it is?

#4 Post by **pkiff** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:39 am

gator wrote:I see it in the address bar of Opera 9, but for some strange reason it does not show up in the personal toolbar(while I can see favicons for other pages, wikipedia for example). I had the same problem with firefox 1.5 and 2 and IE7 also. Any idea why it shows up on some browsers and not in others?

[Later: my explanation here does not apply in this case -- read to the end of the thread for full explanation] This could be due to several reasons. IE6 (and probably IE7 also?) is designed so it doesn't show the favicon until you add the site to your bookmarks I think. Firefox 1.5 shows the favicon fine for me, as does Opera 9. I don't think the Opera toolbars are intended necessarily to pick up favicons, maybe it depends on what method you use to add an item to your toolbar. Also, some sites include code to direct browsers where to go to find the favicon instead of sticking it in the root directory -- this allows one to use a custom filename and alternative graphic format like png instead of the Microsoft-specific favicon.ico filename -- but not all browsers understand or obey these coded instructions. In the case of this Forum, however, it looks to me like any problem with the favicon is due to your browser or browser settings, not anything to do with the forum.

gator wrote:I really cannot see what this favicon is - can you please let me know hwat it is?

Birdie it is! You can see it directly here:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/favicon.ico

Phil.

vanaya · #5 Post by **vanaya** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 2:57 pm

I use FireFox 2.0.0.1 and I can see the birdie in the address bar, but not on the tool bar. I then bookmarked the page and still no birdie on the tool bar.

#6 Post by **carbon_unit** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:26 pm

Same here, but lots of other sites have favicons in the bookmarks.

#7 Post by **pkiff** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 3:57 pm

vanaya wrote:I use FireFox 2.0.0.1 and I can see the birdie in the address bar, but not on the tool bar. I then bookmarked the page and still no birdie on the tool bar.

carbon_unit wrote:Same here, but lots of other sites have favicons in the bookmarks.

This is the designed behaviour of the browsers you are using. [Later: Not true. Read to the end of the thread for full explanation] Here is a slightly outdated, but quick list of browsers along with their various levels of support for the favicon:
http://www.informationgift.com/ud/faviconic/

Some favicon behaviour can be forced by adding the following code in HTML:

Code: Select all

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" />

Wikipedia for example uses this code. This probably allows the favicon to show up in additional contexts than when the code line is not there.

You can test whether your current browser is reading the "link tag" code by using the two links provided at the bottom of the chart.

Phil.

#8 Post by **GomJabbar** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:47 pm

pkiff wrote:Here is a slightly outdated, but quick list of browsers along with their various levels of support for the favicon:
http://www.informationgift.com/ud/faviconic/

I tried IE7 again. I even tried Delete All (files, history, cookies, etc.), but the favicon for forum.thinkpads.com refuses to display. If I click on the link that pkiff provided above, I do see the favicons in both root and local. If I click on the link pkiff provided for seeing the favicon on this site http://forum.thinkpads.com/favicon.ico , a red X appears on the page instead of the favicon. This is only with IE7. Works fine in Opera 8.54 and Netscape 7.2.

Another interesting observation. On the first link provided above, the root: favicon displayed is the same in all browsers, but the local: favicon is different. In Netscape and Opera, the local: favicon displays a number 32, but in IE7 it displays a number 4. I think I just answered my own question as I am typing this. Netscape and Opera support 32-bit favicons - hence the number 32 displayed in the favicon. IE7 only supports 4-bit favicons - hence the number 4 displayed in the favicon. Perhaps this has something to do with the problem of IE7 displaying the favicon from forum.thinkpads.com

#9 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:56 pm

I see peachy with safari.

Website · #10 Post by **tfflivemb2** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 6:59 pm

I'm still not getting it on IE7 either....but, I am ok with that.

Although, as a side note, I had visited PCWorld.com a while back and their favicon stuck with my link to this forum, in my favorites.

#11 Post by **pkiff** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:18 pm

Mmm....I guess I was wrong about the cause of the display problems.

I had assumed that the problem was related to the various levels of support (and lack of support) for the favicon.ico file in the different browsers because this is a common kind of issue with favicons. But after reading everyone's continued difficulties in seeing the file linked to directly above, I decided to look at the actual favicon.ico file. And now I think that the problem some people are having may be that the favicon.ico file for this forum does not actually conform to the ico file specifications. It appears to me to be a JPEG file that has been resized and then renamed to be an ico file. This may be causing some browsers to not display it in certain locations. To correct this, I would recommend first trying to replace the current ico file with a new ico file that is formatted according to the ico spec.

Update: I have sent a note to Bill Morrow about this along with a new potential replacement favicon.ico file.

Phil.

NS · #12 Post by NS » Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:50 am

Kyocera wrote:I see peachy with safari.

Where? I don't see peachy in the forum!

#13 Post by **Kyocera** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:34 pm

I'm using OSX on my t60, the default browser is Safari and it see's the peachy favicon.

NS · #14 Post by NS » Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:43 pm

Kyocera wrote:I'm using OSX on my t60, the default browser is Safari and it see's the peachy favicon.

Can you post a screenshot of what you see?

Thanks a trillion times...

#15 Post by **pkiff** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:00 pm

pkiff wrote:Update: I have sent a note to Bill Morrow about this along with a new potential replacement favicon.ico file.

The favicon file has now been revised and should work in most browsers with standard settings. Let us know if there continue to be any issues with the revised file.

Phil.

#16 Post by **rkawakami** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:20 pm

Existing bookmarks within folders in Firefox 1.5.0.9 did not change the favicon until I both cleared the cache AND clicked on each bookmark.

#17 Post by **GomJabbar** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:10 pm

Works now in IE7. The first time I tried it, no. Then I chose Delete All and the favicon showed up. One probably doesn't have to Delete All, but deleting the cache is likely necessary.

vanaya · #18 Post by **vanaya** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 9:45 pm

Yup... Confirming that clearing the cache and clicking the bookmark did the trick for me!!!

#19 Post by **carbon_unit** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 10:13 pm

Works for me too.

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