why do favicons not appear in IE favorites list?

[BillMorrow]

OK, so now i need to ask a question..

i did a quick favicon for thinkpads.com and for this open forum..
but for some strange reason they do not appear on any of my computers here..
including 3 desktops, a t43P, AN x41 AND AN x41 Tablet..
all running XP pro SP1 and or SP2..

anyone have an idea why..?

OH!, there are a few favicons that DO appear but only about 2 out of 30 favorites..

[ibmuser]

I've really not understood this myself, but the Favicon.ico file which contains the actual image, gets deleted once you clear the Temporary Internet Files cache. ICO files are rather strange. You might try to create a .bmp file instead and remane it to favicon.ico. - that might work.But from what I understand, it's rather difficult to make the icon persistent in IE. I don't think Opera has this problem.
You might try this:

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/services/favicon/


A simple program like this one will download the corresponding icons for those that want the icons to appear:

http://www.aignes.com/deadlink.htm

[GomJabbar]

What ibmuser describes is simular to the problem I have with Windows Media Player. I connect to the internet to get the album art to go with my music CD's, but as soon as I clear the IE cache, I lose the album art. Not the way to run a circus IMO.

I guess if Vista fixes this, that would be one reason to upgrade.

Sorry, I don't have any solutions for these problems.

[Aroc]

I, too, lose mine every time I clear out my IE cache. That behavior has seemed pretty consistent over the years. .

[BillMorrow]

well, even if you clear the cache, why, when you reload the page, does the favicon NOT get re-established..??
or, in my case, established..

do any of you guys see the favicon for thinkpads.com or forum.thinkpads.com (this forum)..??

[GomJabbar]

Nope.

Does this link help any? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon

[christopher_wolf]

I always see the Favicon; but I use Firefox most of the time

I even tried clearing the cache, but I can't get it to really disappear.

[Kyocera]

I don't see it either. When I tried the link that ibmuser posted and the favicon tool, it tells me the file type is incorrect, but will show me the picuture of peachy.

[GomJabbar]

After seeing the response by christopher_wolf, I tried going to this page in all of my four browsers.

And the letter please.........

1. I.E. 6.0, no favicon.
2. Netscape 7.2, no favicon.
3. Firefox 1.5.0.1, yes favicon.
4. Opera 8.52, yes favicon.

[davidspalding]

What ibmuser describes is simular to the problem I have with Windows Media Player. I connect to the internet to get the album art to go with my music CD's, but as soon as I clear the IE cache, I lose the album art. Not the way to run a circus IMO.

So ... doesn't WMP get it the next time? The alternative ... one's hard drive filling up with itty bitty files for the 1000+ cds in my library ... seems less than delightful.
____________

Bill, not to rain on your parade, but I find the whole FAVICON widget pretty trivial. Other than on my "toolbar bookmarks," it serves no purpose for me. And ... I sometimes create my own icon just opening the properties and clicking "Change Icon..." (in IE, that is).

[mattfromomaha]

FIREFOX!

[ibmuser]

What ibmuser describes is simular to the problem I have with Windows Media Player. I connect to the internet to get the album art to go with my music CD's, but as soon as I clear the IE cache, I lose the album art. Not the way to run a circus IMO.

So ... doesn't WMP get it the next time? The alternative ... one's hard drive filling up with itty bitty files for the 1000+ cds in my library ... seems less than delightful.
____________

Bill, not to rain on your parade, but I find the whole FAVICON widget pretty trivial. Other than on my "toolbar bookmarks," it serves no purpose for me. And ... I sometimes create my own icon just opening the properties and clicking "Change Icon..." (in IE, that is).

davidspalding,

Fair enough, but there is something odd about Microsoft on the one hand supporting the favicon and yet, well, not supporting it. Why wouldn't it be possible to have a separate cache for icons? I think Safari on Macs does this. I know that prior IE6 versions had an issue with the implementation of the favicon feature - vulnerable to a buffer overflow that could allow a malicious icon file to execute arbitrary code on the browsing computer. Maybe that still is a worry, not sure.

Bill, do you have a direct link to the favicon in the html source code and is it placed in the same directory as your home (index) page, BUT loose, not in an images directory or other folder?

[davidspalding]

Fair enough, but there is something odd about Microsoft on the one hand supporting the favicon and yet, well, not supporting it.

Ha-ha, I've been around long enough to know that that is PRECISELY what Microsoft does a LOT. They embrace or create some non-standard innovation, then while extending to something else, either abandon their own creation, or let it mutate so that everyone who has adopted it has to run around catching up with the changing "standard."

Just my perspective, mind you, but it's one reason I rarely "depend" on anything with the word "Microsoft" in it.

On my own sites, I just left a "favicon.ico" file in the root directory, and that's about as much as I did for the "standard." Browsers use it how they please. I think Firefox does it best (but even then, when I dragged www.chromejob.com to the bookmarks toolbar, the link did NOT have my favicon until I closed and reopened the browser). In IE ... well, a minute ago it didn't display it in the address bar, and now it does. Go figure, but don't go without supper trying to find rhyme or reason.

[GomJabbar]

What ibmuser describes is simular to the problem I have with Windows Media Player. I connect to the internet to get the album art to go with my music CD's, but as soon as I clear the IE cache, I lose the album art. Not the way to run a circus IMO.

So ... doesn't WMP get it the next time? The alternative ... one's hard drive filling up with itty bitty files for the 1000+ cds in my library ... seems less than delightful.

I wish No 1000+ CD's in my library. I 'might' have about 30 CD's and about 50 LP's.

Actually I find your statement confusing. I am not sure what you mean by: "doesn't WMP get it the next time?" [Yes, I know what WMP stands for.]

[GomJabbar]

FTR, I took a look at the site www.chromejob.com and here is what I get.

1. I.E. 6.0, no favicon.
2. Netscape 7.2, yes favicon.
3. Firefox 1.5.0.1, yes favicon.
4. Opera 8.52, yes favicon.

So Bill's site does not show a favicon in Netscape 7.2, but David's site does. Neither site shows a favicon in I.E., and both sites show a favicon in Firefox and Opera.

[davidspalding]

...A ctually I find your statement confusing. I am not sure what you mean by: "doesn't WMP get it the next time?" [Yes, I know what WMP stands for.]

I just meant, next time you insert the CD, WMP goes out to get the album info/art again.

I *do* have a lot ... doing a radio program sometime in your life will do that.

Favicon ... I don't use code that I can recall ... just a file in <domain>/web/ . But did you mean the address bar, or in a stored favorites/bookmarks, on the toolbar,...?

[GomJabbar]

The address bar. I did not bookmark the page.

EDIT: Yes WMP does get it the next time, but I am not always connected to the internet [I know, it may seem otherwise]. Also, the internet connection I usually have is via a cellular connection. Not exactly broadband. I use Cingular's EDGE service with a Sony Ericsson PC card, but it doesn't live up to expectations.

[BillMorrow]

perhaps the favicon i created, which is really a JPG file, needs to be converted to an ICO format..?

[GomJabbar]

Well, today it's showing up in Netscape 7.2, but still not in I.E.. You're making progress!

[davidspalding]

perhaps the favicon i created, which is really a JPG file, needs to be converted to an ICO format..?

Ah! I've always created them as true .ICO files. In fact ... mine are .ICO files I'd created for Win 3.1 uses. ,:)

[smugiri]

Try turning off disk caching in IE to show the icons. This was invented back in the days of dial up internet when bandwidth was an issue so not using disk caching should not present problem with IE as long as you have a high speed (T1/DSL/Cable/Satellite or the like) net connection.

First, you need to force IE to get each and every page from the net instead of looking for it locally on your temp internet files, to do this in IE6, you go

Tools-> Internet Options
Hit the "Settings" button in the "Temporary Internet Files" section.

Now do 2 things:
1. Change "Check for newer versions of stored pages" to "Every visit to the page"
2. Change the "Amount of disk space to use" value to 1 (yes, one).

Hit OK.

Do not close out just yet. Do one more thing.

We want IE to completely compose the page before showing it. This forces it to pick up all the element and stuff. it might show without the graphics initially but the will come up as soon as they complete downloading. You need a fast net connection else you IE will seem to be going slower than molasses.

In the "Advanced Tab" pick the "Force offscreen compositing even under Terminal Server" option

Hit "Apply"

Shut down IE and restart at which point things should be hunky dory.

As always, YMMV. It seemed to work for me.

[BillMorrow]

steve..
did all the above changes to internet settings and STILL no favicon for thinkpads.com and the forum..

perhaps the favicon i created, which is really a JPG file, needs to be converted to an ICO format..?

Ah! I've always created them as true .ICO files. In fact ... mine are .ICO files I'd created for Win 3.1 uses. ,:)

what tool to create an ICO file..?

[larrys]

I have a solution of sorts to this problem, though it is a tad time consuming to set up.

I created a folder off the c: drive, call it FavIcon for lack of anything else. I would browse the Temporary Internet Files and find the favicon.ico file for a particular link. Copy this file to the FavIcon folder, and rename it to, for example, ThinkPad.ico.

Then right-click on your link in IE, properties, select change icon and point it the the icon file you saved in your C:FavIcon folder.

I don't have to do this any longer since migrating to FireFox

[larrys]

I have a solution of sorts to this problem, though it is a tad time consuming to set up.

I created a folder off the c: drive, call it FavIcon for lack of anything else. I would browse the Temporary Internet Files and find the favicon.ico file for a particular link. Copy this file to the FavIcon folder, and rename it to, for example, ThinkPad.ico.

Then right-click on your link in IE, properties, select change icon and point it the the icon file you saved in your C:FavIcon folder. That should do it.

Now repeat for each link where you want to keep that little icon.

I don't have to do this any longer since migrating to FireFox

[leoblob]

I'm running Firefox 1.5.0.1, and while I see the icon in my address bar when I'm on the message board, I don't see it in my "bookmarks"list. ... ?? (This is on my WIN2K desktop machine.)

BTW, what is that icon a picture of? All icons are tiny on my screen, and I can't tell what it is?

[smugiri]

There is a great FREE tool to convert most image formats to other image formats called IrfanView which can be found at http://irfanview.com/

It does gif & jpg conversion to 16 x16 & 32x32 full color icons quite well.

steve..
did all the above changes to internet settings and STILL no favicon for thinkpads.com and the forum..

Ah! I've always created them as true .ICO files. In fact ... mine are .ICO files I'd created for Win 3.1 uses. ,:)

what tool to create an ICO file..?

[davidspalding]

I have a solution of sorts to this problem, though it is a tad time consuming to set up.

I created a folder off the c: drive, call it FavIcon for lack of anything else. I would browse the Temporary Internet Files and find the favicon.ico file for a particular link. Copy this file to the FavIcon folder, and rename it to, for example, ThinkPad.ico.

Then right-click on your link in IE, properties, select change icon and point it the the icon file you saved in your C:FavIcon folder. That should do it.

I used to do that in IE for my Links toolbar ... so that I would recognize my bank, Paypal, Earthlink, etc. Since Firefox doesnt' support it....

[GomJabbar]

I have a solution of sorts to this problem, though it is a tad time consuming to set up.

I created a folder off the c: drive, call it FavIcon for lack of anything else. I would browse the Temporary Internet Files and find the favicon.ico file for a particular link. Copy this file to the FavIcon folder, and rename it to, for example, ThinkPad.ico.

Then right-click on your link in IE, properties, select change icon and point it the the icon file you saved in your C:FavIcon folder. That should do it.

Now repeat for each link where you want to keep that little icon.

I just read an article in the January 2006 issue of PC Magazine: Site-Specific Icons for Web Shortcuts that is simular to the above. PC Magazine says that as long as a site uses the simple favicon.ico techinique (rather than a script), you can type the site's domain name followed by a slash and favicon.ico. For instance, www.pcmag.com/favicon.ico . The browser should now be displaying the icon. Right-click on it and save the picture to a local folder. Next right-click on the URL shortcut or Favorite and choose Properties. Click on the change icon button and select your saved icon.

PC Magazine also has a utility for converting site-specific icons to local copies. It is called PC Magazine's FavOrg utility.

BTW, the simple favicon technique has the site builder place the favicon.ico file in the root folder of the site. [As per PC Magazine]