One of the nicer things to have changed with the release of IE7, which is now in automatic updates, is the way it handles favicons. In the IE6 past it would show them in the location bar only when you had the site bookmarked. Now it always shows them, and in the tab bar as well. With that, the favicon has become even more important to your website brand.
Those used to tabbed browsing know why favicons are important. People will see your site stand out of the rest if your favicon is recognizable, after all, a picture says more than a thousand words. Also, some search engines and other sites are starting to use favicons when referencing to a site, and a recognizable favicon would probably increase your clicks from those sites as well.
Now you probably can’t measure this in hard cash instantly, but it should make you think of your favicon a bit more. Make sure it stands out, and matches your logo and website well.
[tags]internet explorer, ie6, ie7, favicon, webdesign, online brand[/tags]
Good post, I always wondered why favicon didn’t show sometimes in ie6. I could see the engines using this in image search to match favicons and logos in the future.
Hi Phil, thx for the compliment :) I hope engines will be using those a lot more, since they’re so easy to brand :)
Hey Joost. Decent post. (Found you via DP).
I agree fully with using favicons as a branding technique. It takes a potential customer 7-27 times seeing your brand or brand name before they consider purchasing from you (Assuming it was not a referral from a friend). Using favicons only adds one more to that. And it works in numerous ways too. Think, if they bookmarked your site, each time they open their favorites, they see your brand. SEE it. Another scratch on the wall.
Good post, keep them coming.
PS: You are now in my feeds list. You should be honored. ;)
Hi Dave, glad you liked it! I agree 100% on your analysis. I am honored to be in your feeds list, and am very glad that you commented as well, keep those coming, inspire me :)
You’re welcome! I’ll be keeping an eye.
Are animated icons also supported?
Thinkbasic: I don’t think so…
Hmmmm too bad
/me love favicons!
Could not dream of favicons being that important (sort of). But hey, they make my bookmarktoolbar even look better.
*opens photoshop
hehe matthieu, they get more important each day :)
That’s a cool feauture…I was always so bored of having to re-save all those favicons on IE6….
hehe ff-webdesigner, i can imagine :)
You know it’s surprising how many designers forget about them! Yes they might be small, but they are indeed powerful.