Getting an icon corresponding to a web URL

[John Gray]

I've never needed to do this before, and now I can't work out how to do this.

We have a desktop shortcut and an Internet Explorer favourite, both of which display a pretty icon for the web link
http://www.somedomain.com to which they correspond.

When I come to recreate them on the Desktop and on the Favourites bar - no pretty icon!
How do I get the icon to show?

[Rudi]

AFAIK the IE favourites bar should pick up on the Favicon determined in the html of the page and automatically display the icon after a short while.

[Leif]

I've never needed to do this before, and now I can't work out how to do this.

We have a desktop shortcut and an Internet Explorer favourite, both of which display a pretty icon for the web link
http://www.somedomain.com to which they correspond.

When I come to recreate them on the Desktop and on the Favourites bar - no pretty icon!
How do I get the icon to show?

Can you clarify the differences between the two desktop references you make?
Typically, the site icon is stored as favicon.ico in the root folder -
e.g. http://www.google.co.uk/favicon.ico" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- Can you download it and point to it locally?

[John Gray]

Thanks, Rudi and Leif.

Clearly I am looking for favicon.ico, so I am some way forward.
However, I can't find any of these on the PC or on the website, so I appear to be stumped.

Leif: not sure what you mean! The website can be invoked either from a desktop icon which runs the http://www.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. link, or from a Favorite on the IE9 toolbar, which does the same. For the desktop there is a big (32x32?) icon, and for the Favorite, it is probably about 8x8.

I shall have to inquire of the firm's technical supporters...

[MalcolmWalker]

Thanks, Rudi and Leif.
Clearly I am looking for favicon.ico, so I am some way forward.
However, I can't find any of these on the PC or on the website, so I appear to be stumped.
I shall have to inquire of the firm's technical supporters...

Firstly, a favicon icon has to be uploaded to the Website for it to be displayed. It follows that if the site creator hasn't done so there will be no favicon icon to appear.

Secondly, as far as I am aware a desktop shortcut icon will not display a favico icon unless it is available through the shortcut's Properties | Change Icon dialogue.

Thirdly, the only .ico files stored on the computer I am using are 116 system (Windows 7) and programme .ico files; yet favicon icons are displayed on some of my Bookmarks (Firefox 38.0.1 browser) so they must be downloaded by the browser from the .ico file on the website when browsed and stored in the Cached Web Content. They are also displayed in the browser address bar when visiting a website.

Hope this helps

Malcolm

[Leif]

Leif: not sure what you mean! The website can be invoked either from a desktop icon which runs the http://www.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. link, or from a Favorite on the IE9 toolbar, which does the same. For the desktop there is a big (32x32?) icon, and for the Favorite, it is probably about 8x8.

You confused me when you wrote:

"We have a desktop shortcut and an Internet Explorer favourite, both of which display a pretty icon for the web link
When I come to recreate them on the Desktop and on the Favourites bar - no pretty icon!"

Note that dragging the URL from the address bar of your browser (as described here) doesn't always work, and that the image may be only 16x16 pixels - too small to be pretty. Firefox does not show the favicon in the address bar as a security measure - it is too easy to forge and lead you into believing you really are logged into your bank.

Finally, there is another method of displaying a 'favicon', if the default 'favicon-ico' does not exist. Check the source code of the default home page of the site, and look for a line similar to:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/images/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />

...which should tell you where it is, and also what graphics format it is in.