How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site

One of the simplest things you can do to giveyour site 'identity' and to make it stand out from other sites is touse a favicon (favourite icon). They are the little logos that go nextto the website listing in your favourites folder, and pop up in otherplaces, (depending on your browser and operating system). To see one,go to Big Wow Web Hosting.Bookmark the site, open another browser window and then go to open thebookmark you have just made. The 'B' next to the words 'Big Wow WebHosting- Home' is the favicon.

Want one? Just follow these 3 simple steps:

1) Choose the logo you want to use for your favicon. On my site, I usea 'B' in the same format as the website title, buut anything will do,as long as it reflects the look and feel of your website. Bear in mindthat the size of it will be reduced to 16 x 16 pixels.

2) If it isn't already, convert your logo into a .JPG or.GIF and eithermake it 256 color Web Safe Palette or the Windows 16 color format (thefewer colors the better). Then, using a graphics package or imagemanipulation software, reduce the image to 16 pixels wide by 16 pixelshigh. Try to preserve the image resolution. This is the part where youfind your fantastic logo looks rubbish when 16 x 16 pixels! If yourhaving trouble, you could use a free icon converter like Image IconConverter or use an icon editor such as ImageAuthor to build your iconfrom scratch.

3) Now, save your logo as "favicon.ico". This is the default icon namethat web browsers like Explorer and Netscape look for. Upload it intothe root directory of your web site (the main directory that containsall your HTML pages). Voila! Your favicon should now be working!

To test your favicon, get a friend to bookmark your site and then opena new browser window. If is next to your listing in their bookmarks, itworks!

To test your favicon in the designing stages, dump your cache and opena new browser window between tries before bookmarking your site. If youdon't you will just see the same favicon as when you first bookmarkedit, as your computer will have cached it in an effort to reduce loadingtimes.

That's all you need to do! You now have an eye-catching logorepresenting your web site in the favorites list of all your visitors.A professional touch for very little effort.

If you want, you can create a customized icon for each page on your site - instructions for this can be found at Favicon.com

Creating Your Own Favicon
You crave attention but lack distinction? Consider using a personalized favicon to draw people to your website from Internet Explorers Favorites menu.
What Is FAVICON
What is favicon (or the Icon in general)? It is the little thing you see on your Location bar (History/Address bar) when you visit a web site, on the left of http://. For example, if you view a site through Internet Explorer, you see an e superimposed over a blank white paper sheet. The icon also...
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