What is file "favicon.ico"

[Mike in utah]

Hi group,

On my web site logs I get an error that says cannot find file favicon.ico. What is that file?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[YvetteKuhns]

favicon.ico is the icon you see next the web address. You may see the default IE icon that is a blue page with a blue "e". You may see the blue PP for Power Pages Web Design on my site.

Do you even refer to a custom icon in your source code?

[Mike in utah]

Hi Yvette,

I don't think I refer to any custom icon in my code unless maybe something at PayPal (of which I don't know). Could that be where the error is coming from and if so is this a problem for me? I'd like to fix it since error files bug me.

Thanks for your help......Mike

[YvetteKuhns]

I don't think PayPal has a custom icon and you don't, but I noticed this:

<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="WordPerfect 9">

You used WordPerfect to edit your pages? You may want to use Notepad or another editor that does not generate extra code.

The error is not important, but if you want, you can add an icon. Just download a free icon, make one or save the default icon under the name favicon.ico and upload it to the server to be found.

It is not important, but if you want that error to stop, you can try uploading an icon to the server. Be sure to upload as auto or binary for this file.

[Mike in utah]

Yvette,

Do you think if I removed the "Wordperfect" code it would get rid of the problem? Also I don't understand the custom icon stuff. Could you elaborate a bit more.

Personal note:

Yvette, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year! I sure appreciate all of the help you have given me this past year. Take care......your friend, Mike

[RocketJeff]

It has absolutely nothing to do with the contents of your site. IE originally stated it, but now most web browsers ask for a favicon.ico file when the page is bookmarked (or for a couple of other reasons).

For more information, a simple google search on 'favicon.ico' will return a ton of hits.

[(jj)]

To put it in very simple terms, if you don't have a favicon.ico then you will see errors in your log files.

The errors mean nothing, other than someone either bookmarked your site or someone visited with a Mozilla type browser that requests a favicon as it opens the page.

You can either add a favicon or just ignore those errors. Either way will make no difference in how your site is working

[YvetteKuhns]

Do you think if I removed the "Wordperfect" code it would get rid of the problem?

No. But it might help later. Never edit scripts such as your shopping cart script or formmail script with this editor.

Also I don't understand the custom icon stuff. Could you elaborate a bit more.

If you visit my site, you may see the custom icon in the web browser. You may have to click on it and drag it in the address box a few times if IE won't show it. Mozilla Firebird works fine.

I created an icon that can be found in a list of favorites or on the desktop. It is like the desktop icons on your computer. You see a folder, a recycling bin for trash, the computer icon for "my computer". Those are icons - recognizable images that represent the link to its program, website or whatever.

You can search Google for free icons, choose one and upload it to your server. It is considered a multimedia file and is not supported by all web hosts, but it is supported here.

Yvette, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year! I sure appreciate all of the help you have given me this past year. Take care......your friend, Mike

Thank you! I wish you all the same. Good luck with Sarah!

[Mike in utah]

Thanks RocketJeff and JJ.

Since the file is needed by these browsers and not by some "jerk" looking at my site, can I just make a file with nothing in it and place it in hdocs to stop the error? I also have an error generated by some search engines looking for the robots file
( I know what this file is but I don't want to have this much infomation revealed). Can I do the same with this (file with zero bytes)?

Mike

[(jj)]

The favicon.ico is an image file! If you placed a zero byte image file there, you would get a nice red X for it most likely. There are many ways to create one and not all that difficult to do.

Yes, you CAN place an empty robots.txt file in your htdocs directory.

Mike, what site is this for? If you don't want to post it here, PM me.

[Mike in utah]

Gee Whiz.........now another thing I have to learn!

Thanks jj,
Mike

Added later:

JJ, the error files says "File does not not exist : /www/n/name/htdocs/favicon.ico". Even if it is an image file it's not looking for it in the html code just the folder htdocs. Therefore if I just make a empty image file wouldn't this work?

[YvetteKuhns]

Mike, just upload any icon named favicon.ico to your server. You can use the IE icon or make one. For those interested, Mike's site is a simple site that sells cooking sauces.

Since most people are using IE, you can tell roughly how many people have added you to their favorites, by the favicon.ico requests. That's what I use it for.
I have created a favicon for my website. It is very easy to do. Just make a graphic that is 16x16 pixels. You can use any graphic program that you like. Than using Irfanview you can save it as favicon.ico . Uploaded to your htdocs and you'll get rid of the error.
Antoher advantage is that your website will distinguish itself others on the favorite list of your visitors (ones that have added you to their favorites)

Have a happy holiday Mike, and good luck with your website.

Michal

[Mike in utah]

Michal,

That sounds like a good idea, I'm going to do it! Thanks.

Merry Christmas and have a great new year!

Mike