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favicon not showing in IE8
favicon not showing in IE8
- Dear All,
I am building a web site and am stuck with this issue where the icon does not show for my web site. This is the icon that is suppose to display when a user adds it to Favorites and also shows in the tab when multiple pages are open. Further more it is also shown in the address bar. Here is what I have done.
1 - Make a wild .ico file names "favicon.ico" file.
2 - Put it in the root directory where index.html resides.
The above does not work so I tried puting it by (X)HTML code as
1 - <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
2 - <link rel="icon" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" href="/somepath/image.ico" />
3 - <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.png" />
4 - <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.png" />
5 - <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
6 - <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/favicon.ico" />
7 - <link rel="icon" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" href="favicon.ico" />
8 - <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="favicon.ico" />
9 - <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="favicon.ico" />
10 - <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href=".../favicon.ico" />
This is what is shown on wikipedia
Internet Explorer has a slightly different format.<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="http://www.mydomain.com/myicon.ico"/>
Additionally the following is also acceptable:
<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="/somepath/myicon.ico"/>
I have tried all the above and also the below ones.
1 - Deleting the IE cache & Temp Internet Files (TIF).
2 - Putting on the web and tring it with www and with out www.
3 - Host an image file in the format of jpg, png and gif on an image hosting site and edit the href.
Nothing seems to work. Does IE8 not support favicon.ico
Any help will be much appreciated.
All Replies
- Hi,
are you using the <base> tag elsewhere in your head block?
For the most consistant results use an absolute path to the favicon.ico file in your domain root folder.
<link href="http://yourdomain/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" />
(use a https location on secure sites)
By default, browsers will also look in the domain's root folder for a file called favicon.ico and if not specified with a link tag will use this file as the page favicon.
Rob^_^ - Here is a very detailed FAQ I wrote on this topic.
- Dear IECUSTOMIZER & jeffdav,
Thanks a million & three for your efforts to help. As per your questions & suggestions.
1 - I am not using the <base /> tag nested in the <head></head> tag at all.
2 - I am using the absolute path in the <link /> tag.
3 - I have put the favicon.ico file in the root directory as well as all other folders just to be sure.
4 - The icon file is a valid icon file with the proper name as "favicon.ico".
5 - The icon shows in Firefox 3.5.5 but not in IE8.
6 - The icon shows for offline web pages (on my hard disk) but only in firefox but never in IE8.
7 - Tried clearing the cache and deleting the TIF(Temp Internet Files) both for firefox and IE8.
8 - Deleted the whole index.html file and upload a new index.file coding from scratch.
9 - Tried with other 2 web hosting services.
10 - Tried with and with out www in the URL.
11 - Tried all the variations of the element.
<link href="http://yourdomain/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" />
12 - Opened the file in an image editor and it shows ok.
13 - Tried other icon files.
14 - Tried gif, jpeg, jpg and png file formats.
15 - Tried the icon with animation and with out animation.
16 - Tried to add a HTML snippet. Works in firefox but not in IE.
17 - The IE does not load the favicon.ico file in its TIF(Temp Internet Files).
18 - The favicon.ico shows for all other web sites such as www.msn.com, www.yahoo.com, www.google.com, www.wikipedia.com and atleast 20 other sites that I have checked personally. With all these site the favicon.ico files is downloaded in the TIF(Temp Internet Files).
19 - I understand that IE8 does not request the favicon.ico file when loading the page. Only when the page is added to the Favorites, it demands the favicon.ico file. So with all the steps above I tried adding to the Favorites.
20 - As above tried the 2 methods. The firsty being placing the favicon.ico file in the root directory. I have placed the favicon.ico file in the root as well as all other directory and also by just placing it only in th root directory. Second method of <link /> as tried with all the variations.
21 - I had alreday read the post at http://jeffcode.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-doesnt-favicon-for-my-site-appear.html and done all the steps there with out success.
22 - I verified at least 8, 9 times that my favicon really is an icon.
23 - Used fiddler to verify. All reports are ok.
24 - I have specified no alternative location using <link />
25 - Tried creating icon files with paintbrush, photoshop, Visual Studio Icon Editor and an on line service www.favicon.cc - favicon.ico Generator
26 - Tried every thing at http://www.rw-designer.com/favicon
27 - Tried uninstall IE8 and re-install IE8.
28 - Tried re-install windows xp.
29 - Tried on a different PC with vista.
30 - Tried in IE7 & IE6.
31 - Tried posting here http://www.webdevforums.com/showthread.php?t=33700 and follow all steps.
32 - This user solved the problem it http://www.webdevforums.com/showthread.php?t=31691&highlight=favicon.ico
but does not know how it was solved. On my e-mail to him he said it started working automatically after 2 to 3 days. So i gave a gap of 3 days with each attempt 4 times now.
33 - Tried with Chrome & safari. They work.
34 - Tried as per http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php?topic=88509.0
I am in my 3rd week now with no sollution with atleast 4 hours each day.
Here is my web site
1 - http://jawadasghar.site11.com/
2 - http://www.jawadasghar.site11.com/
Also
1 - http://jawadasghar.tk/
2 - http://www.jawadasghar.tk/
But in these the icon ofthe hosting company is shown and not my icon which is "JJ". See it with firefox.
I strongly suspect some thing is wrong either in the registery or the web hosting. But I re-installed IE8 as well as windows XP and also tried it on other PCs. Also tried other hosting services as mentioned in the above 34 steps that I have taken. There were many more that I have forgotten like the HTML snippet.
Should I just give up. Guys any help or final solution will be much not only appreciated but also (I don't know, any thing)
Thanks in advance.
JJ - Dear All,
Ok I tried & tried & tried and I failed.
1 - http://www.jawadasghar.site11.com/
This site does not show the icon in IE8 but shows in Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5. It is the blinking JJ
2 - http://jawadasghar.webng.com/
This is thesame. Does not show in IE8 but shows in Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5. It is the black block
3 - http://jawadasghar.webs.com/
Now this site for some reason shows both in IE8 and Mozilla Firefox 3.5.5. It is the blue pentagon shape. I have no idea why the last one works. It does not even have the <link> code in it. Three different favicon.ico files are in the root folders of the each site.
Any idea guys why the last one works???
Regards
Jawad - Dear All,
Ok guys it finally worked. That took me around 3 weeks. I was learning (X)HTML on the way. For the other guys who have or will come accross this problem here is the details.
1 - Make sure the file is a valid icon file. There are files floating around that have the extension .ico but are not valid icon files. And there are problems (i think) if you convert bmp, jpg, jpeg or gif images to icon files.
2 - Name the file exactly as "favicon.ico" with out the double quotes.
3 - IE8 will never display the icon if the file is on your hard disk. It has to be on the internet. Other browers such as firefox will however show the icon even if they are on your hard disk.
4 - IE8 will not show the icon if u do not have the www in your url address. So
a - http://yoursitename.com will not work.
b - http://www.yousitename.com will work.
5 - IE8 downloads the favicon.ico file in the folder.
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
where user = the name with which u logged in windos xp.
6 - This method works if you simply place a valid icon file named favicon.ico in the root directory of you site.
7 - So the following 3 sites have worked - FINALY
a - http://www.jawadasghar.site11.com/
b - http://jawadasghar.webng.com/
c - http://jawadasghar.webs.com/
In the above the first one did not work with out the www and only worked when I put the www in the URL. The bottom two I have no idea why they work with out the www. Maybe because the first site had another folder in itr root directory called public_html. I placed the favicon.ico file both in the root directory as well as in the public_html directory.
thanks for all your help guys.
JJ
