Favicons, the tiny 16x16 pixel graphics that show up in the address bar of your browser for certain web pages, are a quick way for users to identify your page from a list of many bookmarks. A favicon can be a depiction of your site's logo or some other related icon and is helpful to round out the continuum of branding for your site.
The favicon file format is ".ico", a format not natively supported by Photoshop or other image creation software. A special plug-in must be downloaded and installed in order for Photoshop to read and save to the .ico format. Alternatively, there are on-line favicon creation services that allow you to upload an image you wish to use and generate a favicon.
Once you have created your favicon (named "favicon.ico"), you'll need to add it to your webpages so that web browsers can detect it. It must be placed in the root level directory, not in an "image" or other folder. It should sit at the same level as the "index" page. A small line of code should be placed into the head section for each page on which you wish the favicon to appear: (replace { with<)
{link rel="Shortcut Icon" href="/favicon.ico"}
This allows browsers which look for a direct link to the favicon image to find and display it properly.
It's quite a challenge to design a readable, recognizable and graceful graphic in such a small dimension! Find inspirational sites here, here and here. They can give good insight into what characteristics make an effective favicon.
07 April 2008
16 March 2008
More in Check This Out
http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/colorchart/flashsite/
I'll actually blog about this later when I'm not being nibbled by ducks, but I didn't want to forget this cool Flash site.
And! Just found this too:
http://www.reformschoolrules.com/
I'll actually blog about this later when I'm not being nibbled by ducks, but I didn't want to forget this cool Flash site.
And! Just found this too:
http://www.reformschoolrules.com/
02 February 2008
RSS
RSS is a syndication method that makes it easy to keep up with a number of blogs automatically without having to check them manually. A software RSS reader (or "aggregator") is used to subscribe to the "feed" by clicking on the RSS logo in the URL portion of your browser. It looks like this:
The reader checks the subscribed blogs for new content, so you don't have to! I use the Google Reader--it really keeps me up to date on things I'm interested in or need to know. It would be helpful to add other IMT180 student's blogs to a reader to receive any updates automatically.
The reader checks the subscribed blogs for new content, so you don't have to! I use the Google Reader--it really keeps me up to date on things I'm interested in or need to know. It would be helpful to add other IMT180 student's blogs to a reader to receive any updates automatically.
24 January 2008
Check it out!
Two website examples which are cool in completely different ways.
Shillam + Smith Architecture Firm
The animation and navigation make this site cool to me. I particularly like that they've used really great animation, but allowed it to remain subtle. So many sites "show off" so much that it is overwhelming--here it is used to great effect, and it supports the navigation and the design idea without becoming the focus of the page. I would imagine that it must be accomplished as a Flash animation, but I really have no idea how they did it (hopefully I'll learn)!
MoMA exhibition of Georges Seurat drawings
This website is cool not because it is doing amazing things technically, but because it is using the technology to create an experience that would not be possible otherwise. Enter the site and click on the "Sketchbooks" link. Four of Seurat's sketchbooks are shown; you can choose one and leaf through it page by page. The experience of looking at individual pages in the sketchbooks is not one you would ever have in a museum--very few people are allowed to examine such a treasure, hands-on.
Shillam + Smith Architecture Firm
The animation and navigation make this site cool to me. I particularly like that they've used really great animation, but allowed it to remain subtle. So many sites "show off" so much that it is overwhelming--here it is used to great effect, and it supports the navigation and the design idea without becoming the focus of the page. I would imagine that it must be accomplished as a Flash animation, but I really have no idea how they did it (hopefully I'll learn)!
MoMA exhibition of Georges Seurat drawings
This website is cool not because it is doing amazing things technically, but because it is using the technology to create an experience that would not be possible otherwise. Enter the site and click on the "Sketchbooks" link. Four of Seurat's sketchbooks are shown; you can choose one and leaf through it page by page. The experience of looking at individual pages in the sketchbooks is not one you would ever have in a museum--very few people are allowed to examine such a treasure, hands-on.
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