Tutorial: How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site

Kalena gave me special permission to share this Tutorial
with you... Now you can learn how to crate a favicon for
your website... the instructions are easy to understand...
I hope this is of help to you...

if you have a tutorial you have written that you would
also like to share for publication here - please
send it to me here:

bell.mail (at) gmail.com

thanks...

now read on to learn how to make yourself a favicon...

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How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site
By Kalena Jordan

Ever see those little custom icons next to a web site
listing in your favorites folder or on your browser
address bar? Have you ever wondered how to create
one for your own site? Well I'm going to teach you
in this article.

The icons are called "favicons", a contraction of the
phrase "favorite icons". To see an example, go to
www.searchenginecollege.com and bookmark the site (or
add to your "favorites" list). Now close your browser
window and open a new one. Click on your bookmarked
sites or favorites list and find the site you just
bookmarked. See the tiny mortarboard graphic next to
the listing? That's a favicon. It makes the site stand
out from all the others in your favorites list. If you
click on that site, the favicon will even load next to
the URL in your browser address bar from now on.

Cool huh? Like to create a favicon for your own site?
It's easier than you think. Here's what you do:

1) Choose an image or symbol that you would like to use
to represent your web site. This could be a tiny version
of your logo, a graphic or perhaps a stylized version of
your company initials. A famous example of this is the
"Y!" favicon used by Yahoo! A favicon is meant to reflect
the look and feel of a web site or a company logo. Remember
it needs to be simple and clear enough to have visual impact
when converted to 16 x 16 pixels.

2) Take a high quality version of your chosen image in .JPG
or .GIF format and if it isn't already, convert your image to
the 256 color Web Safe Palette or the Windows 16 color format
(the fewer colors the better).

3) Using your favorite graphics package or image manipulation
software, reduce the image down to 16 pixels wide by 16 pixels
high, being careful to preserve the image resolution. This is
the tricky bit, because you might find your chosen image looks
fantastic at the original size and downright silly at 16 x 16
pixels! Keep experimenting until you are happy with the
finished icon. If you can't seem to make it work or you're short
on time, you can use a free icon converter like Image Icon
Converter
http://www.popularshareware.com/Image-Icon-Converter-download-11313.html
to convert your graphic to an icon or use an icon editor
such as ImageAuthor
http://imageauthor.com/
to build your icon from scratch.

4) You're nearly done! Now, take your completed icon and save
it as "favicon.ico". This is the default icon name that web
browsers like Internet Explorer and Netscape look for. If you
want to be really clever, you can even create a customized icon
for each page on your site - instructions for this can be found
at www.favicon.com.

5) Take your .ico file and copy it into the the root directory
of your web site (the main directory that contains all your
HTML pages). Now every time a visitor bookmarks your site, your
icon is copied into their cache file and displays whenever that
visitor returns.

6) To test your finished favicon, get a friend or colleague to
bookmark your site and then open a new browser window. You can
bookmark your own site but you generally only get one attempt
at this so it's best to save it for when you are sure you're
happy with your finished favicon. Alternatively, dump your cache
and open a new browser window between tries. If you did it
correctly, you should see your shiny new favicon appear in your
favorites list next to your site listing and also next to
your URL in the address field of your browser.

That's it, you're done! You now have an eye-catching icon
representing your web site in the favorites list of all your
visitors. A professional impact for very little effort.

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About the Author:
Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine
optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and
respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As
well as running her own SEO business Web Rank
(www.webrank.biz), Kalena manages Search Engine College
(www.searchenginecollege.com), an online training institution
offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable
self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and Search
Engine Marketing subjects.


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