Are favicons less popular today?

Question

After trying to figure out why my favicon was not showing across various browsers (except Safari), but replaced by a gray globe, I found the following discussions:

http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/923022

It seems this is now normal either for websites that do not supply identity information or when one's connection to a website is not encrypted. Even the major websites don't show favicons.

Is this a problem with me or are we not seeing favicons in the URL address bar as commonly as we used to?

"Even the major websites don't show favicons." Which ones? My browser tabs all have icons. — BoltClock, Nov 19 '12 at 15:38
Yahoo, Youtube, Facebook. Now you say browser "tabs" - I do get favicons in the tabs, but not in the URL bar. — Andrew Findlay, Nov 19 '12 at 15:56
Are you by any chance using Firefox? Because I am too; I think they stopped displaying favicons in the URL bar altogether in a recent version. — BoltClock, Nov 19 '12 at 15:59
Yes, but I have this issue with Chrome, Opera and IE also. But NOT Safari. — Andrew Findlay, Nov 19 '12 at 16:05

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

I believe favicons today are even more popular than in the past.

Part of the issue I believe you are running into is how favicons are displayed. It isn't that they are less popular, but the location or how they are displayed may have changed.

Here is the rundown on where they are displayed.

Address Bar: Firefox v1 - 12, IE 7+, Opera v7 - 12 and Safari

Address bar drop down list: Firefox

Links bar: Firefox, Chrome, IE 5+, Opera 7+

Bookmarks: Firefox, Chrome, IE 7+, Opera 7+, Safari

Tabs: Firefox, Chrome, IE 7+, Opera 7+

Drag to Desktop: Firefox, Chrome, IE 5+, Opera 7+

(List from Wikipedia)

You also have to consider that favicons are now playing a larger role because of mobile devices. When someone bookmarks or pins a site to their screen it will use the favicon. I find that having favicons set for mobile are great because it shows a logo or icon vs seeing the page crammed into a small icon on the screen.

Bottom line: Favicons are not going anywhere and I highly recommend programming them for both desktops and mobile devices.

Are favicons less popular today?

1 Answers1