[FREE] symbol in front of site name

Auke · July 15, 2014, 04:20:12 PM

Hello all,

In front of the names of websites there is a place for a small symbol (in case of SMF forum something that looks like a seesaw). Could somebody here please tell me how to put a symbol in that place?

Thanks in advance,

Auke

Illori · July 15, 2014, 04:22:02 PM

http://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Favicon.ico

Auke · July 15, 2014, 04:37:58 PM

Thank you. So it's called a favicon.

What I see is that I have to edit /Themes/default/index.template.php as follows:

Find <head> then add after:

echo ' <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico" />';

I got no clue how to do this... Where do I find this /Themes/default/~ ?

Sorry, I'm a newbie...

Auke

Illori · July 15, 2014, 04:46:56 PM

usually you dont need to do that. just upload the file to the main folder of your forum and your browser should pick it up automatically.

Auke · July 15, 2014, 05:09:54 PM

I'm pretty sure there are some elephants in the room which I'm overlooking, but...
- where do I find this file?
- where do I find the 'main folder' of my forum?

Depending on what I see when I find file and folder I also might need some assistance on how to do the uploading.

Auke

Kindred · July 15, 2014, 06:59:01 PM

You have to create the file yourself

You upload it to whatever directory your forum is installed to on your site.

Auke · July 15, 2014, 07:14:55 PM

Ah, okay, thank you.

That's bound to go wrong with me. I'll leave it for sometime in the future.

Auke

Kindred · July 15, 2014, 07:16:10 PM

There are many sites which will convert any normal image that you want to try into an ico for favicon usage

Arantor · July 15, 2014, 07:24:49 PM

Or use GIMP which can do it as well.

Burke ♞ Knight · July 15, 2014, 07:30:09 PM

http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

Auke · July 15, 2014, 08:21:35 PM

Right. I just used the link provided by BurkeKnight to create my own favicon which I saved over the seesaw favicon. Thank you for the help so far. What should I do next?

Auke

Burke ♞ Knight · July 15, 2014, 08:42:55 PM

As long as it is uploaded to the root of the site, it should work automatically.
However, it may not show for a little while to you, as you been so much on the site.
Try to open the site in a different browser, one that not used for the site, and you should see it right away on that one.

Auke · July 15, 2014, 09:09:56 PM

Well, I got the favicon on my laptop but the server on which my site is hosted is somewhere else. Shouldn't I somehow put the favicon on the server?

I use FireFox to work as an Admin on my website while I got a testaccount working from IE. I just opened the site on my otherwise unused Safari, but I don't see my favicon there.

Please advise.

Auke

Kindred · July 15, 2014, 09:10:47 PM

Yes. It needs to go on your server...

Auke · July 15, 2014, 09:15:42 PM

Ah, nice. I made a correct conclusion. Let's party!

How should I proceed to get the favicon on the server? Could you advice me?

Kindred · July 15, 2014, 09:38:56 PM

FTP is the best choice.., your cpanel file manager probably would work as well.

Arantor · July 15, 2014, 09:40:06 PM

I'd prefer SFTP if it's available but most hosts aren't using the secure version yet. (Which is a shame, since FTP can go die in a fire, well, anytime)

Auke · July 15, 2014, 09:55:57 PM

I haven't seen the term SFTP anywhere, so I suppose that's probably not available. Regarding FTP and cPanel, I know the terms by now, but am still at a loss as what they do / what I can do with them. It's probably explained somewhere, but there's just so much I have to learn all of a sudden.

I tried to upload the favicon with the package manager, but it didn't accept the .ico extension. Could you please explain how I upload the file with FTP?

Arantor · July 15, 2014, 09:57:32 PM

How do I use FTP? / What is FTP?

Auke · July 15, 2014, 11:02:07 PM

Thank you '?!'

I read the link, installed an FTP client and then made my own favicon disappear while trying to upload it, made a new favicon, tried to upload it again but probably failed (nothing to indicate that I succeeded). Grmbl.

mashby · July 15, 2014, 11:34:03 PM

Favicons can take some time to appear. Typically what I've done in the past is upload the favicon.ico file (to the web root of your server), then go view it directly in the browser. And then go back to the site where a real page would be and do Control F5. Happy dance may or may not ensue after that.

Auke · July 15, 2014, 11:41:18 PM

Yes, that's what I understood: be patient. However, nothing indicated that I actually uploaded something. I just pushed a bunch of buttons which seemed to do nothing. Viewing on another browser also showed nothing positive.

Auke · July 15, 2014, 11:57:11 PM

Trying again. I'm using SmartFTP. I got the favicon in the transfer queue, but nothing happens except for numerous automatic retries (about 1 every 30 seconds). I'm not even sure these are retries in uploading... Seems to me that something is wrong.

Deaks · July 16, 2014, 11:12:51 AM

does your hosting have cpanel?

If so you could use file manager.

Auke · July 16, 2014, 12:02:34 PM

Quote from: Μπράιαν on July 16, 2014, 11:12:51 AM
does your hosting have cpanel?

If so you could use file manager.

Yes, cPanel is available and I have just opened it. I also found File manager under the heading Files. I think I found how I can upload the favicon file to cPanel, but I'm not sure where I should put it. Could you advise me on that?

Kindred · July 16, 2014, 01:28:19 PM

in the root directory of your forum... in other words, in the same place that index.php and SSI.php are sitting.

Auke · July 16, 2014, 01:55:44 PM

I uploaded the file, it did not ask for a place it had to go, so maybe that was an unnecessary question.

Nothing changed that I can see in my other browser, but maybe I got to change some things: when I go the the upload page, there are 4 lines and 3 columns. The colums are 'User', 'Group' and 'World', the lines are 'Read', 'Write', 'Execute' and 'Permission'. In the first line everything is checked, in the second line only 'User' is checked, in the third line nothing is checked and in the last line I see the numbers 6, 4 and 4. Do I need to change something here?

Thanks again,

Auke

Kindred · July 16, 2014, 02:09:58 PM

no... 644 is fine.

And it may take up to a few DAYS for the icon to clear in your cache and get reloaded

Auke · July 16, 2014, 02:17:42 PM

Okay, thank you. I thought maybe I had to check 'Execute' or something. I will leave this for now and start working on other things of my website. This weekend I will either mark this topic as solved or ask for additonal help.

Thanks again all!

Mstcool · July 17, 2014, 07:16:49 PM

Quote from: BurkeKnight on July 15, 2014, 08:42:55 PM
As long as it is uploaded to the root of the site, it should work automatically.
However, it may not show for a little while to you, as you been so much on the site.
Try to open the site in a different browser, one that not used for the site, and you should see it right away on that one.

You could've suggested your own mod as well you know.

Here is a mod that he made and will make your life easy: http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1510

:p

Auke · July 20, 2014, 01:25:13 PM

Okay, nothing happened, so it probably didn't work. What do you guys advise now? Trying the mod that Mstcool linked to? I don't need an extra area under the menu though.

mashby · July 20, 2014, 01:29:04 PM

You really don't need a mod! I'm curious as to what tools you are using and where you might or might not be uploading your favicon.ico file. So, let's start there. Do you have a properly formatted ico file?

Auke · July 20, 2014, 01:44:12 PM

Yes, I made a favicon with the link BurkeKnight provided.

It's named favicon.ico and In my files it has taken the place of the default seesaw favicon.

mashby · July 20, 2014, 01:50:31 PM

OK...and are you using File Manager or FTP to upload said file to the web root of your site? How did you install SMF?

Auke · July 20, 2014, 02:29:09 PM

Good question... ehhh... give me a minute to try to remember.

Edit 1:
I'm hosted with CoreISP. The cPanel there has a SMF logo which I clicked. To remember what was next I would have to click it again. Not sure if that is wise...

Edit 2:
I think I tried this favicon thingy with File Manager.

Mstcool · July 20, 2014, 08:04:17 PM

Where did you upload it? What file is what I mean.

And if you use that mod, you dont have to have the extra area under the menu, just use the favicon feature. :p

Auke · July 20, 2014, 08:54:36 PM

Ok, I installed the mod you mentioned and now I see my favicon in the top left of my screen before the page indication. Not yet before the URL, but I understand form the previous posts here that it may take some days before this happens.

Thanks Mstcool for the tip and thanks BurkeKnight for making the mod!

Mstcool · July 21, 2014, 01:12:19 AM

Np.

Auke · July 21, 2014, 09:24:53 AM

Quote from: Kindred on July 16, 2014, 02:09:58 PM
And it may take up to a few DAYS for the icon to clear in your cache and get reloaded

My favicon is now in front of the URL when I open in IE. In FireFox it is visible on the tabs but not in front of the URL. And in Safari it is nowhere tot be seen. Am I correct to assume the appearance of the favicon is not only dependent of 'to clear in my cache' (whatever that means) but also of the whims of the various browsers?

Kindred · July 21, 2014, 03:32:07 PM

yes. firefox does not add it in the URL bar... only in the tab list

Auke · July 21, 2014, 03:39:39 PM

Okay, thank you!

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[FREE] symbol in front of site name