898. How To Make Your Own Favicon (Tutorial)

Hello from Professor MOV!  Ever wonder how some people (from here on out to be referred to as “Computer Geniuses”) have a teensy tiny image right next to their http://  address in their browser?  That thumbnail image is called a “favicon.”  Instead of the default blogger orange letter “B,” these Computer Geniuses have mini ice-cream cones or martini glasses or purple unicorns. 

I secretly used to hate those favicon-savvy Computer Geniuses, and hope that inconvenient things would happen to them, things like their dry cleaning wouldn’t be ready or the Starbucks girl would give them the wrong coffee or that they would miss their turn on the freeway and have to circle back around.  Seems a bit unfair that the ones who paid attention in computer programming class now get to have a cool image next to their blog address, while the ones of us who were doing more important things (necessary things like sleeping, shopping, or watching re-runs of I Dream of Jeannie) are stuck with the generic orange “B.”            

Have you been wondering how you could get your own teensy tiny image next to your blog name without having to go to Computer Genius School or even having to pay attention very long?      

Guess what?  Now you can!  I will walk you thru it, and I absolutely promise it is easy and fast.  (*Disclaimer:  I am not actually a Computer Genius.)

First, pick your image.  You must have the rights to it, so it is preferable if the image in question is a photo you took or a drawing you did.  If someone else did the image, contact them and get permission to use it.  Make sure it is something that looks good tiny (so the Sistine Chapel is out, and a green amoeba is in).  Next comes the hard part:  cropping.  You must crop it into a square and it must be less than 100 pixels.  The way you can tell about that is by right-clicking on the image and viewing “Properties.”  You can adjust the size here by changing the length and width numbers.  This takes some experimenting and trial and error (or in my case, error and error and error and error and two full-sized candy bars).  Once you get the image how you want it, save it on your computer with a name you will remember (I like “my tiny favicon”). 

Now for the step-by-step instructions: 

1. Go to “Design” on your blog which is right next to “New Post” on the top right
2. Click on it and then go to “Layout”
3. Once you are on that page, you will see “Favicon” on the top left side of your screen.
4. Click “Edit”
5. Next, it pops up “Browse images”
6. Select your image you just cropped and shrunk, then voila! it will now be in front of your blog name in people's browsers (great for branding purposes)

I hope you like your new favicon!  And if this tutorial was helpful, please forward it to other friends and bloggers. 

xxo
MOV