Traditionally favicons are used for branding. A tiny icon which represents who you are and is displayed in the browsers address bar, in your bookmarks and (in Firefox) in the tab of the page your are currently viewing.

For most, the favicon is purely aesthetic. However, in others it has become a useful piece of functionality.

W3C Validator

I am obsessed with Web Standards, especially when it comes to strict validation of our websites and applications.

Recently, the W3C released a major overhaul to their Markup Validation Service. Along with this upgrade came a unique feature that saves me time every day.

Websites that pass validation are given a solid green favicon, while those which fail are given a red one. I routinely open a number of pages from a website I am working on side-by-side in tabs. Then as I made changes to the page structure, I can reload-all tabs and instantly see which ones have problems.

To reload all tags at once in Firefox, right click on any tab and select “reload all tabs.” This feature is easily overlooked, but is one of the most useful.

Future Uncertain

The future of favicons looks bleak. They are being abused by phishing scammers and other online deviants by simply placing a favicon of a pad-lock to imitate a SSL connection when one does not actually exist. A practice better known as Favicon Spoofing

Other Examples?

Have you seen any other favicons which are more functional than aesthetic? Please comment below and let me know.