Tuesday, February 16, 2016

vanderTrick: Change or Add an Icon in Chrome Bookmarks Bar (Favicon)

Missing a link icon in Chrome's Bookmarks Bar (that is, the empty folder look) or annoyed by its appearance, here is a quick and easy fix (well, more a mini-hack).

Find a site with a favicon that you like, say, AT&T's globe.
Open and drag the link from the Link Bar to the Bookmarks Bar, where it now appears as:


Edit this bookmark by right-clicking and >Edit...


Next, change the Name to, say, Trick, and the link to the site needing an icon or replacing a native favicon:


Click Save:


The Bookmarks Bar now shows that icon with the desired name and link.  Not sure if this means that the originating site gets favicon hits, but that does not matter for a public site.  Note that dragging the link to the Other Bookmarks tab retains the favicon, even though the old or no icon appears in the Link Bar.

Voila, a simple tweak that improves the browser look with a functionality that is surprisingly missing from Bookmarks Manager.

Learn more about Favicons here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon.