Safari Gains Favicon Support in Tabs on iOS 12 and macOS Mojave

[MacRumors]

Apple at its WWDC keynote on Monday previewed iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, both of which feature Safari 12.

The latest version of Apple's web browser adds long-awaited support for favicons, which are the tiny icons that appear to the left of website page titles, in tabs and the bookmark bar. In many cases, a favicon is a website's or brand's logo.

Microsoft was first to support favicons with Internet Explorer in 1999, and Chrome and Firefox have displayed favicons for many years as well, so this was a long time coming for Safari. Apple confirmed the feature on the What's New in Safari page of its website, alongside a handful of other improvements.

Favicons may seem like a trivial new feature in Safari 12, but as John Gruber noted last year, many people used Chrome or other alternatives explicitly because Apple's web browser lacked support for the tiny icons.

I really can't say this strongly enough: I think Safari's lack of favicons in tabs, combined with its corresponding crumminess when displaying a dozen or more tabs in a window, is the single biggest reason why so many Mac users use Chrome.

Favicons are useful because they make tabs more visually distinguishable, especially for users with several tabs open at once. And, in bookmark bars, it is possible to simply display favicons instead of having lengthier website names, allowing for many more bookmarks to fit within the viewable area.

Favicons are not displayed by default, so the feature must be enabled in the browser's preferences on Mac or via the Settings app on iOS devices.

Mac:Open Safari.
Click on Safari > Preferences in the Menu bar.
Click on Tabs.
Check the box beside "show website icons in tabs."iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch:Open the Settings app.
Tap on Safari.
Toggle on Show Icons in Tabs.Safari 12 is preinstalled on iOS 12 and macOS Mojave, available now in beta for registered Apple developers. It will also be available to download on the latest versions of macOS High Sierra and macOS Sierra in the fall.

Article Link: Safari Gains Favicon Support in Tabs on iOS 12 and macOS Mojave

 

[decksnap]

This is oddly written. Safari always supported favicons in various ways. They just don’t use them on tabs.

 

[abhibeckert]

Favicons are not displayed by default

Thank god it can be disabled.

The demo screenshot is unrealistic. In practice I always have so many tabs it's necessary to scroll to access all of them. The ones I can see are very short and the title is truncated. Having favicons would either mean worse truncation or less tabs can be visible without scrolling.

 

[BlazednSleepy]

Long overdue.

 

[abhibeckert]

This is oddly written. Safari always supported favicons in various ways. They just don’t use them on tabs.

You can see the fav icon while typing into the URL bar. But nowhere else as far as I know.

They're not displayed in tabs, and most of the time there's an SSL status icon where you might expect the favicon to be next to the URL.

 

[Envo]

It's kind of a gimmick until they doesn't support the notification badge on the current tab when they're pinned.

 

[flyinmac]

Wow.... they introduced a feature everyone else had a decade ago.

A feature so common that I never even actively think about it.

Glad Apple figured out how to do this. Always late to the party. But given enough time, Apple will get around to figuring out how to get where everybody else has been.

 

[PaddyTB]

Wow.... they introduced a feature everyone else had a decade ago.

A feature so common that I never even actively think about it.

Glad Apple figured out how to do this. Always late to the party. But given enough time, Apple will get around to figuring out how to get where everybody else has been.

20 years ago!

At last. Some things Apple does (or fails to do) are utterly baffling.

 

[ProwlingTiger]

Wow.... they introduced a feature everyone else had a decade ago.

A feature so common that I never even actively think about it.

Glad Apple figured out how to do this. Always late to the party. But given enough time, Apple will get around to figuring out how to get where everybody else has been.

I believe they supported it up until El Capitan or so. It's not like Safari never had support for favicons. It did, they removed it, and now it's back.

 

[jayducharme]

I believe they supported it up until El Capitan or so. It's not like Safari never had support for favicons. It did, they removed it, and now it's back.

That makes sense, because I clearly remember them in Safari years ago. I just assumed Apple decided they weren't needed for the location bar. Favicons do still show up in my bookmarks though, and I find that helpful.

 

[Logic368]

Well, I think we can safely say “Steve jobs would never have allowed favicons on tabs”

 

[Haswell]

Just download and install faviconographer and you can get favicons today for FREE!!!!

 

[TheColtr]

I tried it and immediately switched back. It looks out of place.

 

[coolfactor]

I believe they supported it up until El Capitan or so. It's not like Safari never had support for favicons. It did, they removed it, and now it's back.

Favicons have always been supported, as others have mentioned already. The Safari team had just changed the browser to only display them in certain contexts. I think they were aiming for a clean, clutter-free appearance of Safari, something that is opposite to the direction other browsers were going in.

They were really trying to avoid Safari becoming a headache this, but clearly they went too far, and displaying the favicon is useful after all.

 

[0388631]

Such a killer feature for Mojave...

This is oddly written. Safari always supported favicons in various ways. They just don’t use them on tabs.

I've been using Safari for 10 years now and before this announcement, I never realized they didn't show up. Hmm.

 

[IJ Reilly]

You can see the fav icon while typing into the URL bar. But nowhere else as far as I know.

Also in browsing history, watch list, and bookmarks. The only place they don't currently show is in the tabs. Agreed that this article is oddly written and has only confused the issue.

 

[trusso]

Glad it's optional. I don't need my tab-bar looking like Halloween.

 

[CPx]

I use Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge, and Safari, and I don't really miss favicons in Safari tabs. I can see why you would prefer to have them, but I don't understand how some people are so hell bent about it.

 

[kirky29]

Wow pleased we can enable/disable. I think they're ugly!

 

[JimmyBanks6]

One of the reasons I refused to use Safari, as a web dev being able to tell what tab is which visually is important to me. Glad to see the addition, better late than never.

 

[ChrisH3677]

Icons, including favicons, are a powerful design element that greatly increase the speed at which your eyes can navigate an interface. Even if the symbols mean nothing, the visual hierarchy is significantly improved, allowing that easier visual navigation.

As it is, Safari does show favicons beside bookmarks when viewed in the bookmarks sidebar and in the bookmarks bar in items in a dropdown folder. It is only in the main bookmarks bar and the individual tabs where they are absent.

 

[Codify]

Finally!

 

[shpankey]

I use them in my favorites bar for quick reference to a bunch of sites. Basically favicon bookmarks. I didn't use Safari because they didn't use them on their bookmarks (at least on the bar) which required names instead, taking up too much space. Glad they're in again.

 

[Pakaku]

As a long-time Firefox user, I always appreciated having some form of disabling them...

 

[nope7308]

That's funny, I gravitated toward Safari precisely because it lacked favicons. I'm glad this was implemented as an option and not a mandatory "feature"!