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When I saw this page, it hit me: all browser logos are round. Is there a reason for this?
by ggchappell 18y ago
When I saw this page, it hit me: all browser logos are round.
Is there a reason for this?
- ivank 18y agoI'm guessing it's just the desire to look like the IE logo. Even others are round: Maxthon, Flock, xB Browser. Netscape also went from square to round: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Netscape_classic_logo.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Netscape_classic_logo.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Netscape.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Netscape.svg Also, Phoenix/Firebird wasn't round: http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/firebird.jpg http://www.martijndevisser.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/...
- eli 18y agoI think a lot of program icons went from square to round (or irregular) once transparent backgrounds caught on.
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- browngeek 18y agoGood observation. It could be because the "world" in www is round.
- ojbyrne 18y agoTechnically, Opera, being the independent sort, is more of an oval.
- tptacek 18y agoTwo thoughts, and an obvious third comment. First, because the browser logo started out as the status indicator in NCSA Mosaic and in the '90s browsers, before UI designers started thinking about screen real estate. The animated logos in these indicators needed to display indefinite progress, so they were elaborate spinners, and spinners are round. Second, because the globe is a visual metaphor for the world wide web, and circles figure prominently in navigation, which is a design motif for browsers. Finally, because the first major commercial browsers (Netscape and IE) had circle logos, so circles became part of the marketing vocabulary for browsers. You could do a square logo now, but it'd stick out. Note that the original Mozilla browser logo was not a circle. AND WHERE IS IT NOW?