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Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this?
I don't know when I first noticed this but on gmail, the favicon displayed is different for my account but not anyone else's that I've talked to. It's a round flower with a yellow symbol in the middle that looks like the end of a crescent wrench.
Here's a link to it:
http://imgur.com/MlcXQRX
When I search for it on Google Image search, I can only find 8 results for it, all on Chinese sites.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/oj99epk
(with preview link so people can see the full google search url before navigating to that link)
Has anyone else seen this or at least know what the symbol is? I don't recognize it at all.
- adamneilson 13y agoOne of my PMs had this last week. We assumed it was some sort of maintenance mode indicator given the spanner icon. A mystery indeed!
- ajani 13y agoThis happens when you are logged into google apps as admin.
- malandrew 13y agoStrange, because I also get it on my work Google Apps email account even though I'm not an admin on that account.
- ajani 13y agoInteresting. Since I am admin on my Google Apps account, I assumed it must be for that. Guess all Apps accounts get it.
- malandrew 13y agoIn general I find it very odd for a company to change the favicon for a domain or site since it's meant to aid which recognition of what tabs go with what sites you are familiar with. Putting an icon that is unrelated to your own logo destroys the ability for the user to recognize their gmail tab quickly. At best, their intent could be that this is meant as a placeholder favicon until the user sets his/her own custom one. But even in that case, I'd except the regular Gmail favicon until the user feels compelled to seek out this configuration and set it themselves.
- amarcus 13y agoAppears to be an error on Gmail's part. See this discussion for more info including official response: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/apps/general-discussion/TWJHXfDjRpU%5B1-25-true%5D https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/apps...
- malandrew 13y agoThank you for this. I tried searching for an answer before posting here and did not find that discussion.
- MattBearman 13y agoStrangely I only see this favicon on one of the two linked gmail accounts I am currently logged into.
- xauronx 13y agoOh I only have that on my corporate account and not my business account. I figured it was something one of the admins did.