Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this?

Posted by malandrew on Sunday September 15, 2013 @06:21PM
from the ask-hn dept.

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.

( 9 comments | 13 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by amarcus on Monday September 16, 2013 @12:04AM (#6391556)

Appears 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...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by malandrew on Monday September 16, 2013 @01:26AM (#6391799)

Thank you for this. I tried searching for an answer before posting here and did not find that discussion.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by ajani on Sunday September 15, 2013 @06:59PM (#6390662)

This happens when you are logged into google apps as admin.

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Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by malandrew on Sunday September 15, 2013 @07:00PM (#6390665)

Strange, because I also get it on my work Google Apps email account even though I'm not an admin on that account.

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Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by ajani on Sunday September 15, 2013 @07:02PM (#6390673)

Interesting. Since I am admin on my Google Apps account, I assumed it must be for that. Guess all Apps accounts get it.

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Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by malandrew on Sunday September 15, 2013 @07:08PM (#6390695)

In 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.

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Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by adamneilson on Sunday September 15, 2013 @06:48PM (#6390629)

One of my PMs had this last week. We assumed it was some sort of maintenance mode indicator given the spanner icon. A mystery indeed!

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Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by xauronx on Monday September 16, 2013 @01:39PM (#6394518)

Oh I only have that on my corporate account and not my business account. I figured it was something one of the admins did.

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Re:Ask HN: Very strange favicon on Gmail. Has anyone seen this? by MattBearman on Monday September 16, 2013 @05:39AM (#6392379)

Strangely I only see this favicon on one of the two linked gmail accounts I am currently logged into.

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