computer-centric curiosity

[krait]

Does anyone know why bookmark icons don't show for most of my bookmarks in Firefox? It's been this way for roughly forever, and I've never understood why! (In the bookmarks sidebar, when a folder is open? Maybe five of the thirty visible bookmarks will have an icon besides them, e.g. the AO3 or LJ icon... even though fifteen of the links go to AO3 or LJ. Most of them will be little blank spaces, outlined by a dotted box.)

It's kind of frustrating, when I'm trying to find a fic that I know was on AO3, to be unable to pick out AO3 links from the heap, but mostly I'm just really curious as to why so few of them show, and why it's so random - which ones show up and which don't changes all the time!

Comments

[dancing_serpent]

They only show up for me once I've clicked the link for a second time after bookmarking, and only when clicking from the bookmarks menu. And some sites don't have their own little icons, so there's never something to show in the first place.

[soc_puppet]

Good citizen, you have just spurred me into a quest to click twice on my every bookmarked link that is still a dotted square.

[dancing_serpent]

And, did it work for you, too? :)

[soc_puppet]

Somewhat? I got through about six links, learning that half of them were no longer what I originally wanted to bookmark, and then got horribly distracted on the seventh. And then two (or possibly all three) of the remaining bookmarks didn't have a pic to go in the icon anyway, so. Yes and no, I guess?

[blnchflr]

Came here to say the exact same - other than those two, I have no explanation, *hands*.

[dancing_serpent]

*g* Good, not only me then. It's been driving me crazy.

[krait]

Huh. I haven't counted, of course, but I'm pretty sure I've clicked twice on way more of them than have visible icons! Could it be that it somehow can't 'remember' that I clicked them?

[dancing_serpent]

I know I often bookmark something and then it takes a while before I need the site again, or have time for reading, or whatever. So there are many dotted squares in my bookmarks. But yes, usually the icon appears once I've clicked the link a second time.

[azurelunatic]

I know it has to pull from the favicon for the site, but the exact mechanism of when it polls for the favicon, and why the favicon might disappear after it's been previously retrieved, are unknown to me. One really simple reason for it not being there would be if at the time it checked, the favicon did not get served to it (like if the server was being flaky), but I don't know how often that is.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/bookmark-favicon-changer/ sounds like it might be useful to you?

[krait]

That is the weirdest thing about it! My first thought, when I saw some weren't showing up, was that it had timed out, or the site wasn't giving that information; but it's doing it for some of them!

I will try clicking everything twice, systematically, just in case it's a case of me not being able to count to two, but given the scattered-ness of which ones show up, it just seems unlikely!

Still, might as well give it a try. :D