Welcome Wednesday: Custom Browser Favicons?

[#1]

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I have a bit of a weird question this week, so allow me to provide some context.

This past week I was asked to "remove" the custom favicon we have been using for Jira and Confluence. For reference we used the exact same logo for both and it has been that way since before I started working there (5+ years). I've never thought much of it because I only ever have a few tabs open at one time and I can always see more than just the favicon to identify each tab. The complaint/request is received was that with many tabs open using the default favicons can help distinguish between Jira and Confluence tabs.

I didn't see any harm in this change, but what was interesting and surprising was after we made the change there were many additional users thanking us for having reverted to the default values.

My question for you this week: Do you use a custom favicon? Or are you still using the default? And, do you have the same issue that my users have reported using a custom favicon?

Let me know in the comments below.

Have a great rest of the week!

[Taliah15]

Hello @Jimmy Seddon 

Happy Wednesday! That's a fascinating insight into something so small yet impactful. Custom favicons can look sleek but often make juggling multiple tabs confusing, especially when they’re identical across apps like Jira and Confluence. Default favicons might be less flashy but definitely boost quick recognition when you have dozens of tabs open. Sounds like your users really appreciate the clarity over branding in this case! It's a great reminder that sometimes default is better for productivity and user experience. Have a great rest of the week too!

[Debbie Jolley]

Interesting topic.
We use our company logo as our favicon - and it's been like that since a company rebrand about 3.5 years ago.

One very infrequent user asked me a few weeks ago if I could change it - and I said no.

If I had more of the day to day users requesting the change I might be more open to a discussion.   

But it's interesting to hear how the change has landed with your users.

[Brita Moorus]

Interesting question! We still use the default favicons, mostly because it's easier to tell Jira and Confluence apart when you have 20 tabs open (which is… almost always 😅). I can definitely see why people preferred the originals.

[Barbara Szczesniak]

Hi, @Jimmy Seddon. We still use the default favicons, though I have to say that I had to look at my 2 open browser windows to check that. I think I don't consciously notice them.

I have a tendency to open Jira tickets in a separate browser window from all my Confluence pages, since I am generally looking for information in Jira tickets to update my Confluence documentation. That's why I have these 2 giant monitors, isn't it? 

Also, like you, I can usually see enough info in the tab to know what it is. For Jira tabs, I always hover on the tab to see the title of the work item, since I don't track the numbers on a daily basis.

I did have our marketing team give me a favicon to use for the Viewport website that I publish from our Confluence.

[Tim W]

Definitely still using the default, I think users are still getting use to Atlassian as a whole.

I do feel like if I had my own company, I would ask the team to do something witty for the favicons. 

[Cornelia Jeppsson]

Hi! We also use the default favicons, but one idea could be to change the favicons to the same shape but just edit it to be a different color since it would then still be possible to distinguish the app but with for example the company colors :-)