We analyzed 425k favicons

#1

Post by gurgeous » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 5:29 PM UTC

We analyzed 425k favicons
iconmap.io

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#2

Post by gurgeous » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 6:56 PM UTC

Also see the gigantic map - https://iconmap.io

The blog post is the analysis of the data set, the map is the visualization.

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#3

Post by paulirish » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 6:59 PM UTC

Aside: This article is a decent usecase for the esoteric `image-rendering: pixelated;` css property.

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#4

Post by dmitrygr » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:09 PM UTC

paulirish wrote: post #3

Aside: This article is a decent usecase for the esoteric `image-rendering: pixelated;` css property.

I used it to make this PWA work well on iPhones: http://dmitry.gr/89

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#5

Post by oehpr » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:12 PM UTC

gurgeous wrote: post #2

Also see the gigantic map - https://iconmap.io The blog post is the analysis of the data set, the map is the visualization.

I wonder if there might be a way to map all these using t-SNE to discrete grid locations? Maybe even an autoencoder. I'd love to see what features it could pick out.

I don't see their data set though. hmmm.

maybe I'll just have to crawl it on my own if I want to do it.

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#6

Post by svdr » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:13 PM UTC

gurgeous wrote: post #2

Also see the gigantic map - https://iconmap.io The blog post is the analysis of the data set, the map is the visualization.

I see a lot of repetitions in the map?

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#7

Post by bellyfullofbac » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:16 PM UTC

Huh, there's a row of identical icons of 3 blue circles (search for cashadvancewow[dot]com) and all the domains using them are loan-related. Interesting way to do forensics on clone sites (although trying a few of them, they're not showing any icons right now, and the URL /favicon.ico 404's)

And I checked a few of the sites, I just got lorem-ipsum style landing pages. I wonder what's the point, or are the scammers using the domains mostly for emails?

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#8

Post by quitit » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:17 PM UTC

The difference between the Apple “precomposed” and standard icons had to do with the gloss effect on icons on pre iOS 7 home screens.

When adding a website/webapp to these earlier home screens, the OS would apply a gloss effect over the icon in order to match the aesthetic of the standard apps. The precomposed icon was a way for the developer to stop the OS from applying this effect, such as if their logo already had a different gloss effect already applied (i.e “precomposed”) or other design where adding the glossy shine wouldn’t look right. The standard icon allowed the OS to apply the gloss effect - which was a timesaver as Apple did tweak the gloss contour over the years: hence using a standard icon ensured that the website/webapp always matched the user’s OS version.

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#9

Post by gurgeous » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:18 PM UTC

svdr wrote: post #6

gurgeous wrote: post #2

Also see the gigantic map - https://iconmap.io The blog post is the analysis of the data set, the map is the visualization.

I see a lot of repetitions in the map?

It's one icon per domain. Try hovering (on desktop) and you'll see that many domains have the same favicon.

Re: We analyzed 425k favicons

#10

Post by Groxx » Wed, Oct 20, 2021, 7:19 PM UTC

Off in one of the more esoteric corners of favicons, you have games played within the favicon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpjM5myls7I

Sadly it doesn't quite work for me any more, but the youtube video does a decent job showing what it looked like when it worked.