Filed under: Fun, Ask DLS, Browsers, Humor
Ask DLS: why is every damn web browser logo round?
Maybe you noticed this ages ago, but the thought just occurred to me (and most of the rest of our crew after I pinged the list) this afternoon. Why is it that every web browser has a round icon/logo?
Don't get me wrong - we kicked it around on the list and there's the obvious roundness in the phrase World Wide Web. But is there any other sector where the iconography is this uniform?
Netscape used to have a big, boxy icon, but even that vanished as time went by. With the digging I did this afternoon, I only found one non-round icon: Midori (right). And even it has kind of a squashed-but-still-round look to it.
Oddly, Opera, whose name "sounds" like it should be the roundest logo of the bunch, is noticeably less round than the others I shopped together.
What's the deal? Is the circle just the ultimate shape for a browser logo?
Could there be some kind of Illuminati-run conspiracy at work?
Sesame Street was all about circles the other day, maybe those creepy little muppets are behind it all...
Don't get me wrong - we kicked it around on the list and there's the obvious roundness in the phrase World Wide Web. But is there any other sector where the iconography is this uniform?
Netscape used to have a big, boxy icon, but even that vanished as time went by. With the digging I did this afternoon, I only found one non-round icon: Midori (right). And even it has kind of a squashed-but-still-round look to it.Oddly, Opera, whose name "sounds" like it should be the roundest logo of the bunch, is noticeably less round than the others I shopped together.
What's the deal? Is the circle just the ultimate shape for a browser logo?
Could there be some kind of Illuminati-run conspiracy at work?
Sesame Street was all about circles the other day, maybe those creepy little muppets are behind it all...
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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Simon said 8:30PM on 6-19-2009
I think a lot of it is a positive feedback loop. People got used to the idea that the icon that goes to the internet is the round, blue one, so other browser-makers followed suit with at least the shape. High-contrast shapes are very easy to recognize quickly (as compared to color or texture, which requires focus to distinguish), so it should come as no surprise that browser-makers want the shape of their icon to be similar enough to prevent a cognitive hiccup when they go looking for "The Internet".
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Peter said 8:35PM on 6-19-2009
It's not just browsers, lots of icons are round.
iTunes, Quicken, FeedDemon, KeePass, Ghost, Roxio Creator, Second Copy.
It's a conspiracy man...
Reply
paul.m.wilkins said 8:40PM on 6-19-2009
The roundness is to represent the world, of planet Earth.
The internet gives you access to the world, so using the world as the internet logo.
You will see the world used in around half of the logos you've shown there. Internet Explorer also used it for their activity indicator a while ago as well.
Reply
Lee Mathews said 8:50PM on 6-19-2009
I could swear I mentioned the world thing...or is my trick playing minds on me?
Cam said 9:17PM on 6-19-2009
"my trick playing minds on me?:"
Um..... rephrase?
Todd said 8:38PM on 6-19-2009
"Squaring a circle" is a programmer/mathematician inside joke.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squaring_the_circle
See also Web 2.0's hatred of vowels, especially the letter 'e' as in [Internet] Explorer.
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AlexL said 8:41PM on 6-19-2009
I think it has something to do with the icons of the first two browsers, Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. If memory serves me correctly, around the time Internet Explorer was introduced, Netscape had switched to using the round steering wheel logo, and IE used an icon that's half-globe, half-letter-e. I've heard non-tech-savvy people referring to the two browsers as the "big wheel" or the "big globe" when talking about which one they should use to visit websites. The relationship between round icons and browsing websites probably became ingrained into people's minds then, and browsers thereafter followed suit.
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David Moisan said 8:22PM on 6-21-2009
Actually, IE 1.0 (and 2.0) had the Windows flag and cloud background that conformed with Win95, so that's square. The old Netscape "N" logo of that era was square, too.
AlexL said 8:30PM on 6-21-2009
We might be talking about different eras. I distinctly remember the icons of the two browsers installed on the Windows 95 systems I've seen, the one for Internet Explorer was of a globe (possibly with half of a letter e or a magnifying glass) and the one for Netscape Navigator was of a steering wheel for ships. These might not have been the original icons for the browsers but they were being used during the era I'm remembering.
jagophate said 8:47PM on 6-19-2009
My 2 cents:
The icons are round because like a circle, the internet has no ending point.
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sepirioth said 8:59PM on 6-19-2009
this is just my opinion so dont jump down my throat.
world wide web, world = earth = round
wasnt the first browser just a globe icon? (ie anyways)
that leaves us with a very easy answer, plagiarism
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Grant Robertson said 11:04PM on 6-19-2009
Ah yes, IE the "first browser", I remember it well. Uhg.
Try NCSA Mosaic. Unfortunatey I don't remember the icon for Mos on the Dec Alpha box I first browsed the internet on, I can tell you it was black and white, as was everything on that X teminal.
WL said 9:04PM on 6-19-2009
What about the Mozilla Suite browser? http://www-archive.mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/
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Matt said 4:05AM on 6-20-2009
It was discontinued and replaced by a suite with a round logo. ;)
WL said 2:13PM on 6-20-2009
dang!
Danny Boy said 9:14PM on 6-19-2009
The OffyByOne browser (with full HTML 3.2 support!) does not have a round icon either. It seems to be stuck in the mid-90s. I used it semi-regularly until all these web 2.0 scripts ruined my internet experience. :)
Also, the Gnome browsers Galeon and Epiphany aren't round.
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Kenn.keeper said 9:16PM on 6-19-2009
Round icons symbolize the IQ of those who come in here an argue or use foul language......
Free is Good
Kenn.....
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Dafrety said 9:21PM on 6-19-2009
I think it's just that round icons are pleasing to the eye. Looking at my taskbar I have 8 icons. 6 are round, and one is roundish.
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billcantfart said 10:20PM on 6-19-2009
...What about the last one? I GOTTA KNOW!!
Dafrety said 12:18AM on 6-20-2009
It is U Torrent. Square.