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  3. Why are all browser logos round?

Why are all browser logos round?

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  • F Forogar

    I use the Vivaldi browser occasionally and it's logo is square (with a "V" in it).

    - I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.

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    petter2012
    wrote on last edited by
    #7

    Well there we go! Actually, Vivaldi is the successor to Opera. I bet that doesn't count as having a round logo anyway. :) Here's an image of the proud Vivaldi team!

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    • F Forogar

      I use the Vivaldi browser occasionally and it's logo is square (with a "V" in it).

      - I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.

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      petter2012
      wrote on last edited by
      #8

      Aha! :) Maybe it's actually "V for victory, and they are influenced by the (television series V). Back to cyberspace then. :)

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      • P petter2012

        Well, the heading maybe says it all. Why are all the browser logos round and not square? This fact became very apparent to me when they were (accidentally?) posed as the olympic games rings[^]. Any ideas? Considering that most web sites are drawn as frames and that the rest of at least Microsoft's application logos are square-ish, it's rather strange to me.

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        W Balboos GHB
        wrote on last edited by
        #9

        These people gave you a lot of silly hypothesis. The reason the logos were often round is that they fit better through the round wires.

        Ravings en masse^

        "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

        "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

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        • W W Balboos GHB

          These people gave you a lot of silly hypothesis. The reason the logos were often round is that they fit better through the round wires.

          Ravings en masse^

          "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

          "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

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          EbenRoux
          wrote on last edited by
          #10

          *That*... plus I find that round things tend to roll better.

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          • W W Balboos GHB

            These people gave you a lot of silly hypothesis. The reason the logos were often round is that they fit better through the round wires.

            Ravings en masse^

            "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

            "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

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            petter2012
            wrote on last edited by
            #11

            "The reason the logos were often round is that they fit better through the round wires." Yeah, had forgotten about the dial-up modems back in the days... :)

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            • P petter2012

              Well, there are many things one could do besides illustrating the world. After all, the Internet is referred to as Cyberspace. You're right about the O of course (apart from that they could have used something else than their initial). BTW, I'm working on a framework for developing UWP 2D games for novice programmers, using XAML and C#, backed up by Farseer Physics and Physics Helper. I just created a space shooter game with very little effort using this framework. Now I feel inspired to make a Browser Wars version of it, having all these round logos shooting at each other. :) (I plan to upload the framework as a project on this site sometime during fall.)

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              englebart
              wrote on last edited by
              #12

              I think the old Netscape logo (v2.0?) was a capital N standing on the moon with stars streaming in the background. Thanks to Wikipedia Netscape Navigator 2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[^]

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              • E englebart

                I think the old Netscape logo (v2.0?) was a capital N standing on the moon with stars streaming in the background. Thanks to Wikipedia Netscape Navigator 2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[^]

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                petter2012
                wrote on last edited by
                #13

                Yes, that's how I recall it too. So perhaps it was IE who started the round thing. I think it's really a bit strange as the logos were very small back then (16*16 pixels I think). Round is really not optimal then. Actually I just saw that the N was pictured on top of a circle (the world?), so it's them too!

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                • L Lost User

                  That's because the logos of the first browsers looked more like this: Mickeysoft Internet Exploiter.[^]

                  The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
                  This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
                  "I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.

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                  Doug Elwell
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #14

                  Awesome response. Love the link to the Terran Empire logo from Star Trek TOS, "Mirror, Mirror". The Javascript quote, also awesome. Kudos. :)

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                  • P petter2012

                    Well, the heading maybe says it all. Why are all the browser logos round and not square? This fact became very apparent to me when they were (accidentally?) posed as the olympic games rings[^]. Any ideas? Considering that most web sites are drawn as frames and that the rest of at least Microsoft's application logos are square-ish, it's rather strange to me.

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                    Atle Mo
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #15

                    I'm just guessing, but I believe it's related to the way browsers where first introduced - connect to the World. The globe. You gain access the "a world of information" etc. I guess that rhetoric stuck. So, working as a designer for Vivaldi (the browser) and being involved in designing our own icon, we felt it was natural for us to counter this. We're the square peg (in a round hole) of browsers, literally.

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                    • W W Balboos GHB

                      These people gave you a lot of silly hypothesis. The reason the logos were often round is that they fit better through the round wires.

                      Ravings en masse^

                      "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

                      "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

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                      Dorian Klingenberg
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #16

                      Unless the wire has a kink in it. Then only the ones get through

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                      • P petter2012

                        Well, the heading maybe says it all. Why are all the browser logos round and not square? This fact became very apparent to me when they were (accidentally?) posed as the olympic games rings[^]. Any ideas? Considering that most web sites are drawn as frames and that the rest of at least Microsoft's application logos are square-ish, it's rather strange to me.

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                        WynterDragon
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #17

                        Because the idea of using a single pixel height logo really didn't take off?

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                        • L Lost User

                          That's because the logos of the first browsers looked more like this: Mickeysoft Internet Exploiter.[^]

                          The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
                          This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a fucking golf cart.
                          "I don't know, extraterrestrial?" "You mean like from space?" "No, from Canada." If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.

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                          H Brydon
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #18

                          ... and they all had roots when the main question asked at the Microsoft interview was "why are manhole covers round?"[^].

                          I'm retired. There's a nap for that... - Harvey

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                          • P petter2012

                            Well, the heading maybe says it all. Why are all the browser logos round and not square? This fact became very apparent to me when they were (accidentally?) posed as the olympic games rings[^]. Any ideas? Considering that most web sites are drawn as frames and that the rest of at least Microsoft's application logos are square-ish, it's rather strange to me.

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                            maze3
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #19

                            "we got this browser thing that allows access to the whole world. What logo should we go with?" "Copy IBM, use the initial of the product. Plus it's not like we can do decent graphics yet, no point wasting computer resources on the logo." 5 years later. "So computers have plenty more resources now, we should update the logo." "Ok, hi-res initial. Next" 3 years later. "So, the people at [Company X] put their logo in a circle." "And?" "Well, it represent the WORLD, as in this browser can access the world." "Copy them, but with our initial. NEXT."

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                            • M maze3

                              "we got this browser thing that allows access to the whole world. What logo should we go with?" "Copy IBM, use the initial of the product. Plus it's not like we can do decent graphics yet, no point wasting computer resources on the logo." 5 years later. "So computers have plenty more resources now, we should update the logo." "Ok, hi-res initial. Next" 3 years later. "So, the people at [Company X] put their logo in a circle." "And?" "Well, it represent the WORLD, as in this browser can access the world." "Copy them, but with our initial. NEXT."

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                              petter2012
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #20

                              >>> "So, the people at [Company X] put their logo in a circle." "And?" "Well, it represent the WORLD, as in this browser can access the world." "Copy them, but with our initial. NEXT." >>> I think you will have great success in business. :)

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                              • W WynterDragon

                                Because the idea of using a single pixel height logo really didn't take off?

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                                petter2012
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #21

                                WynterDragon wrote:

                                Because the idea of using a single pixel height logo really didn't take off?

                                That might be the case. Don't forget this site though. :)

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                                • A Atle Mo

                                  I'm just guessing, but I believe it's related to the way browsers where first introduced - connect to the World. The globe. You gain access the "a world of information" etc. I guess that rhetoric stuck. So, working as a designer for Vivaldi (the browser) and being involved in designing our own icon, we felt it was natural for us to counter this. We're the square peg (in a round hole) of browsers, literally.

                                  P Offline
                                  P Offline
                                  petter2012
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #22

                                  Atle Mo wrote:

                                  we felt it was natural for us to counter this. We're the square peg (in a round hole) of browsers, literally.

                                  Yes, you're actually very cool. Having gone upstream (or up-fjord?) for twenty years (couting Opera as well) is worth respect.

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