Hey there,
By default if you don’t specify a favicon there will be a 404 error generated. To prevent this Hummingbird could have a feature that generates a blank favicon to prevent that.
The Perfmatters plugin has a feature like this. It generates a blank favicon using base64.
Why?
It prevents 404 errors for missing favicons. Many browsers auto-request /favicon.ico even if it’s not explicitly set.
If there’s no favicon, the server returns a 404 and that’s wasted traffic and a small performance hit.
A blank Base64 favicon avoids that request altogether.
Embedding the favicon as Base64 means the browser doesn’t need to send a separate request to fetch it.
A blank favicon doesn’t affect the look of the site and can be easily overriden by another plugin or setting if a real custom favicon is needed.
