how do you make icons on homepage instead of titles in favorite bar

Also note that the icons displayed on the Start Page are your Favorites (although you choose Frequently visited or Recently Closed instead). If you only want the Favorites displayed on your Start Page you can hide the Favorites bar at the top by going to Safari View menu and choosing Hide Favorites Bar.

Hold down the control key while clicking in a blank area in the Favorites bar (don't click on an icon or text). You can then click on "Show Icons & Text", "Show Icons Only" or "Show Text Only."

Click 0n the icon at the bottom right of your Safari Start Page and then put a checkmark in front of "Favorites" on the menu that pops up.

The icon at the bottom right of your Safari Homepage look like:

If you don't have that icon at the bottom right of the page when you open a new window or a new tab, go to Safari Settings > General and set New windows and new tabs to open with Start Page.