Monday, December 28, 2009

Adding a footer section to a Blogger theme

This article is about how to add a a footer section to your blog.  It was written in late 2009, before Designer Themes were available.  Today, the best approach is to use a Designer theme.  However this article has been updated for people who are still using Layout themes.   It also shows you how to add additional footers, if there aren't enough for your needs in the Designer theme you are using.

Remember:  in Blogger, theme is just another word for template.



Footer sections and Blogger themes

Blogger's Designer themes (ref Theme types in Blogger) all let you configure the footer section - you can have a one, two or three column footer, and put one ore more gadgets in each of these columns.  This gives a lot of flexibility about how the footer looks.

If you are using an older Layout theme that doesn't ave a footer and you want to add one, you can either:



How to add a footer section to a Layout theme

Edit your theme in the usual way

Find the part where the code says:
]]></b:skin>
</head>

Add the following code immediately before this. (This adds a style for your new footer to use)
#footer {
border-top:1px dotted #999999;
clear:both;
margin:0 auto;
}

Find the part where the code says:
<!-- spacer for skins that want sidebar and main to be the same height-->
 <div class='clear'> </div>

Add this code immediately after that point (this is setting up the footer section in your new theme)
<div id='footer-wrapper'>
<b:section class='footer' id='footer' maxwidgets='10' showaddelement='yes'>
</b:section></div>


How to add an extra footer section to a Designer theme

A similar technique works for adding multiple Footers, if your theme already has one - you just have to make sure that the section gets a separate ID (eg id='footer2' in the part in bold-italics).




Related Articles

The difference between themes and template in Blogger

Theme types in Blogger.

Editing your blog's theme  advantanges and disadvantages

Adding a separator between your posts

Setting up Analytics code on your blog

Share this Article

URL:

HTML link code:

BB (forum) link code:

Subscribe to Blogger-hints-and-tips

FeedBurner will send a confirmation message. Click the verify link in it to start your subscription.

Follow Me on Pinterest Subscribe to Blogger-HAT on Google + RSS subscription icon Follow BloggerHAT on Twitter

5 comments:

  1. How do I add a text-gadget to a footer?

    How do I add HTML/JavaScript gadget to the footer of each page?


    or


    How do I insert HTML/JavaScript gadget in the footer of each page?


    or


    How do I insert a link to my HOME page in the footer of each page?



    Thx

    ReplyDelete
  2. One option is to add a footer section, as described in the article, and then use Design > Page Elements to add the gadget in the usual way.

    This will put the footer into the very bottom section of the blog.

    If you want to add the gadgets to immediatley under your posts (all the posts on the page), then add the gadget in Design > Page Elements and drag-and-drop it to underneath you Blog Posts area.

    If you want to add the gadgets to immediatley under individual posts, then ask for help in the Blogger Help Forum - I have researched how do to do this, but haven't written it up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mary, thank you

    I did not explain correctly what I wanted ....

    http://electricianintorontoelectrician.blogspot.com/

    How do I add HTML to the existing footer where the share buttons and edit pencil are located?

    or

    How do I insert HTML/JavaScript gadget in the footer of each page? Specifically to the right hand side of the footer where the share buttons and edit pencil icon are located

    or

    How do I insert a link in the footer of each page (to my HOME page)? to the right hand side of the same footer where the share buttons and edit pencil icon are located

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ahh, sorry I misunderstood.

    I don't know how to do exactly what you're after, but have described an answer that may be good enough on this thread:

    http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=782720472fd665c3&hl=en&fid=782720472fd665c300049bc9d35caea8

    ReplyDelete