Removing the attribtion gadget by commenting out the code

This article documents removing the attribution gadget from Blogger by commenting out the code for the widget. This method no longer works (last tested 20 Sept 2010 - the gadget is automatically re-added to the bottom of the sidebar), but the technique may be useful in future.

See the main article about removing the attribution gadget from blogs with Designer templates for background information about the topic, and for the most recent information about techniques that work.

WARNING:

I have not checked the Blogger Terms and Conditions to find out whether you are allowed to remove the Attribution. Even if they don't mention it today, a requirement to keep the statement could be added tomorrow. This advice does not mean that I, or Google/Blogger, are saying that you should/can/may/must remove the attribution statement.

How to remove the Attribution Gadget by commenting out the code:

Edit your template in the normal way, and tick the Expand Widgets box, so you can see all the code

Find this section in the template:

<b:section class='foot' id='footer-3' showaddelement='no'>
<b:widget id='Attribution2' locked='true' title='' type='Attribution'>
<b:includable id='main'>
    <div class='widget-content' style='text-align: center;'>
      <b:if cond='data:attribution != ""'>
        <data:attribution/>
      </b:if>
    </div>

    <b:include name='quickedit'/>
</b:includable>
</b:widget>
</b:section>

Note that Attribution2 may be a different value (eg Attribution1 or Attribution3) depending on how many times you've tried to remove it in the past - searching for "type='Attribution'" is probably the easiest way to find the block of code.

Comment-out the code that displays the Attribution gadget, by putting it inside these characters  so it ends up looking like this

Preview the template change, to check that everything is ok. If not, fix the problem

Click Save Template

As the template tries to save, you may get a warning message:

Warning: Your new template does not include the following widgets:

Attribution3

Would you like to keep these widgets on your blog or delete them?
Deleting widgets cannot be undone.

(Yours might say Attribution1, or 2 or 4 ... depending on how many other approaches you've tried to remove it )

If you get the message, then click Keep Widgets: This will leave an attribution Gadget in the set of Widgets that your blog has data about, even though it's not actually showing it on the screen. (Ref: Components in your Blog)

If you want, add an an alternative attribution gadget.