Forum Moderators: phranque
The Footer!
Looking around at a few sites there is a huge variation what the footer is used for. Some put impression ads that nobody will see (pretty good idea acutally), some put navigational aids (such as repeating the top bar again on the bottom, some even put a splashing of linked keywords to other sections of the site.
So, what's in your footer and why?
Usually, it is a good idea to have repeat navigation including a home and contact link, especially for longer pages where the user doesn't want to have to scroll back up the top to continue. The footer is also the place for the copyright declaration, links to the terms and conditions and to a site map.
I have had success on pages with a strong local bias with putting the postal address and telephone numbers for the company at the foot of every page - it is useful information that people won't need to search for each time when all they want to do on the site is find how to call the company.
Don't make the text too small - although footer text is often slightly smaller than the content text, make sure it remains legible and is resizeable if possible. Also, don't make it too pale - a light gray on white footer helps emphasize the content but it reduces considerably the footer's usefullness.
Finally, don't overdo it - otherwise you'll end up with a complicated footer stuffed with too many links and outweighing the real page content. Keep it as minimalist as you can.
