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Practical Footers

Sunday September 18, 2005 / 7 Comments

Derek Powazek’s recent redesign brought to the forefront the concept of making engaging footers. I’ve been thinking about these for quite some time now. I had a post over at YourTotalSite about making footers usable about a year ago discussing this same topic, only with a little less eloquence.

The bottom of the page is a decision point for visitors to your site. They will either decide to continue browsing your site, or leave.

Engaging your visiors at the bottom of pages is one of the best things you can do. For instance, here at GarrettDimon.com, The only points where I offer any real navigation is at the end of each article. You can either comment, go through the archives, or subscribe. Now, I realize that in some cases not having any navigation at the top is extreme, but that’s not the point. Sites can and should offer more navigation if it makes sense, but more sites need to engage their visitors at the bottom of the page as well. Derek says it very well in his article.

...a user that actually reads all the way to the bottom of a page is like gold. They’re your best, most engaged, happiest users. You know, because they haven’t clicked away. They did the best possible thing they could do, and now they’re at the bottom of the page. And how do you reward them? With a copyright statement. Maybe, if they’re lucky, some bland footer navigation. If you ask me, that’s just rude.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. In fact, I couldn’t even come close. For most blogs, the last option is to comment, but what happens when they read past the comments? Do they leave? Scroll back up and look for more? This becomes much more prevalent when you’re talking about a pure content site. Offer up more content, help keep them interested.

Despite bringing this up a while back, I’m as guilty recently as anyone else. It’s time to change that and start treating footers as the prime real estate they are. By giving visitors an easy path to keep reading, you can improve their experience, and give them something to look forward to.

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Your point is well-taken. However, it’s the content that will get them to the footers. You can’t manipulate them down there – you’ve got to make them want to get there. But you obviously know that. Good article. thanks. anon
Hmm, very good point, and definitely something I’ve seen before, but never fully appreciated or analyzed. Thanks for the insight. Payton
When I saw Derek’s site on the Stylegala showcase, I was actually not turned on very much from it. Here’s why:

The footer took my eye away from the content.

Immediately, I just sat there and looked at the footer. I didn’t even bother to look at the header of the page, the title for his blog post, or the right content. To me, that’s not smart design.

That’s one thing you forgot to mention in your article, Garrett: That the footer shouldn’t be the focus point of your page.

Other than that, I whole-heartidly agree that we designers need to start giving more focus to our footers. They are important.

(On a side note, it’s because of the fact that the footer is essentially the focal point of the site that I gave Derek’s site a low score on Stylegala. And to this day, it amazes me how it gets the highest score ever. It’s a nice start to giving more attention to footers, but it’s a bad design set-up that many ‘professional’ information architects are forgetting.) Kris Gosser
Kris – I think that’s a matter of visual design choice. I definitely respect his design, but I’m more interested in the concept. Keep in mind though that you’re probably looking at the site from a critical evaluation standpoint rather than an average reader standpoint. So that may change your views a little bit. Just a thought. Garrett
It works for blogs. Personally, I hate when the more obscure nav options are in the footer (like on Flickr). Ugh. Ben Hirsch
I like the idea of using footers as a “pathway” that continues the user’s experience upon reaching the end of an article or page. Related links, feedback, that sort of thing.

I generally have avoided using footers altogether in my designs because (1) they’re usually just treated as a dumping ground for crap like legal statements and copyright stuff, and (2) because you can’t guarantee anyone will actually read to the bottom of the page and see the footer. Paul D

What’s your opinion on the (even more maligned) email footers? Do they get to be graphically-intensive, or does the simple, lightweight, text-only footer get your vote? To work around modern email clients blocking external images, you would need to embed a small gif for any images you’d want to display.. Tricky!

Russ

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