The website footer is the section of content at the very bottom of a web page. It typically contains a copyright notice, link to a privacy policy, sitemap, logo, contact information, social media icons, and an email sign-up form. In short, a footer contains information that improves a website’s overall usability.
When to use this component
- Every page on a website should contain the footer at the bottom of it.
When not to use this component
- The footer should always include the University logo. Which university logo is used (white knockout or color) will depend on the footer branding (light or dark as shown below).
- There are two standard links that should appear in the footer of all President’s Office websites - (1) Terms of Use/Privacy Policy and (2) Accessibility.
- The footer should contain a copyright.
Accessibility and Usability
- Ensure focus indicators meet color contrast guidelines in the footer - often if only one set of focus indicators are designed for a site, they are tested up against the body content, which has a light background, but not up against the header and footer content (which is often put against a dark background).
- Text in the footer should be short and easily scannable.
- Footer links should point to content that might answer a visitor’s remaining questions.
- Ensure social media icons have labels behind the scenes that are easy and intuitive for both speech recognition and screen reader users.
- If you have a email newsletter, include the sign up form for it in the footer as this has become the standard place in which users look for this sign up form.