A footer is an area for more off-beat references. They are more offside insofar as our readers expect to get access to what they came for — directly after a page is loaded, directly on top of it. At the bottom — where they first have to scroll — they are looking for minor aspects. That’s the logic of subordination. For the sake of reader-friendliness, the footer menu should also follow it.
Solution
- Select a few important pages from the main menu, or create a few new overview pages.
- Create a second menu under ‘Appearance/Menu’.
- Include these pages in it.
- Mark the menu as a footer menu.
Background
The task of a footer menu is determined by its position. As a subordinate element, it will hardly offer important novelties. A reader already had to scroll ‘tremendously’ to reach it at all. To offer burning novelties here, which are not yet referenced elsewhere, would be counter-intuitive.
So the task of a footer menu can only be to lead back to the core — in a simplified way. It is immanently optional. The reader doesn’t need it. But once she’s down here, we can make it easy for her to find her way back. Simplified readability minimizes churn.
The bootScore home page demonstrates just that by using the Footer-Menu bootScore offers: Its main menu divides the content into 5 groups. For each group, there is exactly one entry in the footer menu. And that in turn is linked to a corresponding overview page.
Slim, simple, and functional.