Any themes with footer widgets?
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I’m trying to choose a theme for my new website and I’m frustrated.
I really, really need a footer which has 3 or 4 footer widgets. Does anyone know which themes have them?
Once upon a time most themes had footer widgets but I’m looking at the themes on WordPress.com and they all have one footer widget and that’s it, except for Twenty Twenty-One which doesn’t suit my needs in other ways.
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Hi there, have you tried adding more than one widget to the footer area on your WordPress.com website? The reason I ask is because I also ran into this question when setting up a friend’s site and it turns out that adding additional widgets to the footer in some themes changes the position of the first widget to accommodate the following widgets. This seems to work on the Varia child themes. https://wordpress.com/theme/varia
Most of the very newest themes (and perhaps the new default theme) do not have any widget areas or you may need to enable them in the Customizer.
Post back here If you have any other question about this and if so, please also provide a link to your website so we can make sure you are getting the correct support.
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Ah, I was simply trusting the description on the theme descriptions. Most of them say “there is one footer widget area” as if that’s that.
I have had another try with Twenty TwentyOne and so far it’s looking better than I thought, but if that doesn’t work out, I’ll try some of the others, thanks.
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I really, really need a footer which has 3 or 4 footer widgets. Does anyone know which themes have them?
Hi. For some reason the “footer widgets” filter to the Themes showcase produces only one theme as a result, Twenty Twenty-One. This is not very helpful, other than indicating that newer themes typically don’t have footer widget areas. Many older themes do, and I don’t know of a filter that will provide a list of them at the showcase.
Regarding adding 3 or 4 widgets to a footer widget area, and to @justjennifer’s point, allow me to add the following:
Multiple widgets may be added to any widget area, regardless of the theme. If you’re asking for themes that have multiple optional footer widget areas, displaying them in columns on suitably wide screens, then that’s a different question. Again, I couldn’t find a filter that will list such themes at the themes showcase. -
Multiple widgets may be added to any widget area, regardless of the theme.
I should have said, “Multiple widgets may be added to any widget area, on themes that have optional widget areas, regardless of the theme.”
Most of the very newest themes (and perhaps the new default theme) do not have any widget areas or you may need to enable them in the Customizer.
Hi! For those newer themes that don’t have widget areas, may widget areas be enabled on all of them, or only on some themes?
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@musicdoc1, I had also tried searching for themes with footer widgets and got the same result. I’m really curious now, why do new themes not include footer widgets? Look at most corporate websites and you’ll see a three- or four-column widget area.
It’s important, because marketers all say you get better conversions if you keep your main navigation menu simple, including just what’s necessary to funnel your visitors where you want them to go. That means you need somewhere else to put all your subsidiary information on secondary menus – and the footer widgets are the ideal place.
I’m assuming that even if you add extra widgets in a footer that has one widget, they’ll all end up underneath each other anyway.
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may widget areas be enabled on all of them, or only on some themes?
Some themes (haven’t tested all of them-only the Seedlet child themes) have an additional check box in the Content Options section of the Customizer to enable a footer/widget area. You can click through to the theme description on any of the Seedlet child themes and you’ll see a section “Expanding Your Site” that explains about this option.
The very latest WordPress.com themes, Arbutus, Russell, Zoologist, Quadrat, and Geologist, which are all child themes of Blockbase, do not have this area available in the Customizer. (temp screenshots)
why do new themes not include footer widgets?
To help keep things simple for new WordPress.com bloggers. Some widgets are available as blocks and can be used anywhere in a page or post. https://wordpress.com/support/category/writing-editing/blocks/
Keep in mind that if you are talking about “corporate” here on WordPress.com, you’re likely talking about a site with the Business or eCommerce upgrade plan, which means you can also upload 3rd party themes as well. https://wordpress.com/support/themes/uploading-setting-up-custom-themes/
I’m assuming that even if you add extra widgets in a footer that has one widget, they’ll all end up underneath each other anyway.
In the case of the site I was working on (using Hever), the widgets I added were laid out horizontally. Since I didn’t add more than a couple of widgets I don’t know what happens after that, but it would make sense that they would then stack vertically.
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I’m really curious now, why do new themes not include footer widgets?
Me too, but I’ve lost count of the so-called “improvements” that WordPress.com has come up with in the last couple of years that make no sense to me.
I suppose that to produce columns of content that look like a column of footer widget areas they expect you to use blocks within blocks to create a semblance of the widget areas available on many older themes — for example, a columns block with other blocks (e.g. heading blocks, image blocks, and paragraph blocks, etc.) inserted into each column. But aren’t you then left with the task of copying and pasting that columns block into every page, post, and other content area you’d like it to appear in? Also, what do you do about displaying this content on archive pages?
That means you need somewhere else to put all your subsidiary information on secondary menus – and the footer widgets are the ideal place.
Agreed. My ideal place for creating and managing a site is WordPress.com c. 2010. I don’t know where we’ll find that today.
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“that look like a column of footer widget areas”
correction: “that look like columns of footer widget areas” -
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I suppose that to produce columns of content that look like a column of footer widget areas they expect you to use blocks within blocks to create a semblance of the widget areas available on many older themes —….. But aren’t you then left with the task of copying and pasting that columns block into every page, post, and other content area you’d like it to appear in?
Exactly. You may notice that most of the demo themes have what LOOKS like a footer widget area, containing additional menus, contact information etc, – but when you look closer, you’ll see that it’s a columns block, on the home page only. Replicating that block on every page isn’t the answer, because then if some information changes, I’m going to have to change every single instance of that block.
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To help keep things simple for new WordPress.com bloggers
Ah, so they’ve realised that the new “block” editor is too complicated and they’re grasping at straws to make some other bits easier…
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Replicating that block on every page isn’t the answer, because then if some information changes, I’m going to have to change every single instance of that block.
Yes, you’re quite right, it would be a terrible substitution for having real widget areas that are separate from page content, AND which may be displayed on every page. But if the developers who came up with this brilliant idea didn’t think columns blocks would be a good substitute for widget areas, then perhaps they just hoped that not enough people would notice or care.
Warning, rant ahead…
They’ve done this sort of thing repeatedly over the last several years. The plan seems to be:
1. Randomly remove an important feature.
2. Replace it with something that is less user-friendly and requires much more time and effort to produce a less functional result.
3. Call the new thing an “improvement” over the old, perfectly functional feature that it replaced.
4. Hope that people will quickly forget the removed feature.
5. Encourage people to forget the old feature by throwing out an endless parade of new toys to play with.
6. Criticize those who grumble about the loss of the old feature for their inability to adapt to “a rapidly changing world” or “the new normal.”I’ve seen it again and again over the last several years. Some examples of features that WordPress.com has removed or hidden over the past several years:
a. WP-admin header and background pages (c. 2012?)
b. WP-admin menu and widgets pages (2021)
c. links between the Calypso (My Sites) interface and WP-Admin
d. links between new editors and old editors
e. links in the sidebar admin menu to features that they don’t want you to use anymore
f. revisions on posts and pages! — When they removed these, for a brief time a few years ago, before an avalanche of protest brought them back, the incredible explanation for the elimination of revisions provided in the support forums was that WP-com had data indicating that people weren’t using them.
g. access to retired themes restricted depending upon site age — Access to themes on a particular site has been restricted for some time by eliminating all themes retired before the site was created. This results in hundreds of themes (255 last time I counted) being hidden from the themes page on newer sites.
h. access to retired themes eliminated on the Calypso version of the the themes page (2021)
i. access to a theme overview without appending one of your WordPress.com sites to its URL
j. scrollbars in the WP-Admin editor — I forget what the explanation for this was, but the reaction was quick and loud, and the scrollbars were soon back in place.I could go on.
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This results in hundreds of themes (255 last time I counted) being hidden from the themes page on newer sites.
For clarification: In July 2021 I found that there were 255 retired FREE themes available on sites on mine created in 2009. There might have been other free themes retired before those 2009 sites that aren’t available on the 2009 sites, but the number of all free themes retired since WordPress.com was launched in 2005 is at least 255. None of these is available in the Calypso version of the themes page to anyone. In the classic version of the themes page, the number of retired themes available depends upon when a site was created. My sites created in 2009 show 255 free retired themes, new sites show none, and a site created say six years ago might show 120-130.
I don’t know the number of premium themes retired since 2009, but I believe it to be larger than 255. A retired premium theme has for years been unavailable to everyone except someone presently using it. If that user even switches from that theme for a moment, then they cannot regain access to it. Recently premium themes were removed from the themes showcase so there is no possibility of new users of them.
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correction:
“There might have been other free themes retired before those 2009 sites were created that aren’t available on them.”
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As a blogger, new or not, if I only want to publish blog entries and don’t need a dedicated widget area, then the new themes are fine. If I determine at a later time I need a widget area, I can change themes. Or I might simply change themes to something else straightaway if the theme I’m given at sign up doesn’t have them.
Each theme has its use and place. If I publish long-form writing, I’d choose a theme to support that. Same thing if I’m a photographer. I’d pick a theme that supports photographic content. If I want a one-page landing site with a “Link in Bio” look, then that’s the theme I’d choose. It’s all about theme suitability for one’s content.
There’s no doubt that WordPress themes are undergoing a huge change across the board right now. Full site editing with blocks is coming where you’ll be able to completely design your site, should you wish to do so. If not, there are ready-made themes you can continue to use.
@musicdoc1 thanks for the rant warning. :)You may notice that most of the demo themes have what LOOKS like a footer widget area, containing additional menus, contact information etc, – but when you look closer, you’ll see that it’s a columns block, on the home page only
Do you have a specific theme’s demo site in mind that we can take a look at?
Replicating that block on every page isn’t the answer, because then if some information changes, I’m going to have to change every single instance of that block.
In this case, there is a feature called “Reusable Blocks” that might interest you. https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/reusable-block/
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From the Edit a Reusable Block section of the Reusable Block support page:
When you edit a reusable block, the change will be reflected in all the places where that reusable block was used.
If you wish to update a reusable block on a specific page or post only, you can use the Convert to Regular Blocks option below.
I’d thought of reusable blocks too, but hadn’t realized that changes within a reusable block would be reflected in every instance where it is used. That’s great! It really solves the problem that I’d anticipated, having to edit every post manually to reflect a change that isn’t dynamically or automatically updated. That would be quite a chore when you’ve got 100 or 1,000 posts (or static pages)! So the reusable block seems to resolve this issue.
We’re still left with the problem of how to insert a group of blocks resembling widgets into a footer widget area into the blog page and archives pages (author archives, category pages, tag archives, date archives, etc.).
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dang! correction, second paragraph:
“how to insert a group of blocks resembling widgets in a footer widget area”
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@justjennifer, I still think musicdoc1’s rant is justified.
I’ve been using WordPress since 2004. I used to advise friends to use it for their websites because it was so simple – if you could write a letter in Microsoft Word, you could create a page in WordPress, because you just typed your content into the text box and that was that. You want a picture? Insert it the same way you would in Word.
Now, every header, paragraph, image is a block and if you want text and image side by side, you have to pick a different block and so on. When they switched from Classic to blocks, I found it a big learning curve, and my non-technical friends just find it terrifying.
Also in the old days, you could change the theme and you wouldn’t have to do too much fixing up. Now, you choose a new theme and your entire home page will be messed up, even if you choose “preserve my home page content”, due to the different formatting on different themes.
I can remember updating a website for a friend, sitting with her and applying different themes one by one, so she could choose which one she liked best. I’ve just been through a similar exercise choosing a theme for a new website, and it’s a much, much, MUCH slower process because I have to fix up the home page every time I try a new theme.
I’m sure graphic designers love it because they can do far more pretty things with the new WordPress, but its old reputation as the simplest-to-use option is long gone.
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