YJL

What should be in header and footer?

I believe it varies from type of website to personal preferences. For a blog, Id say it all depends on the bloggers liking. Ever since I started to simplify my blog template, there isnt really much information are needed.

For header, the blogs name is more than sufficient.

From my experience, a description about a blog usually would not be accurate over time. Interest and topic of a blog changes from time to time, some posts may be way off that blogs name and/or description have suggested, therefore the name of blog is enough. If you try to list all topics in the description, you may end up with a long list and thatd be impractical to maintain.

For footer, the bloggers name, let readers know who write the blog.

Stating the copyright is always a good idea to have in the footer. I must point out that footer is the least valued element in some blogs, in few blogs I have seen dont even have it.

Also a clean navigation menuwhich must contain a page named About, I would suggestis a plus. The menu can be placed at either top or bottom, or even both locations.

What my old header and footer looked like?

The following screenshot shows the previous header and footer looked in on this blog:

I feel no shame to say that they looked simple enough. They are purely text-based, only a little big in my opinion, but comparing to other blogs, they are tiny.

If I have to nitpick, then it must be the font. The blogs name used a font called Special Elite, and its only where the font was used.

Now?

The current header and footer is shown as follows, and they probably would last forever:

It may look insignificant at first glance or may be considered too small to notice, but its not. Why not? Because we tend to know what to expect at top and bottom of page. You know whats at first line of page whether the text is in 72pt or 8pt, size doesnt matter when the information is known about already. When you need to read blogs name, you scroll to the top and there youd have it.

Even current header looks very simply, I want to simplify more, because Outputs directly from me doesnt mean a lot to me, when I now read it and think about it. I could remove it and move the navigation menu up, next to the title. But lets leave it for next time.

As for the footer, same thing. Only I kept that sort of tag line since it has been on my blogs for more than four years.

Final thoughts

There is no standard defining what has to be in header and footer, and it shouldnt be one. For me, they have to be simple. Ive learned lengthy sentence doesnt equal to being informative. Keep them simple and essential, thats useful and practical.

You do not need a 100-word blog description below the blog title, nor a 100-word disclaimer in your footer. Although, its situational, depends on type of websites, but less truly is more.

You also do not need a fancy header image. Yes, one such image may showcase your artistic designs if your website is about design. However, I have seen a few websites such as photographers, the only images they have are the photos they shoot. Sometimes, no, most of time, text is even more powerful than image. Just like black/white photos can have more impact on the viewers mind than color photos do. The less of complicated element is a trade of more focus.

Nonetheless, there does have times that more is more. Well, only I cant think of one at this moment.

Good header and footer are good when they are.