The footer appears on every page of your site and plays a key role in navigation. Visitors often go straight to the footer for contact information, job postings and other resources that don’t fit in the main navigation. The NC State Theme using the following layout: contact information on the left, footer links in the middle and a user engagement area on the right.

Most footer settings, including contact information and the user engagement area, are edited by going to the Footer settings page. Footer links are edited separately, by going to the Menus appearance page.

Footer Settings Page

Navigate to the Footer settings page by clicking NC State Settings -> NC State Theme -> Footer from the dashboard once you log in to your site. Footer settings page are listed below in the order you’ll encounter them.

Footer Appearance

• Background Color: Choose Reynolds Red or gray for the footer background.
• Unit Name: Enter the text that appears next to the NC State brick logo.

Footer Logo Link

• Footer URL: Choose where the brick logo and unit name link to. Options are:
  • Default Linking: Uses the platform’s standard logic to determine the link.
  • Site URL: Links to your site’s homepage.
  • Parent URL: Links to your parent unit’s site.
  • Custom URL: Links to a URL you specify.

Leave this set to Default Linking unless you have a specific reason to change it.

Contact Information

Suggested contact information to include:

• Building name
• Address
• Campus Box
• Generic phone number
• Generic email

User Engagement Area

Further down on the Footer settings page, edit the user engagement area content. There are three engagement content types to choose from:

• Map: If you expect campus visitors to your physical location, you can add a screenshot of the campus map showing your location. The screenshot can then link to the campus map.
  • If you use this option, you must add alternative text to the screenshot, or every page on your site will fail accessibility scans.
• Signup Form: If you have a newsletter, you can use the Signup Form option. This will add an email signup box to allow your users to subscribe to your newsletter.
• Call to Action: This is the most flexible option for the area. It allows you to provide a heading, teaser and URL so that you can direct users to an important page or resource on your site. One example could be to link to a page on your site where prospective students can request additional information.

Social Icons

• Show Social Icons: Check this box to display social icons in the footer.
  • Icons only appear for accounts added under NC State Settings -> NC State Theme -> Social Media Accounts, so add your account handles there first.
• Social Icons Heading: Enter the heading text that appears above the icons.

Login Link

• Include Login Link: Toggle on to display a WordPress login link in the footer.

Footer Links Menu

The links that appear within the center portion of the footer are set within a WordPress menu. They can be edited by going to Appearance -> Menus from the dashboard once you log in to your site.

1. Select your existing footer links menu or create a new menu.

2. Add and/or edit the desired menu items. These items can link out to pages on your own site or any URL online by using the “Custom Links” option.
3. Make sure the “Footer links” menu location is checked.

4. Save your changes.

Need help?

Have questions? Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns at go.ncsu.edu/ucomm-dev-request.