Editing Magento’s Footer Links

To follow up on our post about editing Magento’s top links, I thought I might as well write an article about editing the footer links while I’m at it. I’d recommend reading our post about using a local.xml file before getting started on this post. This post might not make much sense until you read it. [NOTE: This specific example assumes you are using the blank theme. Layout handles may differ from theme to theme.]

In local.xml:

^?View Code XML

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
    <default>
        <reference name="footer_links">
            <!-- Add custom links. Pretty self-explanatory.
            Dig into app/code/core/Mage/Page/Block/Template/Links.php for more info -->
            <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
                <label>About Us</label>
                <url>about</url>  <!-- can use a full url if not using urlParams below -->
                <title>About Us</title>
                <prepare>true</prepare> <!-- set true if adding base url param -->
                <urlParams helper="core/url/getHomeUrl"/> <!-- base url - thanks @Russ! -->
                <!-- there are a few param you can send to do different things in <urlParams> 
                         dig into app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Url.php, around line 803 -->                   
 
                <!-- below adds #add-fragment to the end of your url -->
                <!-- <urlParams><_fragment>add-fragment</_fragment></urlParams> -->
 
                <!-- below adds ?add-query to the end of your url -->
                <!-- <urlParams><_query>add-fragment</_query></urlParams> -->
 
                <!-- below gives you a new session id (i think...)-->
                <!-- <urlParams><_nosid>true</_nosid></urlParams> -->
 
                <!-- below replaces double quotes, single quotes, greater than, and less than signs 
                         to their respective url escaped replacements (%22, %27, %3E, %3C) -->
                <!-- <urlParams><_escape>i'm-a-blog-url</_escape></urlParams> -->
 
                <position>1</position>
                <liParams/>
                <aParams>class="top-link-about-us"</aParams>
                <beforeText></beforeText>
                <afterText></afterText>
            </action>
 
            <!-- Remove 'Site Map' Link - Default Position: 10
            Original link adding in catalog.xml -->
            <action method="removeLinkByUrl"><url helper="catalog/map/getCategoryUrl" /></action>
 
            <!-- Remove 'Search Terms' Link - Default Position: 20
            Original link adding in catalogsearch.xml-->
            <action method="removeLinkByUrl"><url helper="catalogsearch/getSearchTermUrl" /></action>
 
            <!-- Remove 'Advanced Search' - Default Position: 30
            Original link adding in catalogsearch.xml-->
            <action method="removeLinkByUrl"><url helper="catalogsearch/getAdvancedSearchUrl" /></action>
 
            <!-- Remove 'Contact Us' link - Original link in contacts.xml
            <!-- Best bet to go to Magento's Admin > System > Configuration > (left sidebar) Contacts
            > Contact Us Enabled = NO -->
            <!-- You can pass the full url, which is a hassle if you have dev and stage sites -->
            <action method="removeLinkByUrl"><url>http://YOUR_SITE.com/contacts/</url></action>
            <!-- see comments below for making a custom helper to remove contacts link
            no matter what your base url is  -->
	</reference>
 
        <!-- By default, Magento sets a static footer block. Find it in the admin under
        CMS > Static Blocks.
	<reference name="footer">
            <!-- Remove Magento's default static block and use the 'addLink' method above
            to add your custom and inline links.  I use the 'unsetChild' method as often as
            possible as opposed using the more final <remove name="cms_footer_links"/>
            just in case I want to add the block somewhere else -->
            <action method="unsetChild"><name>cms_footer_links</name></action>
 
            <!-- Remove all the other Magento links - "Site Map, Search Terms, Advanced Search, and
            Contact Us" -->
            <action method="unsetChild"><name>footer_links</name></action> <!-- Magento 1.4.x -->
	</reference>
</default>
</layout>

If all else fails, you can edit template/page/template/links.phtml. However, if you can make all your changes in local.xml, your life will be so much easier when it comes to upgrading Magento and making future edits.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm and is filed under Development, Magento Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

30 Responses to “Editing Magento’s Footer Links”

nolawi
March 28th, 2010 at 8:48 pm

Are you using Magento 1.4 for this example. It seems like the current version doesnt have layout.xml.. its possible this may have changed – I am using the blank theme… its in the catalog now!
ehansen
March 28th, 2010 at 10:23 pm

@nolawi – Yes, this example is for Magento 1.3.2.4. Magento themes have never shipped with blank copies of local.xml. You have to create this layout file in your custom layout folder. So if you have the following structure:

/app/design/frontend/CUSTOM_INTERFACE/CUSTOM_THEME/

you would create the following file:

/app/design/frontend/CUSTOM_INTERFACE/CUSTOM_THEME/layout/local.xml
Jerry Crick
April 27th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

Hi
I’m using 1.4.

This
cms_footer_links
didn’t work for me to remove the footer.

However, the real issue is with contacts (god knows why they made it so hard to change) because it will not adopt the new theme I just downloaded! Like everyone else, I really don’t want to mess with the code code so local.xml seemed like a gift from heaven – except we can’t get rid of contacts!

Any other ideas grately appreciated,

Jerry

kkirchner

May 5th, 2010 at 12:47 pm

With 1.4 – to get rid of all footer links – in local.xml, change:

^?View Code XML

<action method="unsetChild"><name>cms_footer_links</name></action>

to:

^?View Code XML

<action method="unsetChild"><name>footer_links</name></action>

If you know how to make a custom module and want to get rid of JUST the contacts link:

in app/code/local/CUSTOMNAME/MODULENAME/Helper/Data.php:

^?View Code PHP

public function getContactsUrl() {
        return Mage::getBaseUrl() . 'contacts/';
}

and in local.xml:

^?View Code XML

<default>
...
    <reference name="footer_links">
        <action method="removeLinkByUrl"><url helper="modulename/data/getContactsUrl" /></action>
    </reference>
...
</default>

NOTE: make sure your modulename is lowercase

Gary
May 27th, 2010 at 10:40 am

Should this

be

instead?
The “Beforetex” statement I am referring here…

Also what do they mean actually?
And how can I break down the footer links into two lines?
Thanks!

kkirchner

May 27th, 2010 at 4:19 pm

beforeText and afterText is for adding anything before or after your link.

Say you wanted to wrap your link in a span tag:

^?View Code XML

<action method="addLink" translate="label title">
  <label>About Us</label>
  <url>about</url>  
  <title>About Us</title>
  <prepare>true</prepare> 
  <urlParams helper="core/url/getHomeUrl"/> 
  <position>1</position>
  <liParams/>
  <aParams>class="top-link-about-us"</aParams>
  <beforeText>&lt;span class="whatever"&gt;</beforeText>
  <afterText>&lt;/span&gt;</afterText>
</action>

will make a link like this:

^?View Code HTML

<span class="whatever"><a href="[HOME_URL]/about" rel="nofollow">About Us</a></span>

NOTE: that – rel=”nofollow” – won’t show up. our thing automatically adds it and i can’t get rid of it.

Gary
May 27th, 2010 at 6:37 pm

Thanks! This is helpful.

So does it mean I can do sth like to break the footer into two parts?

……
< br / >

This seems like a silly method to me….
Any thought?
Thanks.
kkirchner
June 11th, 2010 at 8:39 am

Yes Gary, I don’t see why not…
Rick Pickett
June 11th, 2010 at 9:04 pm

Thanks for more info, but I’m having some issues (1.4.1.0):

I’m trying to remove the CMS Static Block, but it’s removing the links.phtml sourced links instead of the CMS block:

footer_links

Thanks,
Rick
Rick Pickett
June 11th, 2010 at 9:05 pm

footer_links
Rick Pickett
June 11th, 2010 at 9:07 pm

one last try:

footer_links

kkirchner

June 12th, 2010 at 8:53 am

@Rick – I’m sorry about the confusion – my post was incorrect. Try this:

^?View Code XML

...
<reference name="footer">
    <action method="unsetChild"><name>cms_footer_links</name></action>
</reference>
...

Rick Pickett
June 12th, 2010 at 12:27 pm

thanks kkirchner, figured that out with some trial and error. good work.
Rick Pickett
June 13th, 2010 at 5:58 pm

Hey K,

I tried setting up a custom module to remove the contacts link by creating the xml fil with my Namespace_Module.xml, saving it in etc/modules/ and then creating the directory structure under code/local with my Namespace/Module/Helper/Data.php and used the above code you provided and then tried to remove the contacts link by URL helper, and it doesn’t work.

Anything I’m missing in that sequence for creating the custom module? In Config > Advanced >Advanced I see my module in the list, but the function isn’t working.

Thanks

kkirchner

June 14th, 2010 at 7:25 am

Rick – did you wrap the above function in a class like this:

^?View Code PHP

class Namespace_Module_Helper_Data extends Mage_Core_Helper_Abstract
{
    public function getContactsUrl() {
        return Mage::getBaseUrl() . 'contacts/';
    }
}

also, did you create a config.xml file in app/code/Namespace/Module/etc/ ? It would look like this:

^?View Code XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<config>
    <modules>
        <Namespace_Module>
            <version>1.0.1</version>
        </Namespace_Module>
    </modules>
 
    <global>
        <helpers>
            <module>
                <class>Namespace_Module_Helper</class>
            </module>
        </helpers>
    </global>
</config>

The <module> tag inside helpers is the lowercase name of your custom module.

Rick Pickett
June 14th, 2010 at 11:21 am

Let’s see if your code works for me… Got it to work. My error was in my etc config.xml file.

app/etc/modules/Dboxx_Contacts.xml

true
local

app/code/local/Dboxx/Contacts/etc/config.xml

0.1.0

Dboxx_Contacts_Helper

app/code/local/Dboxx/Contacts/Helper/Data.php

and in local.xml trying to remove it with

cms_footer_links

thanks for the walkthrough
amadex
July 19th, 2010 at 6:44 pm

Hi there! I’ve just tried to build a custom module to get rid of JUST the contacts link, but no luck… Can anybody help me on how to build it or post the code for it?
Peter
September 6th, 2010 at 2:02 am

HI, great post!

How can I change “Contact Us” to just “contact” using the same approach?

Thanks,

Peter.
Peter
September 6th, 2010 at 2:09 am

I forgot to ask, is it possible to add a separator “|” between the links?

kkirchner

September 6th, 2010 at 8:21 am

@Peter, Just use the translate inline tool for changing “Contact Us” to “contact”.

1. From the admin, System > Configuration > (bottom left sidebar) Developer, change configuration scope to your store (it’s the drop down at the top of the left sidebar), and turn on translate inline for frontend.

1a. In “Developer Client Restrictions”, above Translate inline, you can restrict the edits to only your IP (highly recommended if you’re editing a live site!)

2. After you save, go to your homepage and hover over “Contact Us”.

3. It should be outlined in red and a little book should appear on hover. Click the book and change “Contact Us” to “contact”.

4. Don’t forget to go back to you Configuration and turn it off when you’re finished.

For separators, we’ll usually style the links in css with {display:block; border-left:1px solid #000} or make a background image for the separators: {background:url(path/to/image.png) 100% 0 no-repeat}. Then for the last link you will need to add a “last” class and style it without the border or background image. Say you added the last link:

^?View Code XML

<reference name="footer_links">
    <action method="addLink" translate="label title">
        <label>Last Link Label</label>
        <url>last-link-url</url>  <!-- can use a full url if not using urlParams below -->
        <title>Last Link Title</title>
        <prepare>true</prepare> <!-- set true if adding base url param -->
        <urlParams helper="core/url/getHomeUrl"/> <!-- base url - thanks @Russ! -->
        <position>200</position>
        <liParams/>
        <aParams>class="last"</aParams>
        <beforeText>|</beforeText>
        <afterText></afterText>
    </action>
</reference>

See how I also added the “|” in the <beforeText> tag? That’s another way to add a separator.

Dennis
March 24th, 2011 at 1:23 am

Hi all, it doesn’t seem that the local.xml file is working properly for me…. I have my directories all setup properly:
app/design/default/theme_name/layout/local.xml I copied the code exactly as it is here and nothing is happening. I am not caching the site so I’m not entirely sure what the issues, hope someone can steer me in the right direction.
Thanks…
Kevin
March 24th, 2011 at 7:13 am

@Dennis – if you try to purposely error out your local.xml (i.e. leave off a closing ‘<’) but your site still runs fine, then you haven’t set the right theme in System > Configuration > Design (sidebar). If you’re not running the default package then app/design/default/… won’t work. Also check the themes are set to your_theme_name at least for ‘Layout’.
Tim
March 27th, 2011 at 7:09 am

Great post! Tnx!

You forgot to close a comment in your main piece of code.
(almost at the end at : By default, Magento sets a static footer block. Find it in the admin under CMS – Static Blocks.

I would very much like to know if it is easy to use different footers for different STORE VIEWS.
In that case I could easily link the footers to different pages (in different languages).

Thanks in advance…
Kevin
March 28th, 2011 at 6:28 am

@Tim – Set up a new theme for each store view and have it default to your main theme. (You can configure your themes in System > Configuration > Design (left sidebar) > Themes (main content)) In your new theme you can have just a local.xml file in your layout (you’ll probably have a locale directory too). In that local.xml you can call different static blocks for your footer or add and remove links in your footer.

Hope that helps.
Igor Bicanic
April 23rd, 2011 at 12:31 pm

Good article. Action method “removeLinkByUrl” (footer_links) working great in Magento 1.5
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July 31st, 2011 at 2:02 pm

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reptilex
November 14th, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Man you rock! I have seen hundreds of xml files and ways to do this things, and whenever I find it in your page it just works.

All things I have tested from your scripts still work on 1.6.

Thanks for sharing!
kkirchner
November 15th, 2011 at 9:54 am

Awesome – thanks for the for kind words!
Casper Munk
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:31 am

Great article. In Magento 1.6.1 there is a new footer link: Orders and Returns. It is defined like this in sales.xml:

return_link

How can you remove this link from local.xml?
Casper Munk
December 22nd, 2011 at 5:33 am

Sorry, didn’t get the code right. The link is defined like this: http://pastebin.com/vD5EZHMH

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Editing Magento’s Footer Links

30 Responses to “Editing Magento’s Footer Links”

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