The thin footer check: use the place visitors look for details

Why the footer matters more than it looks

Visitors use the bottom of a page in a predictable way. Someone who has read enough and wants to visit, call or check whether you're open today will often skip the navigation and scroll straight down, because that's where those details have lived on websites for decades. It's also where people check that a business is real: a street address, a company name, a way to get in touch. A footer with only a copyright line fails all of those small tests at once.

It's also a habit of generated pages. A template needs a footer, and the shortest valid one is a year and a name. Models copy that pattern because it's everywhere, which is why the Critic, Anticode's design lint, looks for it.

Exactly what fails

The check takes the first footer element on the page, collapses its whitespace, and fails when both of these are true:

• The text is shorter than 40 characters. That's roughly a copyright line and a short name, and very little else.
• It contains a copyright mark, either © or (c).

So a short footer that isn't a copyright line, such as “Open daily 8–4 · 12 Mill Lane”, passes. A long footer that includes a copyright line also passes. The pattern being caught is specifically a footer made of a copyright notice and almost nothing else. On a site with several pages, each page's footer is checked, and a failure names the page.

What a useful footer carries

There's no single right footer, but most small business sites benefit from some of these. Pick what your visitors would scroll down for:

Where

A street address or service area. For a shop, a studio or a clinic this is often the most searched-for line on the site.

When

Opening hours, or availability for a freelancer. Say “closed Mondays” if you are.

How to reach you

A phone number as a tel: link and an email as a mailto: link, so they work with one tap on a phone.

Who

The trading name, and a company or registration number where your country expects one.

Small print

Links to the privacy policy and terms. Anticode writes both for each published site as a starting point; see legal pages.

Copyright

Fine to keep, last and smallest.

The design side, from column layouts to how much to include, is covered in website footer design.

Anticode's own footer

Footers from the design engine carry the year and the site's name alongside its place and its hours, using the same details as the “at a glance” facts near the top of the page, so they pass this check from the start. If you switch it on, the footer also carries a small “Security-checked by Anticode” link to the site's security report. Because that footer is generated from the site's own details, a design-engine page normally passes. The check is most useful as a reminder of what a footer is for when you write one anywhere else.

Limits

• Advisory. The thin footer check is reported by the Critic in the Report tab. The publish-time design gate doesn't enforce it.
• No footer, no failure. A page without a footer element passes, since there's nothing to measure. That isn't a recommendation.
• Length, not usefulness. Forty characters of anything passes. The check can't tell whether the hours are right or the address is current; keep them up to date yourself.
• Design-engine pages only. Apps built by the model aren't run through the nineteen Critic checks.

Questions people ask

Is a copyright line legally required in the footer?

Generally no; copyright doesn't depend on the notice. It's harmless to keep, but it shouldn't be the only thing there.

My footer is short but has no © sign. Does it fail?

No. The thin footer check only fails a short footer that contains a copyright mark, the common template pattern.

Will a thin footer stop me publishing?

No. It's reported so you can fix it, but publishing isn't blocked.

What's the single most useful line to add?

Usually whatever people call you about most: opening hours for a shop or café, a phone number for a trade, an email for a freelancer.