I’m a designer who inherited the site [redundant link redacted] from an agency, who isn’t reachable. I’m attempting to update the footer, and I don’t know where it lives.
The theme is Bumble (by Moonbear), which doesn’t have support documentation. Additionally, the URL for the theme doesn’t exist anymore. There’s no footer widget in the Widgets menu, and it’s not a default Footer on the dashboard. Additionally, deleting the CSS related to the footer (which is a “social” and “copyright” footer) doesn’t remove the styling on the homepage.
Am I unable to edit the footer because Bumble isn’t active anymore? The website was created in 2017.
Thanks very much in advance.
This topic was modified 4 days, 10 hours ago by bcworkz.
The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]
If your theme is not subject to periodic updates you can edit its source code files to suit your needs. Finding where to edit footer content can be elusive because there are numerous possible sources of the content. First determine whether you have a classic or block theme. Via FTP or your hosting file manager, list the files in the theme’s directory. If the template files have .html extensions, it is a block theme. If the extensions are .php, it’s a classic theme.
If your theme is as old as your site, it’d have to be a classic theme. The footer.php template file will contain footer content, and/or contain code on where to get footer content. It might reference another template file, or get content from the DB. Follow the references until you reach the undesired content, then alter it as desired. Alternately, place your desired content as HTML directly in footer.php, removing or commenting out any undesired content or references. Please make a backup copy of the original file before making changes.
It’s reasonably safe to edit any HTML code outside of <?php ?> tags in template files. If you must edit PHP code, be aware that introducing a PHP error could crash your site. Be sure you have the ability to upload the original backup copy to the server in case you accidentally cause a critical error.
It looks like I have a classic theme. In footer.php, the two footers are referenced as MoonBear Footer, which are what I have trouble locating. I’ve deleted the HTML inside the footer tags, but I’m getting a message asking for edits to be made via SFTP.
There should normally be more customizer elements regardless of the theme (assuming classic themes). Block themes don’t normally use the customizer at all, they instead use the site editor. If the current Bright Stars theme is a block theme, it might explain the lack of more elements. If you switched back to Bumble, you ought to see more elements. Either that, or there’s a JavaScript error on the customizer page preventing further display of elements. Check you browser’s console when the customizer is open for possible error messages.
The actual HTML between Bumble’s footer tags do not generate visible content. PHP is responsible for all visible content with this theme. Any of those PHP filter or action hooks can be responsible for visible content. Where the content you want to change occurs in relation to the HTML elements will be more of a clue to which action or filter hook is being used. If the content appears to be coming from a theme mod, there ought to be a setting in the theme somewhere where you can alter the theme mod’s content.
If the undesired content is coming from an action hook, look for related PHP code in the theme’s functions.php file. Search for the action hook’s “handle”, for example moonbear_social_footer. The related PHP code will either directly generate content, or be a further clue about where the actual source is coming from.
If your theme is so old and unsupported, consider switching to a newer, supported theme. It’s OK to use unsupported themes, but then some technical skill is necessary to keep it going error free and safe.
