Most Joomla templates include a footer design which displays the copyright information of Joomla or the template writer by default. Changing the message shown in the footer is a must for customization, which helps you display custom information and make your site design more professional.
For different templates, they way you can customize the footer message may vary depending on how the writer codes the template. This tutorial discusses two methods which apply to different kinds of templates.
How to Decide Which Method Is Appropriate for You?
Access the root folder of your Joomla site by establishing a connection through FTP or utilizing the File Manager in cPanel. Then, locate templates/yourtemplate/index.php. Open index.php file and scroll down to the bottom section to find the code for footer. Now you can refer to the following instructions to make a decision.
If you use a template like Beez3 which does not come with custom copyright information in the footer, refer to Method 1.
If you use a template like Protostar which includes a custom footer message, refer to Method 2.
Method 1: Change/Remove Copyright Through Module Manager
If you do not want to deal with any code but need the default Joomla copyright and license information to disappear, you can simply disable the Footer Module so that no information will be shown. The steps below work when the footer of your site shows information like this:
Firstly, you should log into Joomla control panel and go to Extensions > Module Manager.
In the list of modules, find the module in the Footer type. Clicking on the status button before the module name will get the module disabled. Now refreshing your site you can find that Joomla copyright and license information has been removed completely.
If you only want to change the copyright message in your website footer instead of disabling all information, you have to enable the Footer Module and make some changes to the code of the language file.
Assumed that the language you use is English, then you can find the file that you need to edit by going to root directory/language/en-GB. The file name is en-GB.mod_footer.ini.
Download the file to your local computer and open it with a text editor. You now can see the default footer message in MOD_FOOTER_LINE1 and MOD_FOOTER_LINE2. Change the content in the two lines to whatever you like, and then upload the file to your server. Note that you have to make a backup of the original file before it is replaced.
Since your template does not include a custom footer message, what you enter in the language file will be shown on your site as long as the Footer Module is enabled.
Method 2: Change/Remove Joomla Copyright in index.php
Editing index.php is a little bit more complicated, but you will need it when the method above is not the solution for you. To make an example, we are using Protostar template and would like to change the footer text to “Copyright 2015 My Joomla Site“.
First of all, you still have to modify the footer.ini before editing index.php because index.php calls it. As the LINE1 is usually overridden by the copyright information of templates, you only need to change the content in the LINE2.
Then, download the index.php file of Protostar and open it. Reading through the footer code you will find that the code indicates that the footer message contains two parts – one for year and site name, and the other for a back to top link. We only need the information for year and site name, so we remove the whole code for the back to top button. Delete the code below, and our work is done.
If you do not like the format and want to use your own words (even links) instead, you can modify the code in the following way. The “copyright” line can be changed to whatever words or links. Of course, you can also leave the line blank. In this case, there will be no text shown in the footer.
When you finish the modification, save the file and upload it to your server. But again, remember the backup.
Since the code is different from one template to another, you may fail in the first try. Understanding the structure of the footer code and experimenting more will help make your way out. If you are using a premium template, you can also seek help from the template provider.