Footer Configuration

This is a reference for the features.footer section in mdsite.yml. Use it to populate the bottom bar of every page with links to selected pages on your site (or to external sites).

1. Basic Structure

The features.footer section is a YAML list nested under the features block. Each item becomes a link, a separator, or a labelled link in the bottom bar. The syntax mirrors the menu section, except sub-menus are not supported.

features:
  footer:
    - about
    - contacts
    - "About Page": about
    - "GitHub Repo": https://github.com/life-and-dev/mdsite

The renderer resolves each entry against the content root, reads the file's h1 for the link text (unless a custom label is supplied), and builds the URL from the file path. External URLs are passed through unchanged and open in a new tab.

2. Item Types

A. Simple Link (String)

If you just provide a filename, the system will look up that file's h1 title and use it as the link text.

- my-page

• Link Text: (Title from my-page.md)
• href: /my-page

B. Custom Label (Key-Value)

Override the title shown in the footer by providing a key-value pair. The key is the link text, the value is the file path (without .md) or an external URL.

- "About Us": about

• Link Text: "About Us"
• href: /about

C. External Links

Paste an http:// or https:// URL as the value. External links open in a new tab and show an inline open-in-new icon.

- "GitHub Repo": https://github.com/life-and-dev/mdsite
- "NPM Registry": https://www.npmjs.com/package/@life-and-dev/mdsite

D. Separators

Use null to insert a vertical separator between groups of links.

features:
  footer:
    - about
    - contacts
    - null
    - "GitHub Repo": https://github.com/life-and-dev/mdsite

E. What Is Not Supported

Unlike menu, the features.footer section does not support nested sub-menus (a value can only be a string or null, never a list). Use menu for grouped navigation.

3. Path Resolution

• Relative paths — about and features/source-edit resolve against the content root. The .md extension is implied.
• External URLs — Anything starting with http:// or https:// is passed through unchanged.

4. Menu Deduplication

Any internal file listed in features.footer is excluded from menu:. The renderer removes the matching entry from the sidebar so a page does not appear twice.

menu:
  - index
  - guide
features:
  footer:
    - about
    - contacts

With this configuration the sidebar shows index and guide, and the bottom bar shows about and contacts. If a file is listed in both places it is dropped from the sidebar. External URLs are not affected. See Menu Configuration for the full menu: syntax.

The "Edit" link in the bottom bar is controlled separately by features.source-edit (a non-empty URL prefix enables the link; an empty string disables it). It is only rendered inside the bar when the bar itself is visible (see below).

5. When the Bar Is Hidden

The entire bottom bar (including the Edit button) is hidden when features.footer is missing, set to an empty array, or contains no renderable items. The bar only appears when at least one link or separator is configured.

features:
  footer: []   # bar is hidden

features:
  footer:
    - about    # bar is visible with one link

While the renderer is loading the footer index on the client, the bar is also hidden. This avoids a brief flash of an empty bar before the JSON arrives.