What’s your favorite productivity hack outside of coding?

Just a random question to try to get some good discussion going.

For me, at least the last handful of years, it's been taking a nice stroll around town. When I first moved to California from NY, I was living in an apartment in the middle of downtown Palo Alto. I absolutely loved that, at 3 pm on a Tuesday afternoon, I could go outside, and see lots of cafes with lots of other tech entrepreneurs all working on their laptops, meeting with VCs, making. things. happen.

I just found that sooooo motivating that everyone around me was creating the next big thing. All I needed was 20 minutes of people watching to go back to my laptop with a completely fresh perspective.

Unfortunately, Palo Alto changed a lot during COVID. Nowadays, it's much more like every other downtown area in the Bay Area, which means it has a big lunch rush and big dinner rush, and is a popular weekend destination, but it's pretty deserted at 3 pm on a Tuesday afternoon.

I think that what happened is that, during COVID, entrepreneurs were forced to changing their workflow, and it's been a slow process to return to pre-COVID habits.

How to Create a “Sticky” Floating Footer Bar in WordPress

Are you looking for a way to create a sticky floating footer bar in WordPress?

A sticky floating footer bar stays visible on your website even when users scroll down on your page. It can help you promote discount offers or social media handles, which can reduce the bounce rate and get more conversions.

In this article, we will show you how to easily create a sticky floating footer bar in WordPress, step by step.

Create a "Sticky" Floating Footer Bar in WordPress

What Is a Floating Footer Bar in WordPress?

A sticky floating footer bar allows you to prominently display important content and news to users.

This bar remains visible to visitors at all times, so they are more likely to click on it and discover more useful content.

WPForms floating footer bar preview

You can use the floating footer bar to:

  • Drive more clicks to other blog posts.
  • Generate leads and build your email list.
  • Bring attention to special coupons or discount offers/sales.
  • Promote your social media accounts.
  • Build brand recognition.
  • Provide access to important resources on your WordPress website.

Having said that, let’s see how to easily create a sticky floating footer bar in WordPress. We will show you two methods in this tutorial, and you can use the links below to jump to the method of your choice:

You can easily create a sticky floating footer bar with OptinMonster. It is the best lead generation and conversion optimization tool on the market that makes it super easy to convert your website visitors into subscribers.

OptinMonster comes with a drag-and-drop builder and premade templates that allow you to create a floating footer bar, slide-in popups, and banners without using any code.

We recommend this method because OptinMonster is super easy to use and offers more customization options than the free plugin method.

Step 1: Install OptinMonster on Your Website

First, you will need to sign up on the OptinMonster website by clicking on the ‘Get OptinMonster Now’ button.

The OptinMonster lead generation tool

Next, you must install and activate the free OptinMonster connector plugin on your website. For more instructions, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the OptinMonster setup wizard will open up on your screen, where you have to click the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button. This will connect your WordPress site with your OptinMonster account.

Connect your existing account

Once you do that, a new window will open up on your screen.

Here, click the ‘Connect to WordPress’ button to move ahead.

Connect OptinMonster to WordPress

Step 2: Create And Customize the Floating Sticky Footer Bar

Now that you have connected OptinMonster with your website, it’s time to create a sticky floating footer bar.

To do this, you need to visit the OptinMonster » Templates page from the WordPress admin sidebar and select ‘Floating Bar’ as the campaign type.

Once you do that, all the premade templates for the floating bar will load on the screen. From here, you can click the ‘Use Template’ button on the one you want to use.

Choose a premade template for a floating sticky footer bar

This will open the ‘Create Campaign’ prompt on the screen, where you can add a name for the floating footer bar that you are about to create. It can be anything you like, as the name won’t be displayed to your visitors.

After that, just click the ‘Start Building’ button.

Add a name for your floating sticky footer bar

OptinMonster’s drag-and-drop builder will now be launched on your screen, where you can start customizing your floating footer bar. Here, you will notice a floating bar preview on the right with blocks in the left column.

For example, you can use a countdown timer block if your floating footer bar is promoting a discount offer. This will help create a sense of urgency among users and encourage them to take action.

You can also add a CTA, video, or social media block to the footer bar. For detailed instructions, you can see our tutorial on how to create an alert bar in WordPress.

Add blocks to customize your floating footer bar

You can also edit text on the footer bar by clicking on it. This will open the block settings in the left column, where you can adjust them according to your liking.

For example, if you want to change the discount offer in the template, then you can change the button text. After that, you can select the ‘Redirect to a URL’ option and add the page link that you want users to be directed to upon clicking on the button.

Change button text in the footer bar

Step 3: Configure The Display Rules For Your Floating Footer Bar

Once you are satisfied with your footer bar’s customization, just switch to the ‘Display Rules’ tab from the top.

Here, you can configure when to display the bar on your page. If you want to display the floating footer bar at all times, then you must select the ‘time on page’ option from the left dropdown menu.

After that, choose the ‘is immediate’ option from the dropdown menu on the right.

Configure display rules to display the floating footer bar at all times

However, to display the floating footer bar on a specific page, you must select the ‘Page Targeting’ option from the right dropdown menu.

After that, choose the ‘exactly matches’ option from the dropdown menu in the middle and then add a page URL. Once you do that, the floating footer bar will only displayed on the page you chose.

Configure page targeting for floating footer bar

Additionally, you can select the ‘Exit Intent’ option to show the sticky floating footer bar when the user is about to leave your site. You can then configure the exit intent sensitivity and choose the devices where the footer bar will be displayed. This can be handy if you want to reduce your bounce rate.

You can even select the ‘Visitor’s Device’ option if you only want to display the floating footer bar to desktop visitors.

Configure exit intent technology for footer bar

You can also configure the display rules according to the date, time, or scroll distance by selecting the ‘When’ option from the left column.

For an explanation of more display rule options, you can see our complete OptinMonster review.

Step 4: Publish Your Floating Footer Bar

Once you have defined the display conditions for your footer bar, switch to the ‘Publish’ tab from the top.

Here, simply click the ‘Publish’ button.

Publish floating footer bar

After that, don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ to make your changes live.

Now, you can visit your WordPress blog to see the sticky floating footer bar in action.

Sticky floating footer bar preview

Alternative: You can also use Thrive Ultimatum to show a countdown timer floating footer bar on your website. For more details, see our Thrive Themes Suite review.

Method 2: Create a Sticky Floating Footer Bar With a Free Plugin

If you are looking for a free way to create a sticky floating footer bar, then this method is for you. However, keep in mind that you will have limited customization options compared to OptinMonster.

First, you need to install and activate the Firebox Popup Builder plugin. For detailed instructions, see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, visit the Firebox » Campaigns page from the WordPress dashboard and click the ‘+ New Campaign’ button.

Click + New Campaign button

This will open the Firebox campaign library, where you can search for sticky floating bar premade templates.

Next, simply click the ‘Insert’ link under the floating footer bar that you like. Keep in mind that if you select a header bar, then you won’t be able to change its position. You must ensure the template you select is for a footer bar.

Click the Insert link under a template

The block editor will now open up on your screen, where you can start by adding a name for your floating bar.

After that, you can edit the text in the footer by clicking on it and add new blocks by clicking the ‘+’ button. This will open the block menu, where you can add images, headings, paragraphs, videos, quotes, or list blocks.

For instance, if you want to add social media handles, then you can choose the Social Icons block. After that, you can add social media accounts and links using the block panel.

For more details, you can see our tutorial on how to add social media icons in WordPress menus.

Add blocks in the floating footer bar from the block menu

You can also change the text in the button block and add a link to the page where you want to direct users by clicking on the link icon in the block toolbar.

After that, type in the URL of your choice and press ‘Enter’.

Add a link for the button

Next, you can scroll down to the ‘Firebox Settings’ section.

Here, you can change the background color, text color, alignment, size, padding, and margin for the floating footer bar.

Configure floating footer bar design

After that, switch to the ‘Behaviour’ tab from the left column and select ‘Page Load’ as the floating bar trigger point.

Then, use the ‘Delay’ slider to choose a delay timing for the floating bar. For example, if you drag the slider to 15 seconds, then the floating footer bar will be displayed once the user has spent 15 seconds on your site.

If you want the sticky floating footer bar to be displayed immediately, then you can keep the slider at 0.

Choose a trigger point for footer bar

Next, you can leave other settings as they are or configure them according to your liking.

Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ button at the top.

Publish floating footer bar

Now visit your WordPress site to view the sticky floating footer bar in action.

This is what it looked like on our demo site.

Sticky floating footer bar preview

Bonus: Create a Sticky Floating Navigation Menu in WordPress

Apart from adding a sticky footer bar, you might also like to create a sticky floating navigation menu on your WordPress site.

A navigation menu contains links to the most important pages on your WordPress blog and acts as an organizational structure for your website.

If you make this menu sticky, then it will remain visible on your page at all times, even as the user scrolls down on your screen. This can increase engagement and make your website easier to navigate.

Sticky floating navigation menu preview

To create a sticky floating navigation menu, simply install and activate the Sticky Menu & Sticky Header plugin. For details, see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, visit the Settings » Sticky Menu page from the WordPress dashboard and type #main-navigation next to the ‘Sticky Element (required)’ option.

Type navigation menu as the sticky element

After that, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings. You have now successfully created a sticky floating navigation menu.

For detailed instructions, please see our tutorial on how to create a sticky floating navigation menu in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily create a floating sticky footer bar in WordPress. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide on how to add header and footer code in WordPress and our checklist of things to add to the footer on your WordPress site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create a “Sticky” Floating Footer Bar in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

Determine if email address is used by scammer

I have been receiving emails from a gmail email address, I tried doing reverse searches on it but not coming up anything. I have a feeling it may be the scammers posing as a police department. Is there anyway I can determine the owner of the email address or its validity?

Alteryx Upgrade – No workflow data in Gallery

We are working on upgrading our Alteryx application as well as the MongoDB version.

We have created a non-production environment to test the upgrade. Since the non-production environment is new, and Alteryx and MongoDB have just been installed to it, it has no existing data yet.

We tried to migrate our prod MongoDB data into the non-prod MongoDB so we could perform testing.

The scheduled workflows are being triggered, however, we dont see the workflows on the Alteryx Gallery. Were expecting that the non-prod would be a replica of the prod with the data being imported to it.

Penpot’s CSS Grid Layout: Designing With Superpowers

This article is a sponsored by Penpot

It was less than a year ago when I first had a chance to use Penpot and instantly got excited about it. They managed to build something that designers haven’t yet seen before — a modern, open-source tool for everyone. In the world of technology, that might not sound groundbreaking. After all, open-source tools and software are being taken for granted as a cornerstone of modern web development. But for some reason, not for design — until now. Penpot’s approach to building design software comes with a lot of good arguments. And it gathered a strong community.

One of the reasons why Penpot is so exciting is that it allows creators to build user interfaces in a visual environment, but using the same standards and technologies as the end product. It makes a design workflow easier on many levels. Today, we are going to focus on just one of them, building layouts.

Design tools went a long way trying to make it easier to design complex, responsive layouts and flexible, customizable components. Some of them tried to mimic the mechanisms used in web technologies and others tried to mimic these imitations. But such an approach will take you only so far.

Short History Of Web Layouts

So how are the layouts for the web built in practice?

If you’ve been around the industry long enough, you might remember the times when you used frames, tables, and floats to build layouts. And if you haven’t, you didn’t miss much. Just to give you a taste of how bad it was: same as exporting tiny images of rounded corners from ever-crashing Photoshop, just to meticulously position them in every corner of a rectangle so you could make a dull, rounded button, it was just a pain. Far too often, it was a pleasure to craft yet another amazing design — but so much tears and sorrow to actually implement it.

Then Flexbox came in and changed everything. And soon after it, Grid. Two powerful yet amazingly simple engines to build layouts that changed web developers’ lives forever.

Ironically, design tools never caught up. Flexbox and Grid opened an ocean of possibilities, yet gated behind a barrier of knowing how to code. None of the design tools ever implemented them so a larger audience of designers could leverage them in their workflows. Not until now.

Creating Layouts With Penpot

Penpot is becoming the first design tool to support both Flexbox and Grid in their toolkit. And by support, I don’t mean a layout feature that tries to copy what Flexbox or Grid has to offer. We’re talking about an actual implementation of Flexbox and Grid inside the design tool.

Penpot’s Flexbox implementation went public earlier this year. If you’d like to give it a try, last year, I wrote a separate article just about it. Now, Penpot is fully implementing both Flexbox and Grid.

You might be wondering why we need both. Couldn’t you just use Flexbox for everything, same as you use the same simple layout features in a design tool? Technically, yes, you could. In fact, most people do. (At the time of writing, only a quarter of websites worldwide use CSS Grid, but its adoption is steadily increasing; source)

So if you want to build simple, mostly linear layouts, Flexbox is probably all you’ll ever need. But if you want to gain some design superpowers? Learn Grid.

Penpot’s CSS Grid Layout is out now, so you can already give it a try. It’s a part of their major 2.0 release, bringing a bunch of long-awaited features and improvements. I’d strongly encourage you to give it a go and see how it works for yourself. And if you need some inspiration, keep reading!

CSS Grid Layout In Practice

As an example, let’s build a portfolio page that consists of a sidebar and a grid of pictures.

Creating A Layout

Our first step will be to create a simple two-dimensional grid. In this case using a Grid Layout makes more sense than Flex Layout as we want to have more granular control over how elements are laid out on multiple axes.

To make the grid even more powerful, you can merge cells, group them into functional areas, and name them. Here, we are going to create a dedicated area for the sidebar.

As you adjust the layout later, you can see that the sidebar always keeps the same width and full height of the design while other cells get adjusted to the available space.

Building Even More Complex Grids

That’s not all. Apart from merging cells of the grid, you can tell elements inside it to take multiple cells. On our portfolio page, we are going to use this to make the featured picture bigger than others and take four cells instead of one.

As a result, we created a complex, responsive layout that would be a breeze to turn it into a functional website but at the same time would be completely impossible to build in any other design tool out there. And that’s just a fraction of what Grid Layout can do.

Next Steps

I hope you liked this demo of Penpot's Grid Layout. If you’d like to play around with the examples used in this article, go ahead and duplicate this Penpot file. It’s a great template that explains all the ins and outs of using Grid in your designs!

In case you’re more of a video-learning type, there’s a great tutorial on Grid Layout you can watch now on YouTube. And if you need help at any point, the Penpot community will be more than happy to answer your questions.

Summary

Flexbox and Grid in Penpot open up opportunities to craft layouts like never before. Today, anyone can combine the power of Flex Layout and Grid Layout to create complex, sophisticated structures that are flexible, responsive, and ready to deploy out-of-the-box—all without writing a single line of code.

Working with the right technologies not only makes things easier, but it also just feels right. That's something I've always longed for in design tools. Adopting CSS as a standard for both designers and developers facilitates smoother collaboration and helps them both feel more at home in their workflows.

For designers, that’s also a chance to strengthen their skill set, which matters today more than ever. The design industry is a competitive space that keeps changing rapidly, and staying competitive is hard work. However, learning the less obvious aspects and gaining a better understanding of the technologies you work with might help you do that.

Try CSS Grid Layout And Share Your Thoughts!

If you decide to give CSS Grid Layout a try, don’t hesitate to share your experience! The team behind Penpot would love to hear your feedback. Being a completely free and open-source tool, Penpot’s development thrives thanks to its community and people like you.