Link every published legal page from the bottom of each page

The Links to Legal Pages kit in TermsFeed AutoTerms prints a row of links to every published legal page at the bottom of every page. The kit is on after you install the plugin, so a Privacy Policy you publish joins the row once your page cache is cleared. Changing the row takes 3 steps and about 5 minutes on the "Links to Legal Pages" settings screen. Use an Administrator account, or an account with a plugin role and the WordPress unfiltered_html capability.

The row lists every published legal page by its title, with a separator between the links. Drafts, private pages, and pages in the trash stay out of the row, and a site with no published legal page does not get the row. A legal page you unpublish or delete leaves the row from the next page load, once your page cache is cleared.

The Links to Legal Pages row with the Cookies Policy, Terms and Conditions, and Privacy Policy links, centered below the theme footer

The "Enable" or "Disable" button on the Compliance Kits screen and the "Enabled" checkbox on the settings screen of the kit change the same setting.

  1. Open TermsFeed > Compliance Kits in your WordPress admin.
  2. Check that the Links to Legal Pages box reads "Enabled", and click the "Enable" button if it does not. Click the "Disable" button only to remove the row. Either button saves the setting with no "Save Changes" click and shows a notice such as "Links to Legal Pages disabled.". Clear your page cache to see the change.
  3. Click the "Configure" button in the same box to open the settings screen. The "Enabled" checkbox there applies after a click on the "Save Changes" button.

A kit that is off does not print the row or its styles. Turn the kit off on a site whose WordPress theme already links the legal pages in a menu, so visitors do not see the links twice.

The row works with the defaults of the "Links to Legal Pages" settings screen. The screen shows "Enabled", the style fields, "Links separator", "Links to open in a new page", and "Additional CSS", then the "Links Order" list. Change any of these fields, then click the "Save Changes" button.

Field Values Default Effect
"Enabled" Checkbox On Prints the row on every page
"Links separator" Text - The characters between 2 links, with a space on each side
"Links to open in a new page" Checkbox Off Opens each legal page in a new browser tab
"Links Order" A list you drag Newest page first The order of the links in the row

The Links to Legal Pages settings screen with the Links separator field and the Links Order list of 3 legal pages marked

Drag the legal pages up and down in the "Links Order" list, then click the "Save Changes" button. The row follows that order. The list shows every published legal page by its title.

A legal page you publish after saving an order joins the end of the row, after the pages you placed. Open the list again, drag the new page into place, and click the "Save Changes" button to move it.

Set the colors, the font, and the alignment of the row with the style fields, and add your own rules in the "Additional CSS" field. The row starts with a white background, black links, and centered text, unlike the Cookie Notice, Update Notices, and Endorsements kits, which take the style of your WordPress theme.

Field Values Default What it styles
"Background color" A hex color #ffffff The background of the row
"Font" "default", "Arial, sans-serif", "Georgia, serif", or "custom..." with any text without HTML tags "Arial, sans-serif" The font of the links and the separator
"Font size" "default", "12px", "13px", "14px", "15px", "16px", or "custom..." with any text without HTML tags "14px" The text size of the links and the separator
"Text color" A hex color #cccccc The color of the separator
"Text alignment" "default", "center", "right", "left" "center" The alignment of the row
"Links color" A hex color #000000 The color of the links
"Additional CSS" CSS rules, saved only by an account with the WordPress unfiltered_html capability Empty Your own rules for the row

The row prints where your WordPress theme calls wp_footer(), below the theme footer in most themes, and above a notice bar set to "bottom" and "static". Target the row and its links with the selectors in TermsFeed AutoTerms CSS Classes and Containers. Fix a save that keeps the old rules with Code or HTML Not Saving in WordPress.

An empty color field or the "default" value does not print any style, and the theme style then applies. Trace a row color or font that ignores your setting with Colors or Fonts Not Showing in WordPress.

A working row lists every published legal page, in the order of the "Links Order" list. Check the row on a live page as a logged-out visitor after every change. A page cache serves the row as it was when the cache stored the page, so clear the page cache first with WordPress Caching Plugins.

  1. Close every private window, open your WordPress website in a new one, scroll to the bottom of a page, and check that the row shows every published legal page.
  2. Open Chrome DevTools, select the Elements tab, press Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on a Mac), and search for class="wpautoterms-footer". Check that the search finds the row.
  3. Check that the links appear in the order of the "Links Order" list.
  4. Click a link and check that the legal page opens, in a new tab when "Links to open in a new page" is on.

A theme that leaves out or covers the row needs a change in the theme or a rule in "Additional CSS". Check a missing or hard-to-see row against each cause in turn, and apply the fix of the cause your check confirms.

  1. The theme never calls wp_footer(). The plugin prints the row on that WordPress hook, so a template without that call does not show the row. With the kit on and a legal page published, a search of the page source for <div class="wpautoterms-footer"> that finds nothing points to this cause. Ask the theme developer to add <?php wp_footer(); ?> before </body>.
  2. A fixed element covers the row. A Cookie Notice or Update Notices bar set to "bottom" and "fixed" covers the row until the visitor closes it, and so does a fixed theme footer. A row that the Elements tab finds with a search for class="wpautoterms-footer", but that stays out of sight, sits under a fixed element. Add bottom padding to .wpautoterms-footer that matches the height of the fixed element, such as .wpautoterms-footer { padding-bottom: 64px; } for a bar about 60px high.
  3. The row background differs from the theme footer. The row prints its own #ffffff background by default, which shows as a strip below the theme footer in most themes. A white strip below the theme footer at the bottom of a page points to this cause. Set "Background color" to the color of the theme footer.
  4. A theme rule restyles the links. The kit prints its styles before the theme stylesheet. A theme rule with an equal or more specific selector than .wpautoterms-footer a, or with !important, overrides the color or font of the row. Right-click a link in the row, select Inspect, and look for the declaration the kit prints, struck through below the theme rule in the Styles panel. Repeat the setting in the "Additional CSS" field with a selector more specific than the theme rule, such as body .wpautoterms-footer a against a theme rule like .site-footer a. Add !important to the property when the theme rule has it.