Unwrapping Genesis: How to Move the Header and Footer

Since publishing this post, I’ve written an updated post explaining how to use structural wraps to move the header, specifically in the Prose Child Theme. You may find it helpful.

In a typical Genesis Child Theme, the header and footer elements are nestled safely inside the main structural #wrap. Today’s challenge is to move the header and footer outside of the main #wrap.

Why would I want to do that? Well, I want to create a theme with a full-width header & footer and fixed-width content. Like this:

full width demo

In order to carry out this, I’ve opted to reposition the header above the main #wrap and the footer below the main #wrap.

Now there’s another way to go about creating a full-width Genesis Child Theme, as Christopher helpfully dissects here. His method deals with changing the width on the grandaddy #wrap that contains the entire site as well as the mini .wrap(s) that apply to specific sub-sections (i.e. header, nav, inner, etc).

I wanted the same outcome, but didn’t want to change the wrap structure to get there. Here’s how I did it…

Starting with the Defaults

The default structure in most StudioPress child themes will look like this:

default structure of Genesis Child Theme

We want to move the header and the footer so that our structure looks like this:

custom structure

Wrap-Up (pun fully intended)

Sometimes I try to make things harder than necessary, but in this case it’s pretty simple! Check the following code blocks:

Move the Header Outside the Main Wrap

To move the header up before the main wrapper <div id=”wrap”>, add this to your functions.php:

Move the Footer Outside the Main Wrap

Moving the footer outside the main wrapper <div id=”wrap”> is just as easy!

BONUS: Move the Primary Nav Above the Header AND Outside the Main Wrap

What’s that? You’re feeling adventurous? Try out this action:

Move the Header and Footer

If you want to play around more with using hooks to reposition elements in your theme, here are some great resources for your bookmarking pleasure:

28 thoughts on “Unwrapping Genesis: How to Move the Header and Footer”

    1. Hi Heather,
      I don’t know enough about Joan’s site to know. 🙂 I’d recommend duplicating her site in a local dev environment where you can test out changes before committing them live.

      Just published a post on editing WordPress sites you may find helpful…
      Cheers,
      Carrie

  1. Hi – I am not a developer – I can do websites as long as clients don’t want me to do complicated coding designs.

    Would you please give me an estimate of what it would cost if you do it please. It seems like such an easy thing to make a full width navigation menu – but things are not always as they seem – especially in studio press.

    It’s just Metro Pro with a few changes that one of the developers connected with StudioPress did – I am thinking I should just put it back to the original template.

    Thanks – and happy Sunday!

    Heather

  2. I tried this, but the navigation didn’t move. I’m using the foodie pro theme. I want to make the entire header and navigation fixed so when you scroll down it stays at the top of the page, but getting the entire header and nav outside the wrap just isn’t working for me.

    1. Most likely the Foodie Pro theme has these functions hooked in different locations than I’m showing in this post. A stroll around functions.php in would probably reveal the answer.

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