Post
Ask Question

Advantages And Limitations Of A SharePoint Online Modern Communication Site

Introduction 

 
In our previous posts, we have seen how can we enable Footer, how to add, edit, and remove a footer logo and links. We also learned how to set up audience targeting in Footer links. If you have not gone through that, you can use the below links to check it out:
So, let's see the advantages & limitations of a Modern Footer.
 
Limitations
  • OOTB footer is available for Modern communication sites only. For Modern Team sites, it is not available
     This is the biggest obstacle to use OOTB Footer. You can't have it in the Modern Team site template. So if your site structure has even a single modern Team site, you need to build your own custom SPFx Footer.

  • OOTB Footer will not be visible in mobile resolution
     I believe with digitalization all around the world, people use their tablet and mobile more than their laptop and desktop. And Modern footer is not available for this. This would likely be the second biggest flaw.

  • OOTB Footer will not be visible in the site content, List/ Libraries, and in classic settings/Site pages like settings pages
     It is not visible in the site content, list, and libraries as well in Modern Communication Site. Also, as these are modern features, they will not visible in classic pages like site settings, a classic site, or publishing pages.

  • You can set Max 8 links/ Label in OOTB Footer except for the logo and footer display name
     8 Links - is very less limit. For a simple layout footer, we can see it will feasible but if you have an extended footer layout, it looks very limited.

  • An external user can not edit the footer even though you have given them full control rights
    I believe this is due to security concerns.

  • You can not use SharePoint site groups for Audience targeting
     You need to use office 365 security groups or Modern team sites office 365 groups for the audience targeting. In this scenario, if you have just site collection admin rights, you are not able to do anything. In classic SharePoint, SharePoint groups were there. So I hope Microsoft might find a way to bring that back.
Advantages
  • Easy to configure
     The good thing is you don't need to know rocket science to configure this. Just enable a toggle button and add some links and you have a footer ready.

    You are given 2 types of layout to choose from. Also, you can make changes in each site as per your requirement, as all sites have their own footer

  • End-users or clients can maintain this by themselves with minimal guidance
    Handover to clients is the toughest job. You need to make sure once your work is done, anyone with a given guideline can maintain things. Furthermore, in comparison to a customized SPFx extension, it will be less easy to train users to use the OOTB Footer.

  • Does not occupy space on the page
    This is the best thing about that. OOTB footer appends at the end of the page. This means you have full body visible. In custom SPFx, the footer will have its own part on the page. So the body content reading is an issue. See the below images for an example.
    • OOTB Footer
Advantage And Limitations Of SharePoint Online Modern Communication Site
    • SPFx Extension
Advantage And Limitations Of SharePoint Online Modern Communication Site
 
You can go with OOTB as well as a custom SPFx Footer as per your requirements. If you want to go with OOTB Footer, please convey the limitations to the end client first.
 
This is the end of our Footer Series. Let me know if you have any queries, then I will be happy to answer.
 
Reference
  • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/features/site-footer
  • https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/customize-the-navigation-on-your-sharepoint-site-3cd61ae7-a9ed-4e1e-bf6d-4655f0bf25ca?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us 
Next Recommended Reading How To Enable Footer In A SharePoint Modern Communication Site