Users should be able to customize the footer without modifying the Dokuwiki default template.
The current Dokuwiki default template contains buttons and links in tpl_footer.php. Removing or modifying this content requires changes to the template file. This is a bad approach because changes to the template will be lost after an upgrade.
Here is an example of this bad advice:
http://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/dokuwiki/change-dokuwiki-appearance/removing-footer-buttons-text
Moving the buttons and text content from the template and into a user editable file ('footer.html') is a better approach that will still display the default buttons and text yet allow users to make changes that persist after an update.
Jon Jaroker
http://jaroker.com