[UI Enhancement] Improve Footer Layout, Spacing, and Link Visibility

[prushti1521]

Overview: The current footer layout is functional but could benefit from visual and structural improvements to enhance clarity and accessibility for users and contributors.

Proposed Enhancements:

Organize Footer Sections Group links under clearly defined and bold/capitalized headings (e.g., Software Details, Help & Info, More to Explore). Add Hover Effects Introduce underline or color transitions on hover for footer links to improve interactivity and visibility. Fix Alignment Issues Ensure all text is fully visible on different screen sizes. For example, “Owner’s LinkedIn” appears slightly cut off on some devices.

Why It Works:

Improves navigation clarity, especially for first-time contributors or users seeking specific information. Enhances mobile responsiveness and professional appearance. Interactive hover effects provide a better user experience.

[github-actions[bot]]

👋 Thank you for raising an issue! We appreciate your effort in helping us improve. A maintainer from Dataverse will review it shortly. Stay tuned!

[krishagandhi0711]

Hi mentors 👋,

I'm really impressed with the Dataverse application and I'm excited to contribute. I'd like to take on the task of enhancing the main navigation panel on the left to improve its usability and give it a more modern, polished feel using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Here’s my plan:

Improve Visual Feedback: Use CSS to implement clear :hover and active states for the navigation links. The active link (for the current page) will have a persistent style to show the user where they are.

Increase Readability & Spacing: Adjust padding and margin around the links to create a cleaner, more readable layout that feels less crowded.

Add Minimalist Icons: Introduce lightweight SVG icons next to each link label (e.g., a chart icon for "Visualise Data") for faster recognition.

Ensure Responsiveness: Use modern CSS like Flexbox or Grid to ensure the navigation panel adapts gracefully to different screen sizes, making the application mobile-friendly.

Maintain Theme Integrity: Utilize CSS variables for colors and fonts to ensure all changes align perfectly with the existing dark, data-centric theme.

[priyalnagvekar]

Hey @prushti1521 & @multiverseweb ! 🙌 I’m contributing through GSSoC’25 and would really love to take on this UI enhancement task to improve footer layout and link visibility. Kindly tag this issue with gssoc and assign it to me if it’s available. I’m eager to bring clean design improvements to the project. 😊

[Samridha0305]

Please assign it to me**